All Marbles, All the Time

**amykhar** · #1 04-26-2005, 07:29 PM

Four days this week, I am covering marbles tournaments. In my attempt to educate y'all on the sport of Marbles, I am going to blog the marbles stories here for you. Some of the kids are amazing.

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Marbles Kick off Story from Last Month

1,000 to play in city mibs tourney
By Amy Anuszewski

Reading Eagle correspondent

Southern Middle School students

on Tuesday will kick off

the annual City Marbles Tournament,

which has been held in

the city since 1923.

More than 1,000 children in 22

public and private city schools

are scheduled to compete in the

Reading Eagle Company-sponsored

tournament at school, district

and city levels, said coordinator

Debra E. Stanley-Lapic.

Two boys and two girls from

Reading will qualify to advance

to the National Marbles Tournament,

which begins on June

19 in Wildwood, N.J.

Students between the ages of

7 and 14 are eligible to play, but

each city school determines

which grades may participate

in its tournament, Stanley-

Lapic noted.

Other sponsors are Boscov’s,

Reading Phillies, Funtoysia

and Dairy Queen.

This year, Stanley-Lapic

said, Reading Eagle Company

will give each entrant a bag of

American-made Jabo Inc marbles,

which cannot be purchased

in area stores.

“Toy-store marbles are generally

made in Mexico or Japan

and do not meet the size specifications

for tournament play,”

she said.
The winners of the school

tournaments will receive a trophy,

and will compete in district

playoffs, which begin

April 25 in the Third and

Spruce Recreation Center.

District winners advance to

the city championship, scheduled

for May 2 at City Park.

The boy and girl city champion

will receive an expensepaid

trip to the national competition

in Wildwood, The two

runners-up also qualify for nationals

but will be required to

pay their own way, she said.

The rules for Ringer, the

marbles game played in the

tournament, have evolved since

the national tournament began

in 1923, Stanley-Lapic said.

Current rules state that 13

marbles are arranged in a cross

inside a 10-foot diameter circle.

Players must keep a minimum

of one knuckle touching the

playing surface while shooting,

and players may not move their

hand while shooting.

The goal is to be the first to

shoot seven marbles from the

ring or outscore an opponent in

a seven- to nine-inning game

**amykhar** · #2 04-26-2005, 07:30 PM

Marbles history

Beginnings

The City Marbles Tournament began in 1923 as a way to

provide city kids with positive recreation alternatives.

Reading Eagle Company has sponsored the tournament

since 1929.

Johnnie Kozlowski was the first city champion to compete

at the national tournament in 1932.

Earlier city winners did not advance to nationals because

the city recreation department lacked funds to pay their expenses.

Source: Debra Stanley-Lapic, marbles tournament coordinator

City champions

Harry Bridegam was the first city champion in 1923.

In 1967, Rudy Raymond took second place in the national

tournament and went on to become the first national winner

from Reading in 1968.

Debra Stanley-Lapic was the first girl national champion

in 1973.

Stanley-Lapic has since coached 14 national champions

and is the coordinator for the city tournament.

In 1981, city girls Joelle Guiles and Lisa Stamm were the

winner and runner-up, respectively, in the girls’ national

competition.

Brian Shollenberger, in 1995, was the most recent national

champion from Reading.

Sources: blocksite.com/wildwood/champs.htm, marblemuseum.

org/articles/kingring2.html

**amykhar** · #3 04-26-2005, 07:31 PM

Newcomers top 1st round of city mibs tourney
By Amy Anuszewski

Reading Eagle correspondent

First-time players shone

Tuesday in the first round of

the City Marbles Tournament

at Southern Middle School.

It was the first of a series of

tournaments at 22 public and

parochial schools in Reading.

The tourneys are the preliminary

rounds for the district

playoffs, which start April 20 at

the Third and Spruce Recreation

Center.

Muhammad Abdullah, a 14-

year-old eighth-grader, came

from behind to defeat the 2004

Amanda Stout Elementary

School champion, Kevin

Calderon, a 13-year-old sixthgrader.

In the boys final, Abdullah

lost the first game 4-3 to

Calderon and was trailing in

the second game. But Abdullah

came back and won game two,

6-3, and game three, 3-1.

