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The First Bridge University: Simply Outstanding! By Larry King The first Bridge University, which took place in the second week of August at the Tuscany Suites & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, exceeded everyone’s expectations. Bernie Chazen and I were expecting only 50 to 100 students for our initial University, but 168 students attended and enjoyed the experience immensely — 90% plan to return. Bernie Chazen organized the lecture materials. World Champions Fred Hamilton and Alan Sontag joined Chazen, sharing their unparalleled knowledge and expertise with a student body that was a proverbial sponge. These three comprised our Professorial Staff. In an intensive 8-hour per day program, daily for four days, the students listened, asked questions, played and broke bread with these luminaries of the bridge world. One student wrote in his survey, “The interaction between professors added to my interest. The accessibility of the professors was very comfortable and added enjoyment.” Another student said, “I would like to thank Freddy Hamilton for the kind way he answered my questions. I would like to thank Alan Sontag for sitting with me at lunch and talking with me.” Still another survey noted, “The bidding of hands by Hamilton and Sontag, along with their thought processes, was fabulous.” Although several students asked for future Universities to have longer and more frequent breaks, the general feeling from all the surveys could be summed up by two student’ comments, “Overall, very enjoyable,” and “It was very interesting and fun too!” The University began each day at 8:30 with a continental buffet breakfast served in the main classroom. Breakfast included juice, coffee, bagels & cream cheese and pastries and was terrific, and the camaraderie forged at these breakfasts carried though the entire four days. Then, at 9:15 am the students picked a professor and his topic to attend for the morning’s lecture. The topics included a “level” of instruction: “Freshman and Sophomores” for newer players; “Juniors and Seniors” for experienced players and “Graduate Students” for advanced players. The schedule also listed the title of the lecture and referenced notes in the syllabus that everyone received when they registered. Following the breakout lectures, we all returned to the main ballroom room for a panel discussion featuring all the Professors. Themes like “Pardon the interruption” and “Bidding against a world champion” were included. At noon we broke for a delicious hot buffet lunch. After three hours of intense concentration, any break would have been appreciated, but the Tuscany outdid itself with 3 hot entrees, fruit and dessert each day. At 1 PM the students began an ACBL-sanctioned duplicate tournament that generated overall winners for the four days. Dianne Barton-Paine was the Director-in-Charge; Scott Campbell and Bob McConnell ably assisted her. Each professor chose a student to play a hand with during each round. One student wrote in his review: “I learned more in one hand with a world class pro”, and “I appreciated the warmth and humor of all the pros.”
By 3:15 pm we were back in the main classroom to recap the day’s duplicate hands and ask questions of the professors during the panel. At 5:00 pm we adjourned, but there was always a gang around each professor with further inquiries. Students were on their own for dinner and the evening in the excitement of Las Vegas. If they chose, they could also return for the Prize Money Bridge tournaments that began at 8 pm each evening. Intuitively, Bernie and I felt there was a need for a Bridge University where people would have an opportunity to improve their bridge, have fun and enjoy a real bridge vacation. The thirst for high-level bridge information was astonishing. Some students wanted us to extend the daily lectures to 2-hours. We taped all of the sessions and will offer DVDs and CDs so people can enjoy the lectures that took place, including the ones students couldn’t attend. It was a hard choice daily, but there’s only so much time.
We asked students where they
would like to see future Bridge Universities--the top eight choices were:
1. Las Vegas; 2. Palm Springs; 3. Northern California; We are negotiating to setup a University in Atlantic City in the last week of April, 2006, and we plan to return to Las Vegas for two more Universities—one in August and one in December, 2006. Finally, one student observed, “There are no young people here”, so we are going to organize a Grandparent/Grandchild retreat through the University for the second week of June in West Virginia. This first University was so much fun; we plan to quadruple our pleasure next year.
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