PARENTS

Want to get your child involved in a competitive game that’s fun and promotes literacy, numeracy and critical thinking?

You’ve come to the right place.

More and more parents and teachers are rediscovering Scrabble, or discovering it for the first time.

Australia hosted the first World Youth Scrabble Championship (WYSC) in 2006 at Wollongong. Competitive Scrabble for juniors didn’t take off in Australia though. Although young players were welcome to participate in competitions, the scene was dominated mainly by older players. In the years following the initial WYSC, youth Scrabble exploded in countries across Asia and Africa, as young players discovered how much fun the game was, and parents and teachers recognised the educational and social benefits.

In 2024, CASPA, The Council of Australian Scrabble Players’ Associations committed to run an annual Australian Junior Scrabble Championship (AJSC) specifically for player under age 18. The first AJSC was held at the Cabravale Diggers Club. This followed 6 years of annual interschool tournaments held in Sydney. The first AJSC saw 32 young players compete for the title of Australian Junior Champion, with 4 age categories. Most of the children were from NSW, but there was also representation from Queensland, Victoria and one player coming all the way from Geraldton, Western Australia. There were no players from ACT, South Australia or Tasmania.

We believe we are at the start of huge growth of competitive Scrabble across Australia.

Since the 2024 AJSC we have seen new players come on board in other states and growth is starting to consolidate in NSW, Queensland and ACT.

If you introduce your child into Scrabble, it’s not like a lot of well established youth sports and games such as football or chess. There aren’t thousands of players. You may find that initially there are no other competitive young Scrabble players in your city or town, however…

They will be a part of a small but growing community of players, parents, teachers and supporters who are committed to excellence and growing the young player community.

They will be welcomed by the existing players and be able to connect with them via our dedicated on-line Woogles portal.

They will also be shown the pathway to becoming a Scrabble master if they choose.

YASPA will work with you and other interested parties to help find some local Scrabble buddies for your child if you are in an area where there aren’t any young players… yet.

And if you’re fortunate enough to live in an area where we already have young player communities, such as Sydney, Brisbane or Canberra, you will find that you have the options of regular rated tournaments as well as other activities such as training workshops to allow your child to connect and improve their skills.

We’d love to welcome you and your child to our growing Scrabble community!

Let’s Play!!