Great Plains Dealer

Thank You From Mt. Pleasant!

The students from Mt. Pleasant who attended the first ever Youth NABC put together this thank-you presentation.

Thank you - and enjoy the show!

Youth North American Bridge Championship

As many in our district are aware, July saw the first ever Youth NABC in Atlanta.  From Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, eight students competed in this exciting event:  Shaylee Crile, Blake Carel, Brach Prough, Dominick Webb, Kathryn Chabal, Hannah Taylor, JasminTone and Jessica Tone. 

Rosemary Peck, Jan Waters, Mary and Zip Mettenburg accompanied the students in two vans to the tournament.  Their first day there, the kids had a practice "Swiss Team" game.  Then they enjoyed two sessions of pairs, and finally on Sunday, the "Swiss Teams" championship. 

All in all, students from 28 locations played, including 3 from Canada and 25 from the U.S., including as far away as Hawaii! 

Every Iowa student won masterpoints - and as all are ACBL members, this is big!  The students would like to thank everyone who donated to make their trip possible, be they members of Units 163, 235, District 14 or just bridge lovers.  The students are most eager to attend the Youth NABC next summer, in Washington DC.

  

Happy New Year!

May all your bridge wishes come true in 2008!

Good Works

We all know how fabulous it is to play bridge.

Now you can learn about some excellent work that funds from bridge in District 14 are supporting. 

Please see the report below from our ACBL District Board Representative, Sue Himel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whether you are traveling to San Francisco for the ACBL Fall Nationals - or playing cards with your family after a big turkey dinner - have a wonderful holiday!

The Next Generation

Without a new generation learning our incredible game - we will all be playing in 4 table Howells.

Here is a wonderful story about kids competing in Iowa!  Thanks to Zip Mettenburg for the report - and to Larry Delfs for posting it on our District website.

Paul Soloway 1941 - 2007

One of the bridge greats is gone.

Sioux Falls Round-Up

Enormous tournaments in the Great Plains are tough to come by.  Without many large population centers - and quite a distance away from such cities - our tournaments can be more "compact" than some other districts.

Nevertheless, the Sioux Falls folks worked hard to get a good turn-out - and good turn-out they did!  Quite a number of states were represented at the Pheasant Regional.  And - speaking of states - player Linda Wong has now competed in all fifty U.S. states!  This competitor sweetly celebrated her achievement by providing yummy candy bars to all.

If you'd like to see folks having a great time at a good tourney - here you go!

Bridge in Schools

Some of us just "show up" at bridge events.  We expect nice club games and excellent tournaments to be there for us, come what may.

If the bridge community does not work at developing new generations of players, though, the expectations of the rest of us will not be met.

These ladies from Omaha are stepping up to the challenge.  Working hard to introduce bridge to young people, they are finding ways to educate kids in schools and promote bridge overall.

We should give them a round of applause - and ask how we, too, can assist these worthy goals!

District 14 Detroit NAPers

The competition has ended!  Here are the District 14 competitors who will represent us at the Detroit Spring Nationals for the North American Pairs.

Of course, we wish all who attend the best of luck - and hope that they bring home the bacon for our District.

Many thanks, too, for Omaha's hospitality in hosting the qualifying round.