About our Pizza Parties
Young bridge players enjoy challenging competition and good food at the monthly Silicon Valley Youth (SiVY) Bridge party.
Aspiring bridge players ages 10-25 are welcome – as long as they know just a little bit about bridge and want to learn more.
Upon arrival the kids play casually and enjoy snacks. After pizza is served many players enter a mini-tournament while others keep playing for fun. Brand new players are taught the basics of the game, learning as they play.
The pairs in the mini-tournament practice skills in bidding as well as play. Prizes are awarded to the winners.
Volunteers are available to help the kids who play for fun.
Near the end of each party, dessert is served, while tournament winners are announced and prizes are awarded
The SiVY monthly events are held to provide kids from our after school classes a chance to meet aspiring players from other schools and organizations. They are also a great way for kids who have learned from adult family to play bridge with other young people.
March 16, 2019
Thirty-four youth bridge players participated in our Pizza Party.
After casual play and pizza, 14 youth and 2 SiVY volunteers played in the tournament. The remainder played casual bridge or learned bridge basics with our table helpers.
There were three new youth at the party. Adah came with Gillian. Ajay and Anirudh both heard about SiVY from their friend Advay. Ajay is a student at Monta Vista High.
Following play everyone enjoyed snacks while SiVY volunteer Cheryl Haines read the names of the tournament and raffle winners who chose prizes and posed for pictures.
Thirty-three youth players attended the SiVY pizza party Saturday afternoon. Seven attended for casual play only. The rest competed in one or both sessions of the Saratoga sectional tournament and joined the party between sessions. All enjoyed pizza, snacks, and a raffle for prizes.
Brothers Indigo & Topaz played in their first pizza party; both said they had a great time. Their dad plays duplicate, and their mom plays a little bridge and is hoping to play more.
UC Berkeley freshman, Thomas Cai, was also a SiVY event first timer. Thomas recently learned bridge at a Cal seminar, and heard about this event at Cal bridge club from a fellow student, SiVY mentor Kevin Rosenberg. The afternoon Newcomers game was Thomas' first duplicate, and he joined the ACBL after it.
The five table Newcomers duplicate was open to all ages of players with fewer than 20 masterpoints. Youth players won first place trophies both N-S and E-W. (Newcomer game results)
Kevin Rosenberg also played on Saturday afternoon, placing 2nd overall in the 2 session Flight A pairs with Stella Wan. (Saturday 2-session pairs results)
Stella was not the only SiVY player who was mentored at the tournament. Others included Cornelius Duffie playing with Will Watson, while Cornelius' regular partner, Sarah Youngquist, paired up with Isha Thapa. Michael Hu partnered mentor Li-Chung Chen. And Rory Xiao and Jonathan Yue were kibitzed by mentor Elianna Meyerson. A whole lot of learning going on!
SiVY players also dominated the Friday evening event. Miller Middle School students Michael Hu and Arthur Zhou were first overall in the Flight A pairs with a whopping 70% game. In second overall were 7th grader Rory Xiao, partnered by mentor, Elianna Meyerson. (Friday evening results)
Many thanks to Unit 507 for hosting the party, and to all the volunteers who helped out.
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 $29 for the first year and junior membership only $5 per year. Both include a monthly magazine (print for Adults, online access for Juniors) and registration of masterpoints (start earning towards becoming a Life Master!).