DUBAI // A dedicated group of students applied their minds and dipped into mental word banks while learning Scrabble rules and techniques at a workshop ahead of a weekend tournament in the emirate.
For Rohan Kapur, 14, from Delhi Private School in Sharjah, spending four hours volunteering at the session on Wednesday helped him to share his passion with more than 40 students bent over Scrabble boards.
“I really love it from the bottom of my heart,” said Rohan, who won the UAE Scrabble Championships last year in the Under-15 category.
Muzhiks, the noun for Russian peasant, is his personal favourite since the word once helped him to score 120 points.
To get rid of trying vowels, he uses “euoi”, which means impassioned cry, and “euouae”, or inflection in medieval music.
“Basically it’s a strategic game but is also about using strange words. When you tell your friends some words they won’t believe it.”
The workshop was organised by the UAE Scrabble Club and conducted by Karen Richards, chairman of the youth committee for the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association.
“I hope to get them to love the game,” said Ms Richards, who travels across the world imparting Scrabble skills to youngsters.
“It’s also a great life lesson because it inspires them, builds an interest in words. It can become a cultural expression because they learn South African, British, Australian English words and they understand where words come from. Scrabble can open up the world for these kids.”
Key rules, challenging words opponents could use to bluff them, strategies to open up and close the board, peppered with stories about children who won world championships were among the lessons Ms Richards taught.
A Scrabble tournament will be held over the weekend at the International Horizons College in Business Bay to encourage beginners to take up the game.
Building interest is a priority for Nikhil Soneja, chairman of UAE Scrabble Club.
“We want to get kids involved in a structured way since this is a strong overall aid to education,” he said.
“We want to build a broad base starting with familiarising them with rules and moving on to strategies. Their minds are so agile when they are young and they have a vast dictionary to play with.”
Rajiv Premnath, 14, a Grade 9 student at Gems Modern Academy (GMA), hopes to pick up a few tips and learn tactics.
“I would like to get the best words from the rack and it’s not always the high scoring letters,” said Rajiv, who began playing the game in 2008.
“Sometimes you just need an ‘s’ because it’s a hook or an ‘er’ or an ‘ed’ and you can get the whole score of your opponent. This helps particularly when you are at your worst point. I enjoy discovering new words and meeting new nationalities.”
GMA maths teacher Phillip Chappells escorted the school’s top 20 students to the session.
“It helps the children to find new words every day.
“There is some maths involved because of the calculations and it broadens their thinking,” he said.
“Scrabble can play an important part in education and helps students stay focused.”
The students concentrated on the boards and on letters thrown up on a big screen to help them with their moves.
“This game has a lot of suspense because you never know what your opponent will do,” said Mohammed Fawwaaz, 12, from Our Own High School, Dubai.
“I like to learn tricks, tips, so I have an advantage when I play.”
Sundara Gopal was among several parents accompanying their children for extra training before the tournament.
“Their concentration improves plus the power of the word helps in communication and has helped my son become a good leader in school,” said Mr Gopal.
His son Sundaresh, 11, from Our Own High School was among six selected to represent the UAE at a youth championship in Sri Lanka last year.
“This is not just a game, but will help children later in life.”
rtalwar@thenational.ae
