English Bridge Union
Liz Kelly is a bridge teacher in the Isle of Man. Here she recounts a successful mentoring event:
Since attending an EBU two-day teacher training course I’ve been teaching bridge at the Isle of Man university college as a leisure and recreation course. This is my second year, and I’m quite surprised as to how much interest there has been as it is one of their most popular courses.
At half term I held a mentoring event where students partnered a more experienced player. Douglas Bridge Club and its members have been very supportive of the classes and allow me to use their equipment such as the dealing machine and computer which are invaluable assets. As you can imagine preparing 20 boards by hand would take a long time.
When the course finished last year I continued through the summer with practice play sessions at Douglas Bridge Club. Each session before play began with an invited guest speaker from the club explaining more fully an aspect of the bidding or play. These sessions were very well attended and helped with the transition from student to club player.
As we know bridge is a fascinating game and I encourage anyone to give it a go. It helps to stave off dementia by keeping the grey matter healthy and introduces one to a whole new circle of friends and acquaintances.
I also wrote a couple of little booklets to accompany the course and am in the process of amalgamating these into a book which I hope to publish.
The mentoring evening was a tremendous success with everyone enjoying themselves and also learning something, even the mentors! It was also an opportunity for the students to meet regular players. There were 14 tables, quite a lot for a small island, and too many for Douglas Bridge Club. I had to hire a hall! Hope to hold another such event at the end of term in mid-April.
pictured left to right: Fred Kissack, Liz Kelly (Douglas Bridge Club and UCM course leader), John Stewart (chair, Douglas Bridge Club) and Angie Kissack
