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Hello from the Waikato Bays region and my first column as the nominated correspondent (i.e. couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough when asked).

What to write? No sweat – I will ring around some of the movers and shakers in the region and get some scoops on what has been happening in the region. As my calls go unanswered, my paranoia grows as I fear that everybody is avoiding my calls. Until it dawns on me the reason why the phone goes unanswered … everybody is at Gold Coast Congress! It also explains why after a month of big events happening in the region (Thames Summer Festival, Tauranga Congress and the Kelly Peirse Teams) I am sitting at home wondering why there isn’t a local tournament to play in.

Fresh looking Waikato players kick off their campaign at Gold Coast L-R… Di Emms, Michael Neels, Malcolm Smith and Jane Stearns

Having NZ Congress on our doorstep in Hamilton perhaps has whetted the appetite of many locals for these big format tournaments and it makes me a bit envious to see so many of them make the Gold Coast tournament an annual pilgrimage.   Jane Stearns is writing a daily blog about her Gold Coast experiences on the Cambridge bridge site (www.cambridge-bridge-club.org) which is well worth a read.   Although from the amount of socialising that has taken place in the first few days, it will be interesting to see how fresh Di and Jane will be looking by next Sunday.

Tournament participation is seen as one way to grow bridge at the grassroots level. The Waikato Bays have instigated a few initiatives following from ideas and feedback that have arisen from the region;

• You may notice that Waikato Bays have removed all “Open” Tournaments from their tournament schedule … these have been renamed “All Grade” tournaments to encourage more participation by non-open players.
• The popular intermediate and junior leagues continue to grow with a cash prize for the top player in each grade across all the nominated events (points allocated based on participation AND performance).
• For any player who has shown a predilection for tournaments, hasn’t been to Congress yet but would like to go, we are also sponsoring three players to the event to the equivalent of the intermediate package entry price.
• The Waikato Bays Novice Tournament is being held earlier this year (6^th March in Matamata) for novice and new players to get a taste for tournaments. 
• Also gratifying is the continual rise in popularity of the Area Pairs and seeing novice and non-open players keen to match it with some of the best players in the region. It’s a cheap walk-in 5A competition played at six clubs in the Waikato with the Bay Pairs being contested across four clubs in the Bay of Plenty. It was great to see 20 tables rock up by 10am filling the Matamata clubrooms to capacity despite (or maybe because of) the first event falling on Valentine’s Day.  
• For more information on these initiatives, please take a look at the very slick new Waikato Bays website.
  • (waikatobays.bridge-club.org). Mr X Club, Michael Neels (pictured above enjoying the Gold Coast) has been very proactive in providing a single portal for all things bridge in the region as well as supporting tournament secretaries and clubs without results functionality and websites themselves.

 

 

Graeme Farrow and Willy Ryder from Tokoroa were the top non-open pair in the Waikato Area Pairs coming in at 7^th.

 

 

 

 First round winners of the Waikato Area Pairs, Lesley Quilty and Sonia Crawford from Matamata.

Keep that news a'coming, 

Happy bridging, Anna.

 

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