Club Management Focus: Winter 2019

County & Club Director Training Courses

EBED’s calendar of director training courses for the first half of 2019 is available online (details below), and caters for all levels of knowledge and experience when it comes to organising the game. The focus is to provide new club directors with the confidence to take on the responsibility of running a session and the knowledge to handle the common situations which come up routinely at every club, big or small. We also welcome teachers who might wish to start a new session for their students, players who wish to improve their knowledge of the laws or members of non-affiliated clubs who wish to improve the way things run at their own clubs.

We organise courses all round England and are always on the look-out for new venues. If you think your club or region could do with a few more directors, please contact Richard who can discuss all the ins and outs of hosting a course. EBED is responsible for the administration and finances of any course, so there is no downside for your club in doing this.

We are also happy to run bespoke refresher courses for clubs and counties, and also provide practical training in the use of EBUScore.

Bookings can either be made by individuals or by clubs on behalf of a larger group. We encourage individual bookings to be made online via the “MyEBU” link on the EBU website, but clubs will need to contact Richard directly.

As an introduction to our training courses, players may also want to take a look at the director training videos on the EBU website.

Club Director Training

EBED’s Club Director Training course is designed for any player who wants to develop their knowledge of the laws or who want to become a qualified director to support their club.
EBED runs these courses at clubs all over the country. All courses are open to members of affiliated and non-affiliated clubs. Participants do not need to be members of the English Bridge Union.

How to run a club duplicate

This course does exactly as it sounds, and helps those who have to run club sessions to understand the basics that are required to make a game of bridge run smoothly, including movements and scoring. The dates in the calendar so far are:
Kesgrave (Ipswich) - Monday 11th February 2019
Durham - Sunday 17th February 2019
Solihull (WMBC) - Tuesday 19th February 2019
Stretford (SW Manchester) - Sunday 10th March 2019
Cheltenham - Saturday 16th March 2019
Bude - Saturday 16th March 2019 (Book via Jim Barker at Cornwall CBA)
Wymondham (Norfolk) - Saturday 13th April 2019
Oxford - Sunday 19th May 2019

For more details please contact richard@ebedcio.org.uk. Any further dates will be added to the calendar in due course.

Club Director Training Courses

This is a 3-day course, focused on the Laws and giving rulings at the table. It includes both "Book" and "Judgement" rulings which have to be given by a director at the typical club level, and finishes with an assessment. See here for more details.
Courses will be held at:
Pembury (Kent); Oxshott (Surrey); Stamford BC; Kesgrave (Ipswich);
Solihull (WMBC);
Patcham (Sussex); Wymondham (Norfolk); Oxford; Stretford; Durham;
Cheltenham (Spring)

Please check the calendar for the date of the three sessions at each venue.

It is intended that there will be 15-20 courses held around the country each year, and more dates will be added in due course. Plans are in hand for Cheltenham (Sept-Nov 2019), Hayes (Middlesex), Halifax, East Kent, and Southport (late 2019). There will also be a course in Eastbourne when (all being well) the Summer Meeting returns there in August 2019. EBED would like to hear from other clubs who would be interested in hosting a course - please contact richard@ebedcio.org.uk.

Individuals can now book on these courses online, through My EBU (choose ‘Book courses’ from the ‘Utilities’ menu). If the club wishes to book and pay for an individual then they should do so directly with Richard Banbury - 01296 317218 or by email: richard@ebedcio.org.uk

County TD Training Courses

More advanced training is also provided for aspiring County Directors. Advanced TD Training Day
A 1-day Advanced TD Training Day in spring is for those who need some practice at the type of material that will be tested on the main weekend in the autumn. It is also suitable for those who want a 'refresher day' but who do not intend to go any further.
2019
Southern: Saturday 11th May at the EBU Headquarters in Aylesbury
Northern: TBC

These are a one day course, beginning at 10:30am and ending no later than 4:30pm.

Further details available from Richard Banbury - 01296 317218 or by email: richard@ebedcio.org.uk.

To get ready for the preparation course - or to see if it may be suitable for you - please download this test paper consisting of 40 situations to consider. Some are book rulings, some judgement rulings and, in some cases, good old-fashioned common-sense. Some are quite intricate and others straightforward, but hopefully they will all make you think.

County Directors' course

The County Directors' course is for qualified Club Directors who will normally have at least one year's experience of directing and some experience of organising events at County level. The prime objective of the course is to assess candidate's experience to become fully qualified County Directors, based on their performance in the exercises therein. The course is a mixture of table simulations, lecture and written assessment.
The date for 2019 is 14th - 15th September, in Coventry.

Further details are available here, and from Richard Banbury - 01296 317218 or by email: richard@ebedcio.org.uk.