June 2020 - 8

Letters to the Editor

enforced vacancy period.
I am a director and I live in
Broomfield CO. Broomfield is just
finishing a new senior facility; it is
very large and very beautiful, but they
will not even consider a sanctioned
game. These facilities are designed
for seniors and many activities are
provided, but we have city employee
social directors who are not familiar
with the world of competitive bridge,
and non-competitive social bridge
players who are concerned about being
displaced by sanctioned bridge games.
I think it would be a smart move for
ACBL to develop an informal political action committee to make certain
that people who run these facilities
are aware of the service that bridge
clubs provide to the same audience. In
addition, I think a reach-out to other
city officials, such as mayors, council
members, park commissioners, members of senior advisor groups and heads
of park and recreation departments,
could go a long way in helping to create
additional venues for club games.
The program could be simple and
perhaps headed by volunteers who
could assemble email lists on a unitby-unit basis. ACBL could handle the
official correspondence to convince local jurisdictions that providing a venue
for its citizens to enjoy their activity is
just as legitimate as any other function
provided by their senior centers.
WILLIAM H. RAWLINGS
Broomfield CO

He didn't know which
was worse ...

In this time of social and physical
distancing, we are trying to stay in
touch with our adult children, mostly
via email or text. In a recent update on
how we were coping, I told my son in

8 Bridge Bulletin June 2020

the Atlanta area that bridge was closed.
He stayed with us several times and
he knows we live on the barrier island
across the Indian River Lagoon in
Florida.
"Wow!" he replied. "So you're quarantined on the island. What are you
doing for food now that you can't go to
the supermarket on the mainland?"
After I told him that the bridges were
still open - it was the bridge club that
had closed - he changed his tune.
"Dad," he said, "knowing how much
you love bridge, I don't know what's
worse for you."
PIETER VANBENNEKOM
Vero Beach FL

Tick, tock, tech

The coronavirus should be a wakeup
call for ACBL and local clubs to move
into the tech age for bridge. Passing
cards around the room is a recipe for
passing germs even without this deadly
virus. Why can't we play bridge using our own personal phones, tablets,
etc., at clubs and tournaments or use
a small machine similar to the Bridgemate provided by ACBL? It seems to
me that the savings in purchasing and
sorting cards would help to offset the
initial expense, and players could be
asked to contribute to the cost of the
machines or bring their own personal tablets. Another side benefit
would be to eliminate the time each
player spends sorting their cards, plus
enabling those players with arthritic
hands or poor eyesight to play.
Many of us are using this time at
home to learn to play online and becoming comfortable with it, but we still
miss the socialization at out local club.
BARBARA PATTERSON
Palm Desert CA

Class time

Because I have a passion for bridge
and an equal passion for teaching the
game to our youth, I thought the upside
of sheltering in place might be to offer
free beginning bridge lessons online.
Many years ago, I taught a six-week
course over the summer to a group of
middle school children. Hall of Famer
Patty Tucker guided me and provided
lots of ideas and materials.
We have a huge network of ACBL
members, and once the youth lessons
are available, you could send out a
directive and encourage members to
contact their grandchildren and make
them aware of the opportunity to learn
how to play bridge online. Let's revive
bridge in a way that tech-savvy young
people understand. You might offer
a second set of online lessons for the
over-21 crowd because many people
are out of work and may be looking for
some meaningful way to spend their
time.
It is so sad for me to see the game
fade because the majority of players
are over 70. This is a great opportunity
to tune into a new generation who has
grown up on internet learning and
would be responsive to the game in a
new way. I hope that you are able to
find talented educators who can set
this up quickly, while we have this
window to grow the game in a significant way.
KATHRYN EKKER
Naples FL
June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2020
