I have to agree with Shannon a little bit there too. I joined THOTA in 2009 also, and it was at that time when I started to learn the importance of discussing turns and "planning" team games. I would say now, I talk in all my "social" team games and my clan games are far more chat filled. Night and day difference from before my clan world experiences.
On another note, if Blitz were here he would want to share how much bigger his ..... clan posting is......than any of yours. THOTA, though retired (and having only posted maybe a total of 50 times during that time) is at over 18.5k posts.
Also, Forza ran the Premier League which zips and I won in 2009 and I still think that is one of the best tourney wins I have. It was a well run and long tournament. Even being a doubles tourney, it seems all the tourneys in place now are not as lengthy as they used to be.