National online youth Scrabble tournament on Baguio City

September 20, 2020 Metro BLISTT

One of the country’s top young Scrabble players in cooperation with Mattel and the world’s top player are combining forces to stage a youth online Scrabble tournament this October.
Learjet dela Cruz of the Cebu Scrabble Club, who saw action in the World Youth Scrabble Championship last year, is jointly hosting the national competitions sometime in October.
In his post, dela Cruz said that he will be partnering with Malaysian Ganesh Asirvatham, the world’s top-rated player, and Mattel, Inc., maker of the popular board game, for the youth games in a date yet unspecified next month.
De la Cruz added: “Since the pandemic has paralyzed us to hold in-person tournaments, we are bringing our most beloved game online, specifically targeting the youth sector.”
He added: “The goal is for the sport to be introduced to the young ones not only for the nationwide propagation of the sport but essentially for its survival in our country as well.”
The Interschool National Scrabble Tournament – Philippines will target 50-100 complete beginners to the game, ages 10-12. De la Cruz said that they are targeting 13-20 schools nationwide with two to four players each.
The games will be staged using the online Scrabble game ISC (just initials) and will be done in two days, one for the qualifying round and another for the final round. He said that Ganesh, with his assistance, will be holding a two-hour online lesson for the kids, teachers and parents via Zoom prior the tournament date. He added: “Resources will be given along the way.”
In Baguio, the first C reach out to dela Cruz is the Saint Louis University Laboratory Elementary School which has been competing in the Milo Scrabble Games. A student division was supposedly incorporated in the Panagbenga Scrabble Tournament last March, but the tournament was cancelled when the city and the entire Luzon island was declared under enhanced community quarantine to stop spread of the coronavirus. SLU – LES was supposed to take part.
Mattel is one of the owners of the popular board game. Produced in England, it is distributed worldwide except in the United States and Canada, where Hasbro is the owner. Mattel is also owner of the Barbie line of dolls, while Hasbro caters to boy with Transformers and GI Joe as its premiere line of toys.
Pigeon Lobien/PNA