Abdullah said he never had

played in the marbles tournament.

“I just wanted to try something

new, so I signed up,” he

said.

Another first-time player,

eighth-grader Stephanie M.

Santiago, 13, beat three-time

Southern champion Ana L.

Vasquez, a 13-year-old seventhgrader,

in the semi-finals.

Santiago then defeated another

first-time player, eighthgrader

Damaris V. Viruet, 14, in

two straight games in the final

girls match.

Tournament coordinator

Debra E. Stanley-Lapic said

marbles is a game of luck and

skill.

“She (Santiago) hit Ana in a

bad game, and that was the end

of that,” Stanley-Lapic said.

Abdullah and Santiago received

a trophy filled with marbles,

a certificate and the

chance to compete at the district

level next month.

“It was a nice turnout this

year,” said Stephen M. Lapic, a

tournament referee.

Last year’s Berks County

champion, Whitney A. Lapic, 9,

who is the daughter of Lapic

and Stanley-Lapic, showed new

players the basics and helped

her parents referee some of the

matches.

The annual marbles competition

is sponsored by Reading

Eagle Company.

**amykhar** · #4 04-26-2005, 07:32 PM

(Yesterday's story. Having fun yet?)
Aboubacar Kallo, Mary Reigle win District One marbles titles 
The boys and girls titleholders will compete in next week's city finals.
By Amy Anuszewski 
Reading Eagle correspondent 
Aboubacar Kallo's face lights up when he talks about basketball, but marbles is his better game.

On Monday he defeated Salomon Orozco, 11, a fifth-grader at Northwest Elementary School in a tiebreaker to win the boys District One championship of the City Marbles Tournament.

The district competition was held at the city recreation center at Third and Spruce streets.

Kallo and Orozco each won eight games and lost four, making the tiebreaker necessary.

Kallo 9, a fourth-grader at Glenside Elementary School, moved to Reading with his family in June from the African nation of Guinea.

“Marbles is a popular game in Africa, and Aboubacar has played since he was 5 or 6 years old” his mother, Roukiatou I. Kalle, said.

Mary E. Reigle, 12, a sixth-grader at St. Margaret's School, went 13-2 to become the girls champion.

Reigle was District One champion last year, but did not place in the city finals.

“I don't normally practice marbles because I do it for fun, and not as a sport,” she said.

“But,” she said, “I'm going to practice some before the city championship because I really want to go to Wildwood,” referring to the New Jersey beach town that will host the National Marbles Tournament beginning June 19.

Girls runner-up was Fadiba Barry, 12, a sixth-grader at Northwest Middle School, who went 12-3.

Next week, Kallo will compete in the boys city finals Monday and Reigle will compete in the girls finals Tuesday.

The city finals will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the marbles rings in City Park. The annual marbles competition is sponsored by Reading Eagle Company.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #5 04-26-2005, 07:54 PM

Well, at least you didn't lose any (marbles, that is). And you get paid by the piece, right?

**amykhar** · #6 04-26-2005, 08:37 PM

Yep. I get paid by the piece

This is easy stuff for me because I only have to be there to see who wins and then talk to the winners for a couple of minutes.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #7 04-26-2005, 09:42 PM

Those are always the best assignments. Sitting through the board meetings where they get stuck in minituae like how wide property easements should be in the new subdivision are the ones that drove me up a tree.

**lynnzop**[$] · #8 04-26-2005, 10:08 PM

Amy's gone marbles!!!

Congrats, sounds like ag(r)ate assignment.

**amykhar** · #9 04-28-2005, 09:50 AM

Looks like I've been replying in my head again and forgetting to post the actual replies

Yep, these marbles gigs beat the hell out of sewer meetings. I've had a lot of fun learning about the game and talking to the kids. The boys winner and runner up yesterday didn't speak English, but it was time to feature the girls anyway

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Sisters win top spots in girls marble contest  
  From our news staff 
 
