Summer Camp 2017

Fourth Annual SiVY Summer Camp

Silicon Valley Youth Bridge (SiVY Bridge) held its fourth bridge camp June 19 through June 23. This year’s 29 campers were players entering 5th to 12th grade who have not played regularly in open duplicate games. Campers came from as far away as Chicago and San Diego and there were five pairs of siblings participating.

The summer camp included seven players who had little to no previous bridge experience. By the end of the week all had learned enough of the rules of the game and procedures of duplicate to be able to participate in the end of camp tournament. Even the one student who “started out always wanting to be dummy”, according to her teacher, had developed into an “aggressive declarer” by the end of the week.

New to the 2017 SiVY Summer Camp was the use of older youth players as camp “counselors”. In all there were seven high school age table helpers and mentors, all active SiVY members. Stella Wan is a 17-year-old Palo Alto High Senior and first time camp counselor. She said, “I really enjoyed seeing campers start learning bridge at a very young age.” Another first time helper, Cornelius Duffie said “Since I was a camper myself just 4 years ago, it was super fun to be a volunteer counselor this year. The campers really seemed to relate to me as a newer and younger player.”

The final day of camp a pizza party and tournament. In all 24 of the campers participated. The winning pair North/South were a duo who see one another just once a year at camp, Jasmine Lu and Madison Yates. This is their third year at SiVY camp and their first time as tournament victors. The winners East/West were Jasmine’s sister, Katherine Lu, and her partner Victoria Stukalova. This was Victoria’s second year at camp, but her first chance to play in the tournament. She, along with the other winners, received trophies to commemorate their wins.

Our Wonderful Volunteers

Bridge camp, like all SiVY activities, was an all-volunteer effort. In addition to camp organizer Randy Ryals and the lead teachers (Frank Smoot, Kathy Puryear, Margot Livenspargar), a dozen other volunteers were involved, either as table mentors or in performing the many other jobs required for smooth operation. Camp would not have been possible without their efforts.

Special thanks are due to Qing Lu, the mother of our youth mentor Michael Hu. The food she prepared was one of the highlights of Bridge Camp, for both campers and volunteers. (Several youth mentors, only partially joking, mentioned the food as their “favorite” thing at camp!) Also special thanks to Unit 503 for allowing use of the bridge club for the Friday Tournament and to Will Watson for directing.

If you would like to contribute to SiVY's efforts to introduce young people to the challenge of bridge, consider joining us as Volunteer or making a tax deductible Donation.