2013 Summerfest Training Camp
Players get instruction from Debbie Rosenberg
With funding from the ACBL Junior Fund, the United States Bridge Federation (USBF) held a bridge camp for advanced junior players in conjunction with the Summerfest Regional in St. Charles, IL (near Chicago) the week of July 8. Eleven young bridge players from eight states (CA, IL, MD, MA, MI, MN, VA, WA) attended the four-day camp, which was organized by USBF Junior Program Coordinator Joe Stokes.
Those attending the camp played in Regional events each day at 2:00 and 7:30. In addition, they met each morning from 11:00 to 1:45 and each evening from 5:45 to 7:15 to receive instruction and to review hands from the previous session. Campers also met after the evening sessions to discuss the hands they had played and to receive feedback and suggestions from expert players.
Debbie and Michael Rosenberg, who attended camp all four days, provided much of the instruction and led the review of hands the campers had played after each session. Chicago experts Jack Oest and Ralph Katz gave talks to the campers, and many other experts kibitzed the young players and provided feedback.
USBF President George Jacobs played with a junior team one day and gave the youngsters pointers. Thanks to them all.
Rick Beye, the director in charge of the Regional, made sure everyone had hand records after each session, even when they played knockout and Swiss team matches. Rick also provided electronic versions of the deals so we could project them on a large screen to facilitate discussion among the players and their mentors. Thank you, Rick.
Thanks also to Martha Katz, a former junior champion, who helped with logistics, and to Angie Clark, chair of the Regional, and her staff, all of whom helped make the camp a success.
Juniors attending camp performed very well in the Regional events. Two junior teams contested the finals of the top bracket of the Wednesday-Thursday knockout. The winners of that KO (Greg Herman, Oren Kriegel, Ben Kristensen, and Kevin Rosenberg) also reached the finals of Bracket One in the Friday-Saturday KO but fell short of winning their second KO of the week.
Oren Kriegel, Greg Herman, Kevin Rosenberg & Ben Kristensen
Suzi Subeck took many pictures and videos at the camp, which you can see by clicking here.
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Pictures from USBC are now Posted on Facebook
Our great photographer, Peggy Kaplan, has been taking candid and not so candid photos of the players and staff at the USBC. You can see the pictures on the Facebook page she created by clicking here. We hope you enjoy them. We think that you can also add a caption to any picture, so feel free to do so! Thanks.
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Junior Online Training Program
In 2013 Joe Stokes revitalized the USBF Junior Program, after which Michael Rosenberg, Barry Goren, and Debbie Rosenberg started the USBF Junior Online Training Program. Currently Joe is the Junior Coordinator for the USBF, and Alex Kolesnik organizes and runs the online training. About 130 Juniors are currently in the training program; they practice weekly on BBO, usually on Sunday or Monday evenings. Each group of 4-8 juniors works with a mentor, who watches the play and provides feedback after the sessions.
To join the USBF Junior Training Program, click here.
The training program couldn’t happen without the support of our mentors. We are very grateful for their help with the juniors. As of May 2020, Regular Online Training mentors include:
| Craig Allen | Li-Chung Chen | Adam Grossack | Michael Rosenberg |
| Ifti Baqai | Chris Chung | Michael Huston | Michael Shuster |
| Franco Baseggio | Phil Clayton | Christian Jolly | Aaron Silverstein |
| Leo Bell | Sam Dinkin | Alex Kolesnik | Gary Soules |
| David Berkowitz | Patricia Dovell | Mike Kopera | Stan Subeck |
| Craig Biddle | Mitch Dunitz | Ai-Tai Lo | Karen Walker |
| Bart Bramley | Bob Etter | Kent Mignocchi | Will Watson |
| Dave Caprera | Mike Gill | Glenn Milgrim | Kit Woolsey |
USBF Members who have volunteered to help or to play with and against Juniors online, providing wonderful feedback to our developing players:
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Jeff Aker Karen Allison Kevin Bathurst Steve Bloom Bart Bramley Migry zur Campanile Tom Carmichael Drew Casen Larry Cohen Gary Cohler Lynn Deas Nik Demirev Bob Hamman |
Kevin Fay Steve Garner Fred Gitelman Robb Gordon Christal Henner Yul Inn Dale Johannesen Lynn Johannesen Ralph Katz John Kranyak Roger Lee Geoff Hampson Jill Levin |
Chip Martel Karen McCallum Alan Miller Brad Moss Jack Oest Beth Palmer Rich Pavlicek Jr. Sue Picus Jennifer Richter Barry Rigal Kathy Rolfe Debbie Rosenberg Aviv Shahaf |
Barnet Shenkin Ron Smith Mel Colchamiro JoAnna Stansby Cenk Tuncok Dan Zagorin Howard Weinstein Roy Welland Adam Wildavsky Kevin Wilson Sheri Winestock Dan Wolkowitz Kit Woolsey Joel Wooldridge Jeff Meckstroth |
Thank you all for your time, effort & enthusiasm with this project! And of course, as always, a HUGE thank you to BBO for providing an environment where players from around the country can play together and help aspiring players improve. And also a major THANK YOU to USBF Junior Coordinator, Joe Stokes, without whose energy and enthusiasm this project would never have gotten off the ground.
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GOODBYE JOAN - WE'LL MISS YOU
We learned from her husband, Ron Gerard, that former USBF President Joan Gerard passed away early on the morning of April 5th. Joan was a member of the USBF Board from 2007 through 2012, and President from 2011-2012. She was also the USBF Meeting Planner for her entire term on the Board and continued in that role this year. We will miss her cheerful, efficient support, and extend our sympathy to her husband Ron.
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