I’m not your typical bridge player that’s for sure! After not making football professionally for Norwich City, I was mixing with the wrong crowd at secondary school and nearly left at 16 to do something vocational at college. However, I managed to pull my socks up and get the sufficient GCSEs I needed to stay onto sixth form. It was here when I enjoyed what I chose to do rather than have subjects put out right in front of me! At this point I had already decided I wanted to give something back to the community and become a PE teacher. A levels in PE, psychology and biology significantly improved and got me into one of the top 10 sport science providers in the UK at the time and also the joys of London. As you can imagine, It was fair to say that bridge was quite limited at university but I did manage to squeeze in a Silver Plate (Gold Cup Consolation) win in 2009. I started learning bridge when I was about 15, through my bridge-playing dad (the better bridge-playing Ip in the family of course). Like many others, I found it addictive and very enjoyable. Currently, I live in South Birmingham after relocating there 3 years ago for my previous PE teaching role at a sixth form college. I bought a house there and actually rent out my rooms on Airbnb so if you are playing in a congress nearby, come and book for a comfortable and luxurious stay at a very reasonable price...! My favourite bridge moments/memories include:
- Wearing a baseball cap aged 15 whilst playing in a bridge club in Norfolk and causing distress amongst the community - oh how times have changed...
- Being Zia Mahmood for one morning on April Fool’s Day and asking the tournament organiser to find me a partner at my local congress. She was not expecting Zia to come to a small place in Norfolk that’s for sure! On that same morning I told one of my regular partners (on standby) that he had to play with someone he’d rather avoid!
- Against a bridge pro at a big congress in my younger days, my partner and I bid to 6NT. At trick 2, I pulled out the wrong card and let the oppo win the trick to a small spot card. I was devastated, and called the director in despair. Of course, nothing could be done about it. So I won the return and started to reel off my winners. Amusingly, a squeeze developed and I proceeded to make the rest of the tricks. Some might say I rectified the count ha! That really goes to show not to give up if you make a mistake during the play, and it also taught me to play slower ever-so slightly!
My other hobbies include travelling, playing various sports, going to the gym, being a foodie and being massively in to my music! I surprise a lot of people with my music repertoire, as I go through my timeline of favourites. After working at a nightclub when I was 14 (Don’t ask how), I developed a love for Soul/Motown music as they held regular soul and northern soul nights. I love how hip-hop and R’n’b have sampled some old classics (e.g. Warren G’s Regulate sampling Michael McDonald’s I keep Forgetting), but also some hidden gems that may have not been heard of before (e.g. Dr Dre’s Next Episode sampling David McCallum’s The Edge and G-Unit’s Wanna Get To Know You sampling Marvin Gaye’s Come Live With Me Angel). I also like British rock, including the invasion of the 60s (Stones, Who) to the Punk era… The Jam, Pistols, The Clash leading onto post punk like The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division, The Style Council, and then The Stone Roses and into 90’s Britpop, with the Blur vs Oasis battle! Old school R’n’b has a special place in my early teens, and some Indie bands in the noughties but it wasn’t until 2008-2014 when I was going to a lot of gigs in London where I met a lot of the indie bands in real life before they made the big time! (Bombay Bicycle Club, Mystery Jets, Foals, Two Door Cinema Club etc) Not bad for a Millennial eh!