Player Spotlight

Cornelius has been a SiVY player since May, 2013. He attended the first ever SiVY Pizza, Party, Play Bridge as one of our more “experienced” players, having learned the game from his Grandfather Fred Schwerer. He was a member of the original Jordan Middle School club in school year 2013-2014 and attended our first ever summer camp after the school year ended. Cornelius and his twin sister Claire are very much regulars at the monthly pizza parties, the parent-child duplicates, and Casual Friday.

Bitten by the bridge bug sooner than his sister, Cornelius says when they were first learning to play, he was more interested in the game than Claire. His amusing recollection of their early play is how his sister used to love the passed out hand – she’d sometimes pass in fourth seat with 16 points! Now she is more into it, but has less time to play given the other commitments that go along with being High School Sophomores. Even so, as Freshmen they both found time to practice for the Bay Area High School Championships, where they were part of the runner-up Palo Alto High team. They hope to compete in the 2016 event, this time bringing back that coveted first place.

Cornelius likes the intellectual challenge of the game, but finds the partnership aspect to be his favorite part of the game. “It’s really fun to be on a team with someone”, he says. “[When my friends ask about the game], I usually say it’s really fun and a great, cheap way to entertain yourself for a few hours.” He then adds “yay youth discounts!”