For the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club and its members, 2023 marks not only the countdown to the club’s centennial anniversary but also its second time hosting the International Shuffleboard Association World Championships in the past decade.
The world’s oldest and largest shuffleboard club hosts the Shuffleboard World Championships while gearing up for Friday’s festivities that also celebrate their centennial anniversary. For many international players like Pam Hill and Jonathan Schnapp, this tournament is just as much about reconnecting with old friends and fostering an inviting community as it is about fame.
Pam: “Yes I come to play shuffleboard, and I’ve been doing it a long time, but I come for the sociability and to see people like Jonathan.”
Jonathan: “Yeah”
Pam: “I really do.”
Jonathan: “Pam, by the way, isn’t just Pam. She’s Hall-of-Famer, Pam Hill.”
Amy Marshall, the club’s manager, wants to encourage everyone to experience what the shuffleboard community has built over the decades and generations at this week’s free galactic after-party.
“This Friday, because it is the wrapping up of the world tournament, we are going to be having a special Friday Night Shuffle, this Friday night, so we would love for people to come out. It’s going to be from 7 – 10 pm, there is going to be a DJ, we are going to have galactic shuffle, and it’s going to be sort of the send-off to this world championship and also the kick-off to the centennial, the 100 year anniversary of the club.”
The tournament is open to the public and is being held until Friday’s finals which start at 1:30 with social events planned throughout the evening.
