Steve Ellis writes:
 
The 2003 Washington State Closed attracted its biggest turnout in
perhaps the past 25 years with 83 players participating.  Overall, the
tournament seemed to run smoothly, and to the best of my knowledge, it
was completed without anyone suffering any serious injuries.
 
Certain individuals contributed significantly to the tournament's
success.  First and foremost, once again, is the hard work of Hentley
and Alice Liem.  Hentley reserved the gym, coordinated the medals and
t-shirt orders and delivered the snacks, much of which his wife, Alice,
prepared for tournament participants.  It's easy to take for granted
everything they have done at the tournaments the past couple years
because they do it so well.  Hentley also prepared the entry forms and
collected entries.  Alice and Kale Fong helped him with the data entry.
 
Riley Bryce and Hentley handled registration, making sure everyone got
signed in and got their t-shirts.  Jennie Chan once again did an
outstanding job designing the tournament logo for the t-shirts and
medals.
 
Li Qian did a great job handling the data entry for the draw sheets. 
Rena Wong, with assistance from Carla Furukawa, made sure that play
stayed on schedule, an important consideration since we had to be out of
the gym at a certain time.  On Saturday, Rena arrived 8:45 am and left
at 11 pm.  The final men's 35 doubles match ended at about 10:59 pm with
the third game finishing with a 17-16 score.
 
For the Washington State Open, we are planning on about 160 entries,
easily the biggest tournament in this area in the past 25 years.  We
will need considerable help.  If you would like to volunteer to help
with setting up and taking down, registration and seeing that matches
start in a timely fashion, please let Hentley or me know.
 
The Open is scheduled for May 16-17-18 at the Pro Club (thanks, Annie
Poh!).  We expect to have the entry forms out in the middle of April. 
We hope to have five events in each of three age groups and expect
players from Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon and perhaps California.
 
Once again, thanks for supporting the 2003 Washington State Closed.
 
Steve Ellis