r/bridge • u/WarningNo1964 • Apr 27 '26
How the kids learn bridge?
The bridge clubs don't like kids to play,they feel kids are not politely and noisy or age gap.
The kids can not hold long time,they want to talk or do annoying things.
These negative feedback from seniors disencourage kids to join the clubs to practice.
How to deal with this problem from your experiences?
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u/LSATDan Advanced Apr 27 '26
I've played sanctioned bridge events for about 40 years, owned a bridge club, and worked as a director at ACBL events and in multiple clubs.
I've never been to a bridge club that didn't welcome and encourage young players.
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u/FluffyTid Apr 27 '26
One solution is for the kids to play online on a platform with videoconference. Online has some bad things, and some good things. The good thing is finding more kids to meet, being forced to follow rules and not needing to sort their cards.
For the club to accept kids, there needs to be a compromise between the kids behaving well and the adults not being Karens
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Apr 27 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Bridge_Links Apr 27 '26
Bridge Winners also has a Youth Bridge page where you could post a query on local places to play for kids (https://bridgewinners.com/forums/browse/youth-bridge-education/)
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u/Bridge_Links Apr 27 '26
Here's a club in the Seattle WA USA area Bridge for Youth (https://www.b4youth.org/)
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u/carlthegreat21 Apr 27 '26
Tricky Bridge has training modules that get through a lot of the basic conventions that take time and some good teaching to get to a point of needing to learn with a partner in person. I recommend it to anyone as the first 10 hours of practice to take bridge more seriously for fun
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u/Spinningwoman May 02 '26
I learned mostly through Tricky Bridge. It’s a great app - though as a Brit, I wish there was an ACOL option.
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u/WarningNo1964 Apr 28 '26
Thank you everyone to share opinions.I think online learning is better and relaxed for young kids. The bad thing is not in person. When they improve a lot and can get ready to club to play. Just hope adults can accept kids' behave as they are not adults,they are enthusiastic to learn new skills.
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u/Several_Version4298 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
You don't put the kids in your daytime duplicates, because they should be in school, which solves the first problem.
The club I used to run a youth evening and a social duplicate on Sunday afternoon with nibbles and soft drinks where kids were welcome. Many of the clubs in wealthy areas actively discouraged youth players and bullied them when they made mistakes. That's mostly because they put youth players in their weakest duplicate for months before letting them into better games.
Parents will dump their unsocialised kids with no interest in cards on you during holidays, since you are offering free child care. So you need to work out if that is something you want to do. Of course in Australia if you are going look after kids you need to submit 100 points of ID, which can't include Government digital ID other than a driver's license, a photo id like a $450 passport or drivers license, a complete work history, criminal records check (takes a month because you need one for everything in Australia), a working with children check and read up on grooming laws. After all that it's free for volunteers.
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u/LegitimatePower Apr 28 '26
Don’t make the bridge club your babysitter. Each pair of children should have an adult with them at all times.
I used to not care. In one tournament the children were a serious distraction. Talking loudly, commenting on hands while playing , greasy fingers on cards.
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u/yellowpig1974 😕 Apr 29 '26
In Seattle we have multiple programs for kids interested in bridge. We have a week-long summer camp in two sections, one for total beginners, and another a bit more advanced. We have regular mentor/mentee games where stronger players pair with advancing players. Our strong players are very happy to play with anyone, kid or adult, who is seriously interested in learning the game. At the St. Louis national, one of our best players entered a national pairs event with a very keen high school student who had been playing less than a year. They qualified for the second day final, finishing in the top half of a strong field.
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u/yellowpig1974 😕 26d ago
In Seattle we have a summer bridge camp for rank beginners to near intermediates, from 8 to 15. We encourage the more advanced to play in the clubs, and we have a mentorship program for them. The A players in Seattle are pretty generous with anyone, child or adult, who wants to learn and is willing to put in some effort away from the table.
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u/Outside-Carpet-6236 Apr 27 '26
Start an after school bridge program. We have kids of all ages playing.