If you are too busy to read this whole post, I would very much like you to go directly to the end of it and think about the important quoted statement, which I received in a private email on the subject of “Youth Bridge”.
But now, on with this week’s post:
As a performing violinist I have managed and promote quite a few classical concerts over the years. My fellow performers and I used to continually agonise over questions such as:
How can we make classical music ‘cool’ for the younger audiences?
How can we attract youth to our concerts?
What do we have to do to rid us of the stuffy classical music image?
I wish someone had shoved the coffee smell up my nose by telling me the following…
You CAN’T!
Riding a roller-coaster is more exciting than reading a book;
Pop is more hip than classical music; and
The card game shown in the video below, which my children call ‘Speed’;
has more raw excitement than ‘Contract Bridge’.
“Contract Bridge?” – What kind of name is that? Hardly a marketing person’s dream of a great trade-name for a kid’s game.
But there is something very important to remember here:
Unfortunately, popular culture would have you believe that raw excitement IS what matters. This is far from the truth. Nothing is nobler than the higher disciplines of the mind.
A board member of a national association asked me recently, ‘What are your ideas for making ‘Contract Bridge’ seem more exciting and sexy to the younger crowd?’
Look:
Bridge is not a sport
Bridge is not ‘cool’.
But, it does not have to be either of these things anyway!
Bridge is not exciting and sexy, in the way people think it needs to be for children. It never will be… but that’s ok 
– We don’t have to dumb down for kids. They don’t fall unconscious if you read them Shakespeare nor have fits if you play Beethoven to them without an accompanying drum beat. You have to trust in the game i.e. that it is entertaining, engaging, interesting for children, in its own right. Give them opportunities to play and incentives and they will.
And now to the statement that I mentioned at the top of this post:
Recently, someone made the following statement to emphasise why it was not an imperative or particularly important to encourage children to play Bridge.
“with the ageing demographic that we have now we cannot wait for a few percent of today’s children to decide to play duplicate bridge in thirty or forty years time.” – To paraphrase; children will not become significant players of the game until they are in their forties or fifties, so there is no point investing in them now because the return on the investment is too far into the future.
Just let me know what you think and feel about this statement… good, bad, valid, infuriating etc.
Oddly enough, this statement is very similar to the opinion of one of the most successful Bridge business owners in the world. This person said to me that they were not remotely interested in encouraging youth, because the return on the investment was too far into the future… The ‘I’m doing ok, Jack’ attitude. Many significant figures in Bridge are eager if niot hell bent, in maintaining a status quo.
Excellent article!
As a newcomer to bridge who happens to be in my mid fifties, I must say that encouraging young people to play bridge would be a good thing. Just like learning a language to easier when you are young, I think that mastering bridge would be beneficial when you are younger. To be candid, I do not feel that many of the accomplished players of bridge have much a patience with beginners. I recently tried to develop my bridge playing skills on an online bridge playing website and I was both belittled and bullied while trying to play. I am going to assume that these players are in the midst of trying to accumulate Master points and feel that they must play quickly, to the detriment of someone just learning. So bottom line is teach them when their young, and master players should give back and share their skills with beginners.
I have been treated rudely on an online Bridge playing site too… Very rudely! Just play slower and irritate them more – this is the same strategy I adopt if someone tail gates me in a car on the motorway. If they stop bullying me, I reward them by speeding up.
The game you are showing to your children is far more exciting than bingo, which seems very popular in Britain’s over 60s. I think all card games are more enjoyable than bingo.
Some classical music is inspiring. You can suggest to young people that they make a sentence or two inspired by the piece of classical music they were hearing. The first classic music I heard was when I was around 10 – Beethoven’s Pastorale. I did not know what the piece was called but I knew it sounded like spring as it was arriving and I could hear the stream. I was so delighted to find out by our music teacher the name of the piece. That memory of my youth was the beginning of my learning classic piano in later life. Nowaday’s trendy music does not inspire me like Bethooven or Chopin.
There are chess clubs in schools; there should be bridge clubs too. When educators have the benefits of strategy, math, etc properly explained, they should be receptive to volunteers having access to groups of the younger generations.
The ACBL supports this approach, and we need success stories to provide credibility to this approach. With the lack of funding for the more traditional extra curricular activities, this approach should find fertile fields.
John, I agree with your views.
It’s an interesting topic and one I’ve thought about a great deal. I confess that I’ve always been against teaching young people to play bridge (http://www.graemetuffnell.com/age-learn-play-bridge/) because I thought it would be better if they were all outside getting some exercise. I also always thought that staying indoors to read a novel or play a musical instrument was a good thing! Goes to show that reading blogs can’t be all bad either because it wasn’t till I read Mark’s message that I realised that I was contradicting myself.
