Local Children Aiming For The Title In
Marbles Competitions
Penn-Trafford Star
Michael Cristiano
April 9, 2009
When it comes to
marbles, it's all in the family.
Many of those
participating in
This spring,
children and youths ages 14 and younger can compete at 15 locations throughout
County winners are
eligible to compete in the 86th National Marbles Championship in Wildwood, N.J.
For the past five
years, players from
This year, local
participants hope to continue that winning trend.
"I'm going to try,"
says Ben Furman, 13, of Swissvale. "I practice every day."
Ben, a student at
Word of God School, says he first learned to play marbles from his uncle.
"He bought me my
first bag of marbles," Ben says.
The marbles program
harkens back to a family connection when the county had to take it over from the
city of
Ed Ricci, 43, of
Shaler says his grandpa, Walt Lease, a worker in the county parks department,
was instrumental in getting the county to adopt the marbles program after the
city abandoned it in 1974.
"He went to Tom
Foerster (then a county commissioner) and asked him to help the program out,"
Ricci says. "The county has sponsored it ever since."
Prior to the county
taking over the marbles program, the city ran it in the
Marbles have run in
the Ricci family for four generations and culminated with his daughter, Amber,
becoming girls national champion in Wildwood last year.
Even Ricci's
4-year-old daughter, Sierra, has gotten involved and rolls marbles across the
floor.
Ricci is taking over
more of the clinics being sponsored all over the county with the help of his
wife, Maureen, who also is helping to organize them.
"It's all in the
family," Ed Ricci says. "It's been given forward from parent to child.
"My mom has pictures
of me in diapers, playing marbles," he says with a laugh.
The origins of the
game of marbles have been traced to ancient
There are hundreds
of different ways to play the game of marbles, which is as varied from country
to country as is the myriad of marble colors and designs, ranging from tiger's
eye to agate.
In U.S. competition,
the game that's the standard is Ringer, in which contestants take turns trying
to knock at least seven of 13 marbles -- arranged in an X, in a 10-foot circle
-- out of the ring.
Placing their hands,
knuckles down, on the floor, players square themselves to their targets, and,
using their index fingers for position, flick their marbles at their targets
using the end of their thumb.
Much like pool --
marbles sometimes is called "knuckle pool" -- the objective is to use a shooter
marble to knock out as many other marbles, or mibs, as possible. Seven marbles
knocked out in a row is a "stick" and a complete victory.
Amber, now 13, got
10 sticks in a row last year in the championships.
"It feels great,"
she says. "It's something different that I can do."
Although she can't
compete in Wildwood this year because previous champions cannot come back, she
still plans to attend the
Amber emerged with
her national win last year from among 27 contestants, who hail from areas such
as
She still keeps in
touch with a lot of them.
"Especially with
instant messaging and online resources," her father says.
And that's part of
the appeal for the local marble players -- hoping to get a chance at the big
prize.
"It's fun to do ...
just getting to play with other people," says Haley Alder, 13, of Swissvale,
whose aunt taught her to play. "Getting to interact with people."
________________________________________
Participants shoot
for local, national titles
The Allegheny County
2009 Marbles Program is free to all children ages 14 and younger.
All local champions
are qualified to enter the
County winners
qualify to enter the National Marbles Championship.
National
championship
Champions selected
from local tournaments held in cities and counties around the United States will
converge for the National Marbles Championship competition from June 21 to 25 in
Wildwood, N.J.
The marbles players,
or mibsters, will play more than 1,200 games during the tournament.
The mibsters will
compete not only for national honors but also college scholarships and numerous
prizes and awards.
The National Marbles
Tournament first was held in 1922.
Here are places that
mibsters and can go for free local marbles clinics and competitions:
•
Saturday and Sunday,
1 to 3 p.m.; Monday, 3 to 5 p.m.
For more
information, call 412-271-3110.
• Word of
Tuesday through
April 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more
information, call 412-371-8587.
•
May 13 through May
17, Wednesday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.
to 5 p.m.
For more
information, call 412-471-6070.
________________________________________
Champions from
The
Last year was the
fifth consecutive year that winners of the National Marbles Championship were
from
The previous time it
occurred, both winners were from
• National champions
in 2008 were John Leffakis, boys, and Amber Ricci, girls -- with their plaques
at the tournament, at left, from left.
• Alexandra Bauer of
• Keith Moss of the
South Side was boys national champion in 2006.
• Jamie Miller of
the South Side was boys national champion in 2005.
• Carly Miller of
the South Side, Jamie's cousin, was girls national champion in 2004.