May 22, 2011 Youth Bridge Tournament in New York City
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On Sunday morning, May 22 2011, 50 youngsters attended a youth bridge tournament at the Manhattan Bridge Club in NYC. The tournament was organized by Mila Antonova with significant help from many people, including Barbara Clark, who helped promote the tournament outside of Manhattan. The players came from NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and Westchester County. A bus was hired to transport 20 children from our neighboring District 3, along with some parents and teachers. Everyone received a T-shirt with a sample ACBL convention card on it.
Hopefully the children will wear them at their school so other non-bridge playing students might get curious. The tournament was divided into two events, a regular game and a mini-bridge game. We even broadcast on Bridge Base Online with 200 kibitzers watching. We awarded trophies and medals to the high finishers. There were many give-aways including ACBL bridge cards to everyone, bridge software, including Bridge Master 2000 and copies of “The Cardturner,” a new novel by Louis Sachar.
We served breakfast and pizza for lunch.
The event was even more successful than I envisioned. The youngsters had a great time, the parents (and grandparents) were impressed, the gifts were well received and the pizza was excellent. I’m now planning on holding many more of these events.
So many people helped with this event. Special thanks to: Al Levy, District 24 Director, who raised most of the funds needed thanks to generous sponsors; Vicki Campbell, ACBL Marketing Director, for her support; Jeff Bayonne and Zeus Arias, for allowing us to use their facility; our director Christopher Rivera; Kent Mignocchi who generated the hands and play analysis for the regular game; photographer James Jorash; Uday Ivatury and Fred Gitelman of BBO who supplied copies of Bridge Master 2000, Audrey Grant version, and GIB, as gifts; and many others who handled registration, pairing, food and more. Also thanks to our sponsors who donated money and prizes, Bridge Union, the Manhattan Bridge Club, Bridge Base Online, District 24, District 3, the ACBL, GNYBA, Nassau Suffolk Bridge Association, Long Island Bridge for Youth, School Bridge League.