Season's Greetings to All, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. As I write this it is raining quite hard in
Greenfield
! Doesn't seem right for late December.
I'd like to take this opportunity to put in an early plug for the world tournament next year In Monroe, LA. The dates are
July 13-25, 2020
. The tournament was held there in 2011 and was a great event. If you like Cajun food it's awesome! I'm going to try and coordinate a quick trip down to
New Orleans
for the MN people. If anyone wants to golf while there, let me know.
Remember that you need 4 sanctioned events by about May 15th to qualify to enter the world tournament. We are offering some indoor winter tournaments in Isanti and in
Greenfield
, check the schedule for details.
With our membership numbers in a slow steady decline, I'd like to toss out a few random ideas for you all to ponder. First of all, there are several other sports experiencing the same slow decline, bowling to name one, But there are many reasons for these declines. Society has evolved to the point where people both young and old have endless options for activities. Growing up on the farm is much different these days.
That doesn't mean we give up the effort to recruit new members. But we do this for the right reasons.....we want to expand our sport and make new friends and acquaintances. How do we do this? Obviously word of mouth has always been the most effective way to introduce someone to horseshoes. One way that has been proven to be successful I have written about many times after watching Marlys Timm have great success with it. Have your club host an "Introduction to Horseshoes" night at your club courts. Get the event published in your small town's local community education schedule. The City folks create and distribute that soon, so contact them asap.
I hope you all have a safe and healthy winter
Jerry
