What is the Bridge Associations Assessment Board?

What is the Bridge Associations Assessment Board…? Well… nothing. But this is what it could be:

About a 18 months ago I conducted an online survey of Bridge teachers to see what they thought of a graded exam system for Bridge. I got about 170 responses which included 1 negative comment.

How about... Bridge Associations Assessment Board?

I believe that with any extended discipline like Bridge, learners benefit from having small targets for which to aim:

• It would most likely raise the standard of teaching.
• It would help players develop skills and knowledge requirements that would make them well-rounded players.
• Teachers would get an idea of what was expected or desirable.
• A graded system would incentivise learners and give them a clear idea of when they might be ready to play at club level.
• It would help novice players transition into duplicate players.

Not surprisingly, when the board at the English Bridge Union reviewed both my proposal and the results of the survey which were overwhelmingly in favour of a graded system, I was told there was unanimous agreement that a graded system was a good idea!

This feedback was probably helped by my emphasis on the fact that music exam grades conducted by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in the UK generate over £30 million per annum for the charity.

How would a Bridge graded exam be taken practically?

People would play set deals around a table and be marked by appointed teachers on their application of the specific skill sets required of the grade.

How would you make everyone play the same deals?

Each grade would have its own exam pack of “Compass Card “or “Arrow Card“, and teacher examiners would have an accompanying marking card for each player.

When I think of the most successful Bridge clubs, they all have a comprehensive teaching program. Furthermore, the teaching is very well structured for beginners, intermediates and advanced players as they work in a modular fashion through the various disciplines of the game. Effectively, modular coaching is tried tested and proven to work better than anything else.

A graded system that was instituted by Bridge governing bodies would just take this extremely successful approach to the general Bridge population and add assessments within the modular framework. It would be self-financing, would improve and standardise modern Bridge, and give small scale teachers and clubs a roadmap for bringing new players into the game.

So, the EBU were very enthusiastic…? So why is nothing happening?

This is where you come in… turning ideas into action

If you think a Bridge grade system is an idea worth pursuing, leave a comment below or, better still, write to the ACBL, the ABF, the EBU or whomever and put your views across. With the EBU, lack of funding for the enterprise was the excuse – One thing I know works with the EBU is to say, “Here is a gift of £x,000, but you are only allowed to spend it on [whatever you stipulate]“.