April 2021 - 27

All together now

Day tripper

The kids are undoubtedly fortunate that Sharon and Alex
were their first teachers. " My parents taught me when I
was pretty little, like 8 or something, " Emma recalled. She
doesn't remember asking to learn, but she said, " I think I
liked it all right at first. I always enjoyed playing at home;
we played a lot of card games. Our family is very into games
in general. That was a big part of growing up.
" I went to a club game when I was first learning, and I
didn't love that. I honestly found the opponents to be pretty
mean, which was surprising considering they were playing

Another factor that might have contributed to their interest
was linking bridge with travel.
" One habit we had as a family was when Alex would go
to the European championships, we'd plan our family trip
around that. I think that's super important with bridge, to
balance out being normal and doing things, especially with
the kids, " said Sharon.
" When we go to tournaments, we do a lot of sightseeing. We
explore the cities, and that keeps us energized, " said Emma.
The whole family has experienced playing abroad, most
recently the summer of 2019 in Turkey.
" We all played on a mixed team together, " said Finn.
The experience of traveling and playing internationally
has broadened their perspective of bridge. Many tournaments in Europe and Asia use screens for all events, employ
electronic scoring in team events and provide each table
with its own set of duplicated boards. " Even in team matches, everyone is playing the same boards, so you really get to
compare with everyone, which is really cool, " said Emma.
" It's run a lot better, but it's obviously a lot smaller. "
" It's like it's just one big event, " Finn clarified, noting that
NABCs have multiple events going on all at once. " I don't really care that much about how well-run a tournament is, it's
more about the people there. "

I'll follow the sun

Alex, Emma, Finn and Sharon in 2020

against a little girl. I remember feeling stressed out. Of
course, there were no other kids, so I think that was sort of
the stop to me getting into it as a young kid. I think that's
why it's so good they have programs like SiVY (Silicon
Valley Youth Bridge), and Atlanta has a really good youth
program, because giving kids an option to see other kids
playing is a big motivator. "
Finn did not want to learn bridge. " It didn't really seem
that interesting to me, " he said.
So, what changed his mind?
" I heard Emma was getting $300 to go to the 2017
Toronto Youth NABC so I figured I could learn bridge for
$300. I played some kitchen bridge with my mom and her
friends; I think I knew Stayman and Jacoby transfers by
the time I went to the NABC. What got me hooked was the
Midnight KOs. I definitely thought that game was the most
fun. "
The family played together in a midnight game and came
in second.

Sharon remembers shortly after the Toronto NABC, they
drove up to Wyoming to see the solar eclipse. " It was a long,
boring drive. Finn was on his phone playing Bridgemaster.
Later, at the hotel room, he said, 'Mom, I can't figure out this
hand.' And after a while I said, 'I can't either!' That, combined with his discussions in the car with Alex, made me
realize Finn was really taking this game up. "
For Emma, the two big things were getting asked to be on a
trials team for Rona, the Women's U-26 team. " That got me
started with the Junior training program that Michael and
Debbie Rosenberg run. I also started college that year and
was lucky that the Claremont Colleges had a bridge club. I
got really into playing with them. We would drive to tournaments every weekend. Those were the two things that made
me take it more seriously. " Emma has enjoyed a successful
partnership with 2015's Queen of Bridge, Amber Lin.
Alex was mentoring the team; Finn would join them on
the tournament trail and play with his dad. " I always felt
like I wasn't playing very well and so I wanted to play better, " he said.
In December 2017, the Thomas Fire struck Ventura, and
the family evacuated for several weeks. With no school,
Finn was able to play a lot more bridge with his dad. They
played three regionals that month. " After that I started
April 2021 | Bridge Bulletin | 27

April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021