Parent - Child Duplicate
June 16, 2019
20 pairs of parent/grandparent and child/grandchild came to Silicon Valley Youth Bridge’s (SIVY's) Annual Father’s Day Parent-Child game where ages do not matter. And, in fact, Bridge is a game for all ages, and what better way to spend Father’s day than to have a family style relaxed competitive bridge game.
Margot Livenspargar, a board member at SIVY, played with her son Mike for the first time in this event. Mike called up his mother about 10 years ago and announced he was going to learn to play bridge and play with her. This was certainly not an empty promise. They placed 2nd in strata B Section A North-South.
Kai Eckert, who has frequented the Pizza parties organized by SiVY, played with his grandmother Georgina. This was the first time Georgina has played at the Palo Alto Bridge Center. Kai started playing bridge a year or so ago. He was on a cruise and saw a sign that said bridge lessons by Marty “somebody”? He signed up for it in order to be able to play with his grandmother! By the end of the bridge lessons he “was hooked” on bridge.
April Haskell and Andrew Haskell of Pleasanton played for the first time here. When April learned about SiVY she said she was going to try to bring him to SiVY’s pizza parties. We hope she does!
In Section A there were 7 tables; not surprisingly Bo and Brent Xiao took first place in the North South direction and Kingston and Cornelius Duffie took first place in the East-West direction.
Section B had 3 tables, so it was a Howell movement and there was a tie for first place between Georgina/Kai Eckert and Sarah/Andrew Chen.
Many thanks to tournament director Will Watson for preparing lunch, and providing another fantastic tournament experience for the players.
SiVY Parent-Child games are held every 2-3 months. Normally at these games, the child in the partnership must be age 25 and Under. This special Fathers Day game was an exception.
If you'd like to be added to the list to receive notifications about these events, please email debbie@siliconvalleyyouthbridge.org
Young players play with a parent or grandparent as partner, trying to win American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) masterpoints and enjoying each other's company. Director Will Watson plans the game so that each pair would be able to meet and play against almost all the others.
Duplicate bridge is one of the few competitive activities in which people of all ages can participate as equals. Participants in the Parent-Child duplicate range from youth to seniors, but each pair has to work together to score well. Bridge is also one of the few games in which new players have the opportunity to compete against and learn from established stars.
Participants in our events range from duplicate bridge novices to experienced ACBL Life Masters to a world champion--all enjoying the company as well as the challenge of the game itself. A typical reaction was one youth's first words as he and his father left, "Can we do that again?"
Grandparents and parents looking for ways to connect with their young family members and entice them away from their iPods and their Game Boys should consider taking up bridge as a family activity. The youngsters may end up teaching them a few things, and that's a great feeling for everyone.
Bridge games at our events 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 $15 per year. Both include a monthly print magazine and registration of masterpoints (start earning towards becoming a Life Master!).