Welcome to the new Chicago APA.

I hope that most of you got the letter of introduction last week from Terry, but for those of you who didn't, my name is Brad Hall, and I'm the new league operator in NCC and Chicago. the APA has combined both areas into one larger area under the "flag" of the Chicago APA.

Part of the process of combining these two territories was to combine the databases. To avoid losing data, the APA has changed the player numbers on all players in the NCC area to start with an 8. (Eg: If your old number was 60212, your new number is probably 80212.) I will get a unified number and handicap for all crossover players as soon as possible, but until then, there may be some confusion as the data bases are combined.

I hope that most of the questions raised by this change will be answered below, but if there are any that are not, call or email at the following contact points.

Here is my direct email address and phone number for anyone with questions...

BRAD@CHICAGOAPA.COM...773-575-4157

Welcome to the Chicago APA

As the letter said last week, you are now under my "flag". There will be some changes this session, and more next. One of the changes will be a "weekly" update like this one posted to the front page of the Chicago APA website. Please check in and view the post on the front page. ( www.chicagoapa.com ) As anyone in Chicago will tell you, it doesn't always come out weekly, but it does hit the site fairly regularly. You will see important dates, rules questions, and general FAQ's. Browse the past updates to get a feel for what will be out there.

Please register with the new site: I also send the update to all players who are registered with the website as an email. Please register with the Chicago APA site whether you were registered with Terry's or not. I use my site a a tool to get information out to the players. I do not use mass emails from other sources, so please register with the chicagoapa.com site to stay informed.

Changes this session: You will continue to play under Terry's rules and by-laws. Next session, you will start under the Chicago APA by-laws. For the most part, especially this session, you won't see a huge difference. Terry's sister Cathy will continue to do the paperwork, and you should route scheduling and roster questions to her. Anything else...please call me. My phone number is 773-575-4157, and I'm open for business from noon til midnight 7 days...if you have problems or questions anytime during the evening, give me a call.

FAQ: The one question that I've gotten most often is whether you will be playing with the Chicago divisions. The answer is maybe, but only if you are in the same area, and are playing on the same night of the week. No one from Palatine will have to travel to Fullerton and Pulaski to play.

Player numbers and website access: Mid-week last week, the national office combined the databases. There are some crossover players who have different numbers in both territories. I will be working to combine those records over the next week or so. If you fall into this category, please send a note on your scoresheets this week. I'll make sure that you end up with a unified" number ASAP.

As you see your scoresheets, you will notice that most of your player numbers have been changed to start with 8. Eg: old number = 60415...new number = 80415. I'm not sure exactly why they couldn't leave the numbers the way they were, but they made the changes, so we have to live with them. This also means you may not be able to access you data on the NCC website any longer. (If the data is tied to your old number...it won't work now. On the other hand, I got an email from a NCC player this morning through the website, so maybe it won't lock you out anyway.) Sooner or later you will have to register with the chicagoapa.com website. Try to get that done sooner than later. If you were one of the 150 or so players who registered with the old site, you can follow the same procedure on the new one. Remember that your player number is probably different, starting now with an 8. Feel free to try the old number if the 8XXXX number doesn't work. If you have problems beyond that, send me an email. I'll try to straighten it out.

Schedules for everyone: ANYONE registered or not can access the schedules on the Chicago APA website. You do not need to be registered to see them...but your personal and divisional stats will stay hidden on the Chicago site until you re-register. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but it is out of my control.

Thursday division: You are scheduled to play on July 3rd. Some people have already asked about makeups. While most teams should be ready to play, some may not, and given the pre-holiday date, I will allow makeups. If your team can not field a full roster, ask your opponents if they will do a makeup. If you are asked, please settle on a time to play the makeup. I won't allow forfeits for play this week. You have 4 weeks to finish the makeup match. If you run into problems scheduling or playing the makeup, please call me.

That's it for now...have a great 4th of July and welcome to the new Chicago APA.