Youth

Bridge is a fantastic sport for people of all ages - particularly young people. It offers a combination of competition, socialisation, mental exercise, and fun which cannot be matched by other activities.

The EBU works with the charity English Bridge Education and Development (EBED) to organise and coordinate youth activities.

These include the Junior Teach-In, the Young Bridge Challenge, Under-21 & Under-26 Championships, and numerous other competitions and opportunities to learn, organised at a national, county, or club level. County Youth Officers coordinate junior activities in many counties.

Information and equipment for those wishing to teach bridge in schools, or to youth groups, is available from EBED. They also administer the Junior Award Scheme, which offers a series of graded attainment levels which the young player can achieve as they learn to play. Those completing a level in the Junior Award Scheme will receive membership of the EBU.

We are always seeking volunteers to assist in teaching and/or promoting bridge in their area. If you are able to help please contact Giles Ip at EBED or your local County Youth Officer.

Bridge is a great way to compete, socialise and maybe travel the world. Watch this video from the European Bridge League - you could have this much fun if you take up bridge:

News

News from the EBU is below. The World Bridge Federation also collates news for young bridge players from around the world on their WBF Youth Bridge Site and social media accounts:

21 Jan 2020

Junior Success at Scottish Winter Foursomes

The Scottish Bridge Union generously invited the England Juniors to play in the Scottish Winter Fours 2020. The event is a double elimination knockout with consolation events. The England team were undefeated for the first two rounds, before losing to the eventual winners of the main event. They were then eliminated by the eventual runners up to the main event, before going on to come second in the subsidiary final. Congratulations to the team (pictured, left to right) Jonathan Clark, Ben Norton, Eshan Singhal and Kripa Panchagnula.

The EBU would like to thank the SBU for providing the Juniors with the opportunity to play in the Winter Fours.

20 Dec 2019 | Internationals

Channel Trophy

The Channel Trophy in Utrecht, Netherlands took place this weekend. England was represented by three of our junior teams - the U26 Women, U26 and U21.

Congratulations to the U21 team who won their group; after losing their first match they won their next 5 matches to win just ahead of France. In the U26 Women group France won comfortably but England finished just ahead of Netherlands and Belgium to claim 2nd place. The U26 team had a tough weekend and despite winning two matches finished last in their group.

Full results are available here.

The teams were:

21 Nov 2019

Letter There Be Love

Four students who attended Dr Challoner's Grammar School wrote a lovely bridge related letter thanking Nigel Thompson and Tony Aston who excellently run the bridge club at the school. Many thanks to the four junior bridge wordsmiths: Josh Robey, Zach Yarrow, Louis Southwell, Freddie McCallum who have since left school and gone on to attend different universities around the country. We really hope to see them on the bridge table in the future!

30 Aug 2019

Jasmine Bakhshi receives Joan Gerard Award

Congratulations to Jasmine Bakhshi who is this year's recipient of the Joan Gerard Award in the Under 16 category.

The Joan Gerard Award is presented to youth players who demonstrate aptitude, fair play, good sportsmanship and a friendly international spirit, rejecting any discrimination. They are presented every year at the Youth Bridge Teams Championships and at the World Youth Open Bridge Championships with the categories of a Junior, a Youngster and a Girl. The awards are named after Joan Gerard, who had been a long-time support of the WBF Youth Programs worldwide.

Nominations for the awards are made by attending players, NPCs, coaches, WBF championship officials and members of staff, with no one able to nominate players from their own country.

Jasmine is the first English player to win the award since Ben Green in 2003.

  • Joan Gerard Youth Awards - previous winners
  • World Youth Open Championships website
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