DAY 6 & 7 - Monday August 15th, 2022
The last event on the Youth Championship Calendar was the All Divisions Individual (except under 16s). Each player plays 2 hands, and then swaps table, and plays 2 hands with a different partner. Everyone was given a standard bidding and card play system, and had to improvise the rest!
Here are the finishing positions of the Australians out of 152 players:
14th Jamie Simpson
47th Bertie Morgan
51st David Gue
69th Andrew Spooner
77th Damon Flicker
91st Lara Topper
104th Jamie Thompson
139th Josh Tomlin
All the players have played hundreds of hands, and met hundreds of people, and most are excited for future bridge events!
Player Profile – Josh Tomlin
Josh upgraded from 500 to bridge about 4 years ago and one of his early highlights was a trip from Canberra to Bateman’s Bay where he got to meet the Youth Bridge Crew.
“I played my first Youth ANC in 2019 for the ACT and stumbled into a defensive squeeze vs Matt Smith - he even drew a star on my scoresheet! Although we lost most of our matches that year, getting a huge win against the powerhouse NSW team was a highlight!” Josh’s bridge has improved hugely since then and when he moved to Adelaide to start a Maths PhD earlier this year, we wasted no time in getting him onto the SA Youth Team. In the recent ANC, he played almost every match and steered SA to victory.
When he isn’t tutoring maths or directing bridge, Josh enjoys swing dancing and reading. “Although lately it’s been mostly bridge books!”
“I love the Gold Coast Congress and was sad to miss the 2022 Youth Week (which was cancelled due to covid). I’m looking forward to it returning next year.”
Player Profile – Damon Flicker
“Since I was a little kid, I’ve always been into games. I used to play cards with my grandparents all the time and begged them to teach me bridge! I was 16 when they finally taught me and have loved the game and the Youth Bridge Community ever since.”
“One of my favourite bridge memories is playing in a team event with my Nana, my Opa and my uncle. I remember looking around me and thinking yeah this is special.”
Damo quickly rose to become a leader among the youth community and has an amazing ability to bring even some of the less social players out of their shells. “Outside of bridge, I love all things board games and try to play a few times each week. I love the way that board games bring people together and gets them to talk, laugh and strategize. I used to work in a board game shop and now I’m working at Melbourne University to help write a paper in Hybrid Digital Boardgames. Told you, I’m obsessed!”
“I LOVE youth week! I can’t stress it enough. After my first youth week, I made many lifelong friends as well as
learning from the more senior players and improving my bridge dramatically. It’s also great having the Kiwi’s along.”
“Some of my favourite Youth Week memories include Laura’s scavenger hunt, goulash night and Will’s lesson on elimination and end plays.”
Posted by Pauline on Monday, 15 August 2022 at 10:16