<table id="table1" align="right" border="1" cellpadding="2"> <tbody><tr> <td><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><iframe name="google_ads_frame" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-5203913565747737&dt=1114692484578&lmt=1114692483&format=250x250_as&output=html&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.readingeagle.com%2Fre%2Fnews%2F1384855.asp&color_bg=FFFFFF&color_text=000000&color_link=0000FF&color _url=008000&color_border=336699&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.readingeagle.com%2FNews%2Findex.asp&u_h=864&u_w=1152&u_ah=834&u_aw=1152&u_cd=24&u_tz=-240&u_his=50&u_java=true&u_nplug=15&u_nmime=52" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="250" scrolling="no" width="250"><img></iframe></td> </tr> </tbody></table>  Sisters Chelsey M. Reichelt, 12, and Ashley M. Reichelt, 9, won first and second place at the girls District Three championships of the City Marbles Tournament on Wednesday. Chelsey, a sixth-grader at Northeast Middle School, was undefeated with a score of 9-0.

Ashley, a fourth-grader at 13th and Union Elementary School, lost three games, all to her sister.

Chelsey said her strategy to get ready for the city finals is to practice with Ashley and to go to city park to practice on the concrete marble rings.

“On the concrete rings,” Chelsey said, “marbles roll faster and it's easier to get marbles out.”

Prior to the city finals, players compete indoors on carpet mats.

Tournament coordinator Debra E. Stanley-Lapic said city finals are held on the concrete rings at the park to give children experience because the National Tournament also is played on concrete.

Chelsey will face District One champion Mary E. Reigle, District Two champion Andrea C. Butler and the District Four champion, who has not been determined, at the girls city finals on Tuesday.

Another Northeast Middle School sixth-grader, Daniel Martinez, 13, also went undefeated to become boys champion.

Daniel, who says he has been playing marbles since he was 4 years old, was District Three champion and the city tournament runner up in 2003.

Daniel will face District One champion Aboubacar Kallo, District Two champion Jacob J.P. Smith and the District Four champion, who has not been determined, at the boys city finals on Monday.

Jesus A. Maya, 9, a fifth-grader at 13th and Green Elementary School, went 3-3 to become the boys runner-up.

The city marbles tournament will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday in the marbles rings in City Park.

During the week of June 19 the city boys and girls champions will compete in the National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, N.J.

**amykhar** · #10 04-28-2005, 09:09 PM

District 2 pair earn places at city finals

Marbles players Andrea C. Butler, a novice, and Jacob J.P. Smith both go 8-1 to advance.

By Amy Anuszewski Reading Eagle correspondent

 Just about everywhere you looked at Tuesday’s District Two championship of the City Marbles Tournament, you saw a member of the Smith family.
 Jacob J.P. Smith, 11, a sixthgrader at Cabrini Academy, went 8-1 to become boys champion.
 His sister Jesseca S. Smith, 9, a fourth-grader at Cabrini, was the girls runner up with a score of 6-3.
 Jacob’s identical twin Joshua J.P. Smith and their mother, Melissa A. Smith, were referees.
 "Because their uncle was national champion, the kids have been playing since they could hold a marble," their mother said.
 That was Melissa’s brother, Daniel Strohecker, in 1988.
 Jacob will face District One Champion Aboubacar Kallo and the winners of the District Three and Four championships, who have not been determined, at the boys city finals on Monday.
 Before the finals, he said he’s going to work on his backspin, an advanced shooting technique used by most national-tournament champions.
 Richard J. Scholl, 11, a fourth-grader at 10 th and Penn Elementary School, went 5-4 to become the boys runner up.
 Girls champion was novice player Andrea C. Butler, who also went 8-1.
 Andrea, 10, is a fifth-grader at 16 th and Haak Elementary School.
 The first time she played marbles was the day of her school tournament, she said.
 Andrea has a simple strategy for the city: "Aim and try not to miss."
 She will face District One Champion Mary E. Reigle and the District Three and Four champions, who have not been determined, at the girls city finals on Tuesday.
 The city finals will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the marbles rings in City Park.
 The week of June 19, the city boys and girls champions will compete in the National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, N.J.
 The annual marbles competition is sponsored by Reading Eagle Company.

**lynnzop**[$] · #11 04-28-2005, 09:21 PM

So do these kids have really muscular thumbs????

**amykhar** · #12 04-28-2005, 09:40 PM

No, but they do have to build up endurance. The players who don't practice lose their power as the tournament progresses.