December 19, 2014 Holiday Party

The 2nd Annual SiVY Bridge Holiday Party was held Friday, December 19th and hosted forty-four aspiring youth players ages four to twenty-two, including nine players who were attending their first SiVY event. Holiday themed decorations, goodie bags, and a special type of gingerbread man helped set a festive tone for the event.

Frank Smoot emceed the afternoon and started by announcing a few new programs of interest to all. He told the group about this year’s second annual Summer Camp dates, which will offer two sessions this July: July 20-24 (all skill levels) and/or July 27-31 (continuing campers or those with prior experience). Frank asked one of last year’s campers, Anna M., to share a tip from last year’s camp. Anna’s answer: “They taught me not to use the pass card as much!”

Frank also announced the new SiVY Bridge Youth North American Bridge Championships (YNABC) Sponsorship Program. To support aspiring players who wish to compete at a national level, SiVY Bridge will provide $500 per youth applicant to help offset costs associated with attending the 2015 YNABC in Chicago, August 6th-8th, 2015.  SiVY Bridge will also assist its sponsored players in applying for a matching $500 award from District 21 of the ACBL.   If desired, SiVY will also provide mentorship for its sponsored youth players. Watch for more details coming soon at siliconvalleyyouthbridge.org and facebook.com/siliconvalleyyouthbridge.

Lastly Frank introduced a special “visitor”, a 3-armed gingerbread man. He quizzed the group about the figurine asking what they noticed and how it might relate to bridge. After some encouragement, four year old Colin Tivol came up with the answer, “Third Hand High”.

The young players were divided into 3 types of games: Advanced Duplicate Tournament – Section A, Beginner Duplicate Tournament – Section B, with the remainder playing party bridge. There was even one table of brand new players just learning basics for the first time.

A unique event took place with two older siblings squared off against two younger siblings in Section B. Harrison Chen and Eddie Wang played against younger brother Arthur Chen and younger sister Cindy Wang. Each team seemed quite intent on besting their respective siblings. Perhaps we’ll see this foursome teaming up at a Swiss Event some day?

Besides being given an opportunity to compete for prizes in the tournament, kids were also offered a chance to enter a raffle by unscrambling bridge words (e.g. “siefens”). Winners of the raffle prizes were Kyra Helmbold, Elijah Vercher. Donovan Dix, Ramiyah Vercher, and Taanish Patel.

In the duplicate game, the winners in Section A first overall were brothers Brent & Rory Xiao. In section B there was a tie for first, with Kyra Helmbold-Anna M. and Harrison Chen-Eddie Wang winning prizes.

In addition to his stellar moment of figuring out Frank’s 3-handed gingerbread man quiz, our youngest player Colin Tivol partnered with his eight year old sister Violet to earn his first fractional masterpoint. For his second overall victory he chose the book: "The Fun Way to Serious Bridge". But more fun was selecting his brand new ACBL number and joining the league.

Thank you to all the volunteers, parents, and players for helping make our first full calendar year as Silicon Valley Youth Bridge successful. Happy Holidays.

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The bridge games at our parties are American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) sanctioned awarding masterpoints (MP) to high scorers. ACBL membership is not required for our games but is strongly suggested. You can join online or at the Bridge Center on the night of an event. Adult membership is $28 for the first year and junior membership only $15 per year. Both include a monthly print magazine and registration of masterpoints (start earning towards becoming a Life Master!).