I think we need to be careful, though, because we’re dealing with two issues. Putting aside for a moment whether it’s good for young people to learn the game, we still have to decide if it’s good for the game to teach young people. If those successful bridge business owners Mark is writing about are successful because they’re throwing resources at baby boomers rather than teenagers then it might be worth doing the same thing.
It does seem that bridge in the form that was so successful half a century ago is not working so well. Maybe we just accept that. If fewer and fewer people are taking up the game then perhaps the cold hard fact is that bridge has had it’s day. Or perhaps there will always be enough enthusiasts around to keep things ticking along, even if not humming.
I know Mark’s point was that bridge is not cool and we shouldn’t ruin a good thing but maybe we can do a “one-day cricket” to bridge and jazz things up. If anything, test cricket has been helped by the shorter version of that game.
I seem to have drifted off the topic of youth in bridge to something more general, sorry, although maybe that’s what we should all do! If you enjoy teaching young people then go for it. If your wish is to make a buck catering to older players then that’s probably OK too.
Thanks for an intersting read and the opportunity to comment.
No we don’t have to accept that Bridge has had its day… It is just that it needs a fresh perspective. But it can not be dressed up to be something it is not for the sake of seeking popularity with the youth – in desperation!
Cricket has turned the game around with its fast paced 20/20 game. Speed excites. Can there be an equivalent in Bridge? Probably, unless the fuddy-duddies get their way.
I don’t mind people making money in Bridge – I just object to them putting obstacles in the way of youth learning because they think they are better off if things stay as they are or because their business or organisation runs in a manner covered in this blog. In my opinion, bad business ignores its communities – Declining numbers and the woeful lack of business collaboration in Bridge is the proof. “I’m in it for me” businesses are not the best model.
The fresh perspective without the extra dressing seems to be the problem. All the talk about marketing the game might be missing the mark. If there is something wrong with the product then marketing is a bandage, not a cure.
I wonder whether a change to the way duplicate sessions are run might help. A smallish club that can’t cater in its regular sessions for an influx of new players is in trouble. If there were a permanent swiss type movement that kept players playing at approximately the same level while still allowing them to move up (or down, gulp) as they improved it might keep everyone happy. One of the reasons internet bridge works well is that it’s normally possible to find players of a similar standard to play against.
Perhaps there is some way to combine club, home and internet bridge, picking the best bits out of each medium. A duplicate session running at the local club that allowed virtual players to join in and home players to enter their scores in one great big session. Mess?
Unfortunately I’m probably not on the right track either! I’ve played duplicate for a long time and it’s hard to take a fresh look with tired eyes.
Thanks again for the article and the submit comment button.
Some of your ideas are interesting and food for thought
There are only two ways to find out how ideas such as these could work in clubs…
The first is to ask club members for their opinions – and importantly for their suggestions.
The second is to try things out.
I think clubs and the internet are intimidating to many because usually when you are considering starting club Bridge, you are inexperienced, lack confidence, don’t know the rules of Bridge very well, find the competitive nature a bit daunting and so on. Therefore, any way that a club can say, “Join us because we can pair you with experience, welcome you, will make allowances for you at first, have a friendly buddy scheme” etc. – At one of my children’s schools, when a new person starts mid term in a class of 30, they are buddied with one of the friendly kids to help them out. My son has just been buddied with a new boy who is French and speaks no English. As for the internet gaming sites like BridgeBase Online – I think they are pretty good at helping out new members, but there will always be room for improvement.
i was searching for a site to send to my non bridge playing friend to explain my fascination with the game of duplicate bridge. i had a “genius” roommate in my early 20′s that played duplicate 3-4 nights a week. He took me to the local club and I kibbutzed. I was hooked. Then I payed for lessons, started playing competitvely 6 nights a week in DC and was forced to sideline it all during my career. Now at age 60 I am once again “back in the game”. The point? If I hadn’t learned young there is NO WAY I could excel at the game at this stage. It is my understanding the bridge clubs in Orlando Fl go into the school system and foster learning of the game. Perhaps using the bridge scenes in James Bond movies might be effective recruiting tools?
Thanks for telling your story about how you got into Bridge… Many people learn the game at university and don’t return to it until much later. Only last week, I had lunch with someone who said that when she discovered Bridge and started playing, she became so obsessed that it interfered with work: She was left to make a decision – Work or Bridge; one of them had to go! So she had to give up work – only kidding, she gave up Bridge. I am sure she will return to Bridge at some stage and be an avid player and competitor in the future. As to explaining the obsession to the unconverted… ask them if they play golf or follow a football team, or watch ‘Friends’ – and then tell them it’s 10 times more with Bridge.
I thought maybe I should chime in as the subject of the conversation. I am a 26 year old bridge player who started at about 17 and played on and off and am currently fully on. Honestly I mostly played online because I was treated better there. When I first learned it took two sessions of being told to watch before I was allowed to play, the argument being that I could mess up someone’s game even though it was a social club.
