Junior Camrose Trials

Information document here

These will take place on the weekend of September 20-21, at West Midlands Bridge Club at Solihull. It is likely that play will start at 1.00pm on Saturday and finish by 5.00 pm on Sunday although the exact timings will depend on the size of the entry. Entries to Mike Amos via mamos@ebu.co.uk. The trials will be scored using Butler IMPs.

These trials will help determine the three pairs to represent England in the annual Junior Camrose Event which, in 2009, will be held in Northern Ireland over the weekend of February 21-22. Although the youth selection committee reserves the right to select from these trials rather than automatically nominate the pairs who come in the first three places, those who win the trials are very likely to be selected.

These trials are open in that any pair of requisite age may play, subject to the fact that they should have notified either the U20 squad manager (Michael Byrne) or the U25 squad manager (Paul Bowyer) of their intention to play. This is only to ensure that players of adequate experience play in the event; in practice almost all applicants will be allowed to play. The age restriction is that players must be under 25 on January 1st 2009.

List of entries so far:

Tom Dessain & Dom Maloney

Shivam Shah & Tom Rainforth

Amy Stout & Emily Middleton

Rob Myers & Dan McIntosh

Fiona Brown & Alex Morris

Chris Owen & John Atthey

Mike Bell & Adam Hickman

Tom Paske & Graeme Robertson

Ed Jones & Ben Paske

David Faria & James Paul

Late entries still being accepted. Email Mike asap.

Junior European Trials and the Channel Trophy.

The Junior European Championships will be held next summer, probably in Italy – dates and venue to be confirmed. The Channel Trophy will be held in London over the weekend of December 19-21. In each case England will be represented by an Open team and by a Women’s team.

Originally there were to be formal trials for the Junior European event held over the weekend of October 25-26. This now clashes with the Premier League and leaves one or two pairs with split commitments. The aforementioned weekend will still be used as a training weekend for squad members but will not now have the full status of a full trials event. However, there will be a session of hands played and the results of these may influence the selectors in the choice of players for selection. As such, attendance at this weekend is an important commitment.

The team for the Junior European 2009 will be selected using a variety of criteria. Players who wish to be considered for selection need to notify in writing (emails are acceptable) Paul Bowyer (bowyers.birstall@virgin.net) that they are contenders for team places. In order to aid the selection process pairs are advised that they need to develop a bridge Curriculum Vitae detailing the events in which they have played together and any successful performances they have had.

Female players may find themselves in a small quandary in that they may wish to play in a mixed partnership, aiming for inclusion in the Open team, with the possibility of playing in an all-female partnership in the Women’s team should this fall through. The Youth Committee has no desire to prevent this ambition and will support any player who wishes to try this approach. Any all female pair may state its intention to be considered for the open team or just for the women’s team as the players wish.