Re: Cherishing Novices

In message <c59e41d3-2572-494a-857d-ae6c45ce5dbb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Dave Flower <DavJFlower@xxxxxxx> writes
At a time when the numbers of players is falling, it is vital that
clubs retain new players.

Just as novice drivers are not given their first driving lesson in a
city centre at rush hour, so perhaps we should make it easier for
nivice bridge players.

Here is a, perhaps radical, suggestion that might help.

Introduce a 'Novice' status with the following features:
- It is entirely voluntary; new players are never obliged to take it
- The novice would be obliged to play whatever the local 'simple
system' is
- Opponents would volunteer to play the same system
- Opponents would voluntarily 'keep it simple'. No psyches, 'tactical
bids' or false cards.
- The status would only be available for a few sessions.

Does anyone have any ideas for an 'improver' status ?

Finally, would posters remember that they are a biased sample. Players
who were turned off bridge the first time they visited a bridge club
do not contribute to rgb.

Comments and suggestions invited.

I am still unclear what you mean by a "novice".

I expect that most people have played several hundred hands at home before they enter a formal duplicate event. Some will even have played small duplicates at home. And during these kitchen table bridge sessions, they may well have encountered, and even learned to deal with, both psyches and a variety of systems.

So are your "novices" novices to bridge, or to duplicate play, or to formal duplicate play with table fees, directors, etc.?

I guess your policy depends on what you are hoping to achieve. This might be to get more people playing bridge, even if it's only kitchen table bridge; or it might be to lure the kitchen table players into entering formal duplicate events; or both. Getting people who have never played bridge before to enter formal duplicate sessions seems unpromising: if you've never played before you don't want all the palaver of scoring, moving between tables, and waiting for the slowest pair in the room to finish, you just want to play lots of hands.

Nick
--
Nick Wedd nick@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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