Currently I am in the process of convincing my friends to learn to play and I have done it, so it’s not impossible, things just need to be handled a little differently with my generation. One of the keys is that we actually play Bridge! When I taught them (granted I’m not the best teacher but right now I’m all they’ve got) we played within the first 15-20 minutes of me teaching the game.
1) Here’s how natural bidding works. If you like spades bid spades if you have really strong spades bid 2 spades, if you like your partners spades raise him if not change suits.
2) Here’s how play works. You put down you cards, you tell him what to play. You and me stop them from making 10 tricks.
Then after a few nights of just playing like that I started to say okay, here’s a few bidding rules.
I think that some clubs could benefit by having a 18-30 night once a week and teach the game more like I did. My friends and I (range 20-26) play at least once a week, one girl and three guys, we have some wine and dinner and play Bridge into the night. I play at a club but am really nervous to take my friends because I know they would prefer a less stressful game then it can be at the club.
This comment should be posted in every club and in every Bridge teaching school, and sent to the board members of every Bridge association.
I am so delighted to get such great thought provoking comments… keep them coming.
I’ve taught many people at my local social club to play bridge. Age range 22-58. The 22-year-old girl that plays, my best friend, told me something. She told other people that she plays bridge and they’re always astonished. “Isn’t that complicated?” Another reaction (that I hate) is: “Isn’t that an old ladies’ game?”
But anyway, the rules of bridge are only slightly harder to teach than spades. I ask them first, “do you know how to play euchre?” then “do you know how to play spades?” then “It’s like spades only you bid on what suit, not just always spades” Teaching the 1-7 numbers that really mean 7-13 and the order of the suits is a little difficult. They always make fun of someone being called the “dummy”. Other than that, just play it like spades and teach them bidding strategy and play strategy later. It makes for a much more interesting time and works better.
[Bob] Hamman can’t underscore the competitive aspect of the game enough. “It’s a mistake to market bridge as a game for little old ladies,” he says, getting a little riled up. “You have to bear in mind that you have a psychic stake in the competition, so there’s the occasional elbow to the chops or thumb in the eye-metaphorically, of course-and it goes with the territory.”
-The Backwash Squeeze & Other Improbable Feats by Edward McPherson, page 74
Bob Hamman is a 12-time world champion and is in the ACBL Hall of Fame.
I think that the ‘market’ for new players is the recently retired or about to retire. We have run lessons in afternoon and evening. Evening is the more promising but there are no young players i.e below about 35.
Lots of people who come to the afternoon sessions don’t want to play at night!
Young people are mostly a non-starter because there is so much else for them to do on the internet etc – They won’t consider learning Bridge! Not sure what the answer to that is – MiniBridge etc helps.
I do recognise that the easiest and most accessible market is the retired professional. However, I simply cannot accept that younger players cannot be enticed into the game.
15 years ago no one would have dreamt of having coffee shops with leather chairs in them. “What a daft idea… Coffee shops are places of transit, not social chat rooms and gathering points.”
Bridge clubs must learn to move with the times and offer what the younger generation are looking for. Think outside the box! Offer more than a card game in a drab hall full of plastic rusty chairs and stale biscuits and a cup of dodgy coffee.
I suspect that the only vehicle likely attract youth in the future (or now!) is on line sites playing with and against robots. Why?
– Its fast. you don’t need to wait for tedious partners and opponents to play. Get through 150 hands per week effortlessly
– You dont need to go to some dreary bridge club to play and spend hours getting through 28 boards.
– Its competitive, you can see how you fared against others at the end of each hand
– Its 2011 type social. You can choose who you chat to and for how long
– Its informative. you can ask questions of others on-line without feeling indebted or inferior.
– Its cheaper than your local bridge club
ITS MY OBSERVATION THAT COMPETITION IS THE KEY TO BRIDGE BECOMING ADDICTIVE FOR ADULTS. SO WHY NOT FOR CHILDREN ? THAT IS, YOUTH ALWAYS LIKE EXCITEMENT AND USUALLY DO NOT “GET IT” STRATEGY-WISE UNLESS A MENTOR CAN POINT OUT THE TRICKS TO TROUNCE THE ENEMY. GOES WITH VIDEO GAMES. GO WITH SPORTS WHO HAVE COACHES.
