Big changes for the Oakdale playgroup:8-9 years ago, Prof Underwood
started the Redemption playgroup at Oakdale Christian Academy. We started out as a small group of students and me, and we had very little idea of how to compete in Redemption or host tournaments. But we had a lot of fun together and started to meet some amazing people.
We started hosting with only a simple local tournament featuring only T1-2p, and only attended by the few people in our local playgroup. But after a while we were hosting EC Regional tournaments featuring all 7 events, and attended by players from 5 different states. Along the way we were helped significantly by other great hosts like
Ben Huntsman, Stephen Schaefer, Travis Brown, Matt Archibald, and
Chris Fachman. We were also helped to get cards from people like
Ken Locklin and
John Michaliszyn. And early on we were taught competitive strategy by
Brian Reid (RIP) and
Jonathan Greeson.
Over the years there have been many great players who have joined the Redemption community through the Oakdale connection. Early students like
Nathan Schiro, Robert Harrelson, and
Michael Saucedo would certainly have made more of a splash on the national scene if we'd been more of a part of it back then. More recent students like
David Eom, Kayleb Matthews, Caleb Stanley, Isaiah Johnson, and
Biruk Fisseha have certainly made a name for themselves by placing highly in big tournaments over the years. And staff kids like
Drew Wills, Alecia Underwood, and
Ian Kratzer, have also developed into big-time players. We have had a National Champion (
Ian Kratzer in Sealed), and more than twenty top 10 Nats finishes over the years.
But the time has come for my family to
leave Oakdale. And so the time has come for me to turn over the playgroup into the very capable hands of those who remain. Fellow staff members
Brian Jones, Stephen Coates, Jason Waugh, and
Andy Wills are going to be great leaders of this playgroup going forward. And I'm sure that our experienced players like Drew, Kayleb, Caleb, Ian, Stevie, Kyle, Kyla, and Wyatt will be excellent mentors for our newer players who are just beginning to learn the game.
Hopefully I will be starting another Redemption playgroup wherever my family ends up. And in that way Redemption will actually grow as a result of this transition. But I will always have a special place in my heart for the playgroup here. I hope to be able to return for tournaments here in the future as well. It's a great place, and full of great people, and great memories.
