New Faces

by Cornelia Guest

Nicky Vasquez defeated Selig Wassner, rated 1724, in an unrated division of the Teaneck (NJ) Heritage SCRABBLE Tournament this past January.

Nicky Vasquez

Although adult players may not be familiar with the name of Nicholas Vasquez, youth players know him well—and respect this just-turned-11-year-old’s amazing SCRABBLE skills. Nicky and his School SCRABBLE partner Paolo Federico-Omurchu placed second at this year’s National School SCRABBLE Championships, making it to the finals by beating the Atlanta-Pickneyville Middle School Team of top-seeded Joey Krafchick and his partner, Allison Fisher–and winning $5,000. This spring Nicky started playing in regular (unrestricted) tournaments, coming in first in Division 3 at the fully rated Ardsley Tournament (5/9/09) and second in Division 2 at the Lebanon NJ Club Tournament (5/24/09). The adults facing Nicky found themselves answering the question “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” with an astonished “No.”

Nicky started playing SCRABBLE with his family when he was 9, encouraged by his grandfather, Ruben Angeles, also now a tournament player. A few months later Nicky entered his first tournament, the May, 2008 North Salem Tournament, where he played as a 4th grader in the Youth Division. Nicky’s debut was a success: Despite being the youngest and least-experienced player, he placed second in both the morning and afternoon Youth Tournaments.

Impressed with Nicky’s skills, tournament director Cornelia Guest encouraged his mother, Janice Vasquez, to consider entering Nicky in the following year’s National School SCRABBLE Championship, which is played in pairs by 5th-8th graders from the same state. However, Nicky did not know any other young players from his home state of New Jersey. There were no other youth players at his club (the Millburn SCRABBLE Club #411), and the young players he met at tournaments were from other states.

From left: Hasbro's Phil Jackson, Nicky Vasquez, Sam Rosin, Paolo Federico-Omurchu and
the NSA's John D. Williams, Jr. at the 2009 National School SCRABBLE Championship.

In the fall of 2008 Guest heard from another New Jersey mother with a similar predicament—Linda Federico, mother of 6th grader Paolo Federico-Omurchu—and recommended she contact Janice Vasquez. The boys, it ended up, lived about fifteen minutes away from one another. They met to play—and both were thrilled to find they were well matched. In preparation for the Nationals, Nicky and Paolo played as a team in several School SCRABBLE tournaments, placing 5th (North Salem 11/2/08), 3rd (Brooklyn 3/8/09), and 1st (Chappaqua 4/3/09), with both boys winning grade championships at Brooklyn and Chappaqua. They also were fortunate to enlist as their coach the enormously talented Sam Rosin, the nation’s top-ranked youth player, who volunteered to help the boys. The rest is history, and details of the boys’ terrific games at the 2009 National School SCRABBLE Championship can be found at school.scrabble-assoc.com.

Nicky hopes to return with Paolo to next year’s School SCRABBLE Nationals. In the meantime, he is enjoying playing SCRABBLE on line, at the Millburn Club on Monday nights, and in tournaments—as well as with his grandfather, who continues to help Nicky with his game. Nicky has a 5-year-old sister, Kelsey, who has just started to play SCRABBLE, and a baby brother, Jaden, who has attended a number of tournaments already in the arms of Janice Vasquez, a terrific supporter of her son’s interest.

A great ambassador for SCRABBLE, Nicky marched in the New York City Philippine Independence Day Parade on June 7 and in the Passaic County Philippine Festival Parade on June 14, celebrated as the youngest Filipino (Pinoy) SCRABBLE champion of the tri-state area (New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey).

In addition to his interest in SCRABBLE, Nicky enjoys playing tennis and soccer. He will be entering 6th grade this fall at the Collins Elementary School in his hometown of Livingston, New Jersey. Players who have competed with Nicky at SCRABBLE tournaments know that he is not only a great player, but also a gracious one. Nicky remarks about his enjoyment of SCRABBLE: “Even though I may win or lose, I still feel like a champion.”

Cornelia Guest is a NASPA member and a tournament director and player. She coaches Youth Players in New York and Connecticut.

From May 1 through June 15, sixty-nine SCRABBLE players competed in their first unrestricted NSA-sanctioned tournaments. Three of these players won first place in their tournament debuts: John Fonti (Division 2, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 5/30), Deanna Woodcock (Division 4, Lansing, MI 5/16), and our featured new face: Nicholas Vasquez (Division 3, Ardsley, NY 5/9).

Welcome to these three players and the following other “newbies”:

• Annapolis MD 5/9: Jack Bostian, Florence Burt, Derek Howard, Christopher King, and Mike Lean
• ArdenCup Memorial IL 5/23-25: Sammy Shefler, Arvind Srinivasaraghavan, Mitchell Szczepanczyk, and William Zepnik
• Atlanta GA 5/23-25: Elana Burton, Mary Hayes, Artis Hill, Jim Lawrence, Tiffani Patterson, and Austin White
• Austin TX 5/24: Crystal Blue
• Bayside NY 5/2: Susan Cannone-Gerber
• Bayside NY 6/6: Emily Seelenfreund
• Berkeley CA 5/3: Mark Likosky, Mina Radhakrishnan, and Elena Yanloo
• Charleston WV Early Bird 5/1: Rafael Barker and Carol Colloton
• Charleston WV 5/2-3: Kristine Bybee Finley and Jason Renner
• Charlotte NC 5/30: Debby Bloom, Marc Handler, and Shana Hirsch
• Denver LCT 6/6: Nath Addams, Elicia Anderson, Kevin Fehr, Mary Morman, Aaron Rosenthal, and Jordan Townsend
• Edmonton AB, CAN 5/2: Candas Dorsey and Clint Porritt
• Elkhart IN LCT 5/9: Kevin Fyr and Rollin Handrich
• Kansas City 6/13-14: Rajeev Bansal, John Heller, Jack Lamson, Avery Mojica, and Efren Mojica
• Laguna Woods CA Senior/Junior 5/16-17: Thierrion Kagan
• Lansing MI 5/16: Diedra Boles, Deanna Cambridge, Nancy Deriemacker, Tracy Tabor, and Carolyn Wright
• Manchester CT 6/13: Carolyn Elliott and Loretta Young
• Metairie LA 6/6-7: Lawrence Guimont
• Mountain View CA 5/17: Alex Eckert and Dana Eckert
• Montreal QC, CAN 5/23-24: Scott Horne and Sue Reiter
• Oshawa ON, CAN 5/16-17: George Zywiel
• Philadelphia PA LCT 5/31: David White
• Pittsburgh PA 6/13-14: Mary Kirchhoff
• Toronto ON LCT 6/3-17: Dayna Gedney and Vivian Panaflor
• Wilmington DE 6/14: Karen Blood, Mike Johnson, Bill Kronholm, Linda Lohr, and Susan Vok