YMCA bridge group to hold party for veteran, new players on Tuesday

Nevada's bridge maven, Betty McCord, has been playing the game since 1956 and now teaches the game to novices at the Osage Prairie YMCA. Every once in awhile she likes to throw a bridge party for all the students, past and present. Tuesday, Dec. 11, McCord will hold another party and she wouldn't mind a few extra people showing up.

"Every Tuesday night I teach bridge between 7 and 9 for beginners and we have two or three tables all the time," McCord said. "We're planning on 16 to 20 people for four or five tables. We'd like to have more men coming. There's only