Youth Bridge Weekend 2023

New Zealand Bridge’s annual Youth Bridge Weekend took place over the weekend of September 1^st to 3^rd at the Christchurch Bridge Club. Today’s article features a report on the event by one of the organisers, Paul Coleman.

“Spring had sprung in the Garden City when Christchurch Bridge Club generously welcomed 30 young bridge players from across Aotearoa for the annual Youth Bridge Weekend. For the majority it was their first Youth Weekend, and many had been playing bridge for less than a year.

 

Sam Coutts (Otago) and Paul Coleman (Mt Albert) had planned the 3-day bridge extravaganza. They were fortunate to have Leon Meier (Christchurch) and Lance Bowden (Papatoetoe) on-hand to direct, score, play, deal and counsel the young players throughout the weekend.

 

Zarias Werder (Hāwera) / Greta Casey (Te Aroha) and Gordon Zhong (Auckland) / Marcus Dudley (Te Puke) posted healthy scores in the 16 board warm-up pairs event on Friday afternoon before the main proceedings commenced.

 

Jane Lennon welcomed the players to Ōtautahi with a karakia followed by a 25 question bridge quiz won by Marcus and Greta. Kudos to those who identified Allan Morris as the NZB President, not Alan Grant or Allan Joseph. Following two rounds of teams matches, the out of towners then met the warm hospitality of their billets for the night.

                                          Quiz Gurus

           
               Marcus Dudley and Greta Casey

                          

 

Day 2 started with a lesson from Jane Skipper who emphasised the importance of suit quality and shape when raising partner’s 1-level major suit opening. This was followed by an individual movement with Gordon top scoring in the White section and newcomer Lyman Lu (Auckland Grammar School) taking out the prize in the Red section.

 

Following lunch, Leon and Ramon Quennell (Otago) provided some highlights from their trip to the Netherlands for the World Youth Bridge Championships. This was followed by Tim Schumacher and David Skipper’s discussion on how to be a good partner. Maintaining a good tempo and staying at the table when your partner is declaring a 3+ level contract was their sage advice. 
   Best at Crazy Bridge                                                and in the Individual 

   
  Thomas and Katherine                                                  Gordon Zhong and Lyman Lu

 

An afternoon of Crazy Bridge followed, which is often the highlight of the weekend. That was followed by an evening session of Play with an Expert. Ironically given his earlier talk on being a good partner, Tim arrived uncharacteristically late!

What would bid as West after this sequence:

 

 

 

While 6 pairs bid to 6, only one reached 7, Zarias and Leon….and it was Zarias sitting West who found the raise to 7 after the above sequence, really good thinking. These were the 4 hands:

 

 

 

This was one of only two slams on offer in the session. Meanwhile on Board 17 Briar Coleman (Mt Albert) and Paul were the only pair to find the ♦ slam.

Alas, they reached 7! One West player learnt the hard way that we lead top of a sequence as they chose 7 as their lead.

Declarer put up J at trick 1 (well, you never know!) and when that card held the trick, a rather relieved declarer could claim.

 

Session honours went to:

N/S

Ramon Quennell / Jane Skipper                                           63.00%

Gordon Zhong / Matthew McManus                                      62.26%

James Ling / John Kruiniger                                                61.09%

 

E/W

Kat Holmes / Jane Lennon                                                   62.41% 

Zarias Werder / Leon Meier                                                  57.63%

Leo Hammond / David Taylor                                               53.88%

 

 
Gordon Zhong, James Ling, Jane Skipper, Ramon Quennell, Kat Holmes, 
Leon Meier, Jane Lennon and Zarias Werder

 

Sunday morning saw the completion of the Teams event and what a finish it was. The final round featured a top of the table clash with Team RayZay (James Ling, Joseph Tan, Thomas Kang all from Macleans College plus Marcus Dudley) overcoming a 17 VP deficit to take first place from #StayingYouthful (Aengus Moore (Hamilton), Zarias, Greta, and Lance), who finished second.

 
"The come-back kids": Team RayZay, Marcus Dudley, James Ling, Joseph Tan 
and Thomas Kang

 

My sincere thanks to Susan Edwards for her tireless organising of snacks, billets and all other things that made the event run so smoothly. To Leon Meier who spent the whole weekend at the club and shared his infectious enthusiasm with the players. To Lance and Sam who ensured the success of the weekend through the players they encouraged to attend. Finally, to the support from the wider Christchurch bridge community - hosting so many out of towners would not have been possible without your generosity.”

 

Paul Coleman

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