Greater St. Louis Bridge News

St. Louis Spring Sectional 2014

Treat your bridge fever with a dose of St. Louis Spring Sectional May 16-18 at Blanchette Park in St. Charles Mo. You’ll be welcomed with good food, informative guest speakers, and friendly competition. In addition to all-day Sunday Swiss on May 18, one-session Swiss events will take place on Friday evening, May 16, and 9 a.m. Saturday morning, May 17. See ACBL website for events schedule or click here for more details.

Congratulations to Unit 143 Advancers

New Bronze Life Master:  Robert McDill

New Silver Life Master: Becky Hubert

Phyllis Siegel ACBL Star Recruiter

I wasn’t surprised when I read in the January 2014 Bridge Bulletin that Phyllis Siegel was recognized for recruiting 100 new ACBL members. I wasn’t surprised because I had seen her in action.

When two social bridge-playing friends decided to test the club game waters, I advised them to sign up for a beginner’s game Phyllis Siegel was running. My friends were anxious and I wanted to offer moral support. So I asked Phyllis if I could attend as a “helper.”

Here’s what I observed. First and foremost Phyllis made the experience fun. My friends and the others in the class had a good time.

Next Phyllis focused on the basics -- bidding conventions like Stayman and transfers, use of bidding boxes, announcing point ranges for 1 NT opener. Phyllis responded to players’ requests for help during the bidding sequences. She encouraged players to hang in there, promising that they would get past their initial confusion.

At the end of the session, Phyllis encouraged her class to join ACBL, play in novice club games and play in novice events at tournaments. She encouraged her class to become active participants in the bridge community.

A good teacher is a good recruiter. And Phyllis Siegel is an outstanding teacher.

After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Phyllis taught 6th grade in Melville School District in St. Louis County. Phyllis had gotten hooked on bridge at college and began teaching bridge in Continuing Education programs.

Since her “retirement” from teaching 6th graders, Phyllis has amped up her bridge teaching as well as her bridge game. She is a Silver Life Master and highly respected competitor. She became a director and runs games at both Bridge Haven and St. Louis Bridge Center.

Her teaching venues are almost too numerous to mention. She teaches multi-session bridge classes at the community college, St. Louis Bridge Center, and other locations in the St. Louis area. She runs bid-and-play sessions at community centers. She does bridge-in-a-day for the St. Louis Bridge Center and senior living centers.

Not all her bridge students are adults. In her work with youth, Phyllis plants seeds for future ACBL growth. Phyllis is teacher/counselor at the summer Youth Bridge Camp. She has done several after-school learn-to-play-bridge classes at local schools. She ends each of these series with an adult/child game. A number of the participants are grandchildren of bridge players and play in the final event with their grandparent.

A good portion of Phyllis Siegel’s time and energy is devoted to running charity events. Several times a year, Phyllis runs a charity bridge/mah jong event with 100% of the profit going to charity. A different charity is selected to receive the proceeds of each event.

And her advice for teaching and encouraging novice players:

It’s a game. Make the experience fun.

KISS: Keep It Simple, Sweetie.

Be patient with novices. We all learn by making mistakes.

Establish situations where players can get help with bidding and playing. Where they can ask questions during the game. Pay-and-play games work well for this.

Encourage new players to join ACBL. Membership puts new players into the local bridge community where they can play with peers and compete against players at their own level. As ACBL members, new players will continue to learn the game after the class is over.

Spring 2014 Unit 143 199er Tournament

Area novices celebrated the arrival of a most welcome spring with a record turnout for the 199er tournament held at the St. Louis Bridge Center on March 29, 2014. Lee Hastings chaired and Beth Percich directed the two-session event which drew 75 tables.

Morning Session winners:

   1st in A, B, & C Gerald Greiman and Robert Tucker

Afternoon Session winners:

   1st in A & B Ruth Byers and Renee Harstein

   1st in C John Levis and Barbie Freund