BRIDGE LEAGUES IN SCHOOLS OR COMMUNITY CENTERS WHO ADVERTIZE MENTOR HELP AND SMALL COMPETITIONS FOR BEGINNERS IS THE PLACE TO START. THE ONLY REALIZATION IS THAT PEOPLE COME IN TWO TYPES GENERALLY WHEN IT COMES TO LEARNING; THAT IS, SOME ONLY LEARN IN A GROUP AS JOINERS AND OTHER TYPES LEARN SINGULARLY FROM SOME INNER NEED OTHERS MAY NOT POSSESS. IN OTHER WORDS, THE PYSCHOLOGY OF BRIDGE REQUIRES MOST PEOPLE OF THE FIRST TYPE TO BE ENCOURAGED AND TO HAVE A SOCIAL REASON TO JOIN PEOPLE OR ONLINE PLAYING BRIDGE. WHILE THIS IS AN OVERVIEW, DON’T EXPECT AN OVERNIGHT REVOLUTION IN GETTING YOUNGER BRIDGE PLAYERS UNLESS A MARTIN LUTHER KING TYPE COMES ALONG TO INSPIRE CAMELOT TO WAKEUP AND PLAY BRIDGE. BUT I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT BRIDGE WILL CONTINUE AS MORE MENTORS GET INVOLVED. AT LEAST WE HAVE TO TRY. OR ALL US OLDIES ARE STUCK WITH RUDE BRIDGE BULLIES IN THE OUTBACK.
CIAO!
CAROLYN
This is a belated post. I’m reading all the comments in preparation for writing a few blogs in my own Bridge Table Chronicles on general topic of — Can the Buffett Bridge Cup tournament become “cool and sexy.”
Then I see almost last comment here on slowing up when people tailgate. It’s EXACTLY WHAT I DO!! Especially if I’m driving up to the speed limit and they want me to go faster. At my age, I don’t DARE risk being stopped for speeding! There are many policemen in Florida who can’t stand “old lady” snowbird drivers and just looking for an excuse to ticket them. I never go below speed limit (as some old ladies do), but I’ll be damned if I’ll go above it just to please some rude tailgater.
Mark, a friend once told me there exists something you can install on your car that has the tail light flashing red even though you’re NOT applying the brakes! Said that’s what I should get to really drive tailgaters crazy, but I never have done that. He figured that’s safer than actually applying the brakes.
maggy simony recently posted..20-1. Bridge: Bridging the “old lady”/generation gap
I am currently 32 years old, I’ve been playing bridge since I was very young, I started with Whist when I was about 3/4 years old with my Grandfather and by 8 I had a reasonable grasp of the basics of bridge. By 16 I was playing tournaments through school and about 3/4 hours a day were devoted to bridge. Unfortunately when I hit 18 I discovered the delights of No limit texas hold ‘em, of course the money side of things helps with the enjoyment of poker. I had a natural aptitude for cards and have played millions of hands of poker over the years and made sizable chunks of money, however recently the allure of bridge is coming back to me and I’m starting to play online again and thinking about joining a local club again.
Personally I feel there’s numerous issues with teaching bridge at a young age, unless parents are avid players its really down to getting bridge more recognised in schools. My school actually encouraged bridge and I was originally taught to play cards as an aid to learning maths, this approach very much worked and I developed a real passion for card games in general and bridge in particular. Most schools have a chess club, I see no reason why they should have bridge clubs also as well as numeracy bridge teaches us strategy, memory skills and to some degree social interaction and teamplay. Bridge might never be ‘cool’ but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be possible to make bridge more mainstream than it is.
This post has made me slightly nervous to go back to the bridge clubs, it’s been 14 years since I stepped foot in one but I’m still keen to give things a go and hopefully rediscover my love of a great game!
I am a nationally ranked player in my 60′s. I started playing when I was 15, quit for 30 years when I was 30, and am now back playing. There are many astute comments here. The major market for bridge is, indeed, people coming into retirement. The next 15-20 years will see more retired people than at any other time in our history. Many of these people will, like me, return to the game after many years of bridge inactivity (called life). What is critical, in my opinion, is that young people MUST BE EXPOSED to the game, even if they don’t take to it immediately, if bridge is to thrive.
One of my regular partners is a Chemistry teacher at a well-regarded public high school in Chicago. She has been running the “bridge club” for over a decade. Sometimes, the kids just come in and throw cards around, but others enjoy the challenge. Once or twice per year, she brings her students to a game at a downtown bridge club to play in a regular game. When she asked if I would be willing to play with one of them, I jumped at the chance (as did 6 other local players). The young man I played with was very bright, and had a good fundamental understanding of some facets of the game. We came in 4th, and his .48 masterpoints were the first he had ever earned. I don’t know who was more excited…him, me or his teacher.
It is up to us, the players, to reach out to younger players. The ACBL will not do it for us. If you love the game the way I do, there is nothing better you can do to “repay” the game by going out and teaching a smart 16 year old (or even a not-so-smart 30 year old) how to play.
I’m off the soapbox now…thanks.
Well if I was in the crowd, I’d be cheering you !!! “Robert Lass for President”