I spent the past week at bridge camp in Carlinville, Illinois. This is a camp for 6th to 10th graders. It costs $600 per camper. The camper pays $300 and the Education Foundation of the ACBL subsidizes the rest.
This year, because of the holiday, we did not have the turnout that was expected. The director then set up a boot camp for adults (299ers) to fill the empty slots. The cost for their 3 days was $260/ couple or $180 for a single. There were 31 campers and 23 adults. Campers came from 9 states and counselors and teachers came from 7 states.
This is a tremendous opportunity for kids to learn to play the game as well as improve their existing skills. There are 3 classes: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Although the campers and the adults never played together, I can assure you that some of the advanced players could play with the best the adults had to offer.
They have the best teachers. Both Michael Huston and Chris Moll have over 15,000 master points and the other teachers are cruise directors, ACBL directors, and teachers. We were very happy to have Bryan Delfs with us. He has been a teacher at camp in past years and now is the head of the education dept. at ACBL. Look for him to be CEO someday.
There are bridge games and bridge lessons every day from 9-11, 1-4 and 7-9. They run tournaments just like they do at sectionals and the winners go home with master points. There is much squealing and high-fiving when they win their first points.
Activity periods are filled with dodge ball, pool, ping pong, archery, miniature golf, Frisbee course, tennis, swimming pool and a lake filled with water slides, zip lines, canoes, and paddle boats. There is never a spare moment to get homesick. After the game at night there is always something planned. This year with the 4th of July, we had a campfire with s’mores then watched fabulous fireworks. There was ice cream night, board game night, trivia and the famous talent show. The hit of the show was an 11 year old boy who recited to the tune of Can Can all 119 elements of the Periodic Table-in 2 minutes and 8 seconds. They recorded it for Facebook and I expect to see it on YouTube one of these days.
And of course there is camp food with the usual carbs, salad bar, desserts and ice cream. I thought my Jewish friend might not fare so well when our first dinner was ham and pork chops. I functioned as camp nurse, gofer, and fill in at the adult tables. One story I heard was about Barry Crane. He was a film director (Mission Impossible) and expert bridge player. He was playing one time in a tournament. After the table had picked up their hands, he called the director over and informed him that he had had this same hand in New Orleans 4 years before and proceeded to name all the cards in all 4 hands. (same type scenario in this month’s Bridge Bulletin)
And when you feel put upon to pay $8 to play in sectionals, think of a club in New York that pays $50,000 a year rent for their facility and charge $27 per game. Saturday morning there was much hugging and crying as cars were loaded up to go home.
Many of them keep in touch all year around and some even travel with their parents and meet up to play at tournaments. This is absolutely a wonderful experience and I wish we could spark some interest in that age group here in our own unit.
New term for me: Clocking a hand is when a player intentionally watches another player sort their cards. Yes, it’s a No-No.
A big thank you to our Unit 163 for subsidizing 4 students. Trevor, from Mt. Pleasant, was given the male sportsmanship award. This is voted on by teachers and counselors so congrats to Trevor.