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The 2021 New Zealand Bridge Youth Bridge Weekend by Paul Coleman

The 2021 Youth Weekend is the first in about 22 years that Richard Solomon has not run. By my   calculation, the 1999 youth weekend was held before two-thirds of this year’s attendees were born. We are all grateful to the foundation that Richard has laid, and he was instrumental this year in managing travel bookings for all those outside Wellington. I hope the new format for the 2021 weekend met the expectations of all those attending.

31 eager young players arrived at Wellington Bridge Club on Saturday morning, for 12 players it was their first youth weekend. Half the players were from Auckland with others drawn from Tauranga, Napier, Taupo, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Greymouth and host region Wellington.

Alan Grant started the weekend with a glowing endorsement for transfers and super accepts. He fielded many questions from curious players and then drilled them with a handful of boards. This was followed by a delicious lunch from Margie Michael and Mark Rowe who catered the weekend and made lots of new friends.

   After a round of teams, we were joined by Martin Reid and his band of helpers (Nigel Kearney, Anthony Ker and Peter Newell) who took us through a session of Par bridge. For many it was an introduction to count and suit preference. The quick learners who brought home the chocolates were Briar Coleman, Alex Shan, Eric Liu and Donny Woo.

Saturday night was capped off with a 15 board individual event. In between the laughter and hilarity at most tables, Kathryn Holmes, Flora Edwards and Tony Ren knocked up over 1800 points in Section B with Eason Chang, Molly Meek and Jessica Kang scoring big in Section A.

Sunday morning kicked-off with thunder, lightning and two more rounds of teams. A tight competition ended with the team of Andre Castaing, Emma James, Richard and Molly Meek sneaking home by 1 VP over Team Spooner with Team Lockhart a further VP behind. Team Lockhart had led up to the final round spurred on by the pair of Eason Lu and Tony Ren finding 6NT on Board 1.

A raucous afternoon of Crazy bridge closed out the weekend with many pairs giving generous contributions to their opponents. After 15 boards Niccolo Nustrini and Elsa Ly had racked up an extraordinary 25,000 in points.

At 3pm the players headed out into a Southerly storm that delayed or cancelled many return trips. Throughout the weekend they showed courtesy to their hosts and great sportsmanship to each other. It was a pleasure for those involved to be a part of the fun and camaraderie that they created.

This weekend was made possible by the passion and commitment of many people in the Wellington bridge community – in addition to those above our thanks go out to

•    Allan Joseph who was on hand to direct 4 sessions (and provide occasional bidding advice) in his normal calm and collected manner.
•  Bridget Hannaway-Willcox at Wellington Bridge Club who coordinated billets, shuttles, boards and fish and chips amongst other tasks
• Mindy Wu who was on-hand to ensure the club was set-up and that all the last minute things were catered for
• Lance Bowden (Papatoetoe) who encouraged and inspired ten Macleans College students to attend and who was on hand to ensure 8 full tables.
• ·        The Wellington Bridge community who transported and billeted our 20+ out-of-towners.
  
  
• ·        The anonymous donor of the Prezzy Card which we spent on the array of sweet prizes.
•            last but not least, my wife Cherie who both played and ensured the playing room was ready for Monday night play.

There are 2 upcoming events in the Youth calendar that players should start preparing for.

·        Friday 1 October – NZ Schools’ Bridge Competition at Auckland Grammar

·        Sat/Sun 21/22 November – Youth at the Interprovincials Please send any enquiries for these events to youth@nzbridge.co.nz

 

 

 

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