This is an invitation to all existing and "would be" badminton umpires out there! We are planning on holding an umpires' clinic in conjunction with the U.S. Senior National Badminton Championships this coming March, here in Washington, DC. We are planning on holding the clinic on Thursday, March 21, immediately before the tournament begins. That way you can practice your newly-refreshed (or newly-found!) skills at the tournament. Please let us know by February 24 if you are preliminarly interested in attending the clinic, so we know how many to plan for. We will not expect confirmed acceptances until early March. We really need to rejuvenate our umpiring capabilities here on the East Coast. Please plan to join us, and pass this invite on to anyone you think might be interested. Separately, we want to encourage all of you who are currently umpires (or who will be after the clinic) to help out with umpiring at the Senior Nationals. Every match should be umpired, so we will have lots of opportunities for you to get practice and fine-tune your expertise! So, in summary, please: 1) pass this invite on to anyone you know interested umpiring 2) let me know by return e mail (preferably by February 24) if you are interested in attending the clinic on March 21, and 3) let me know by return e mail if you are interested in umpiring at the Senior Nationals, March 21-24, 2002. If you need more information about the Senior Nationals, check out our website at www.astro.umd.edu/badminton/seniors THANKS! Diane Cornell, Tournament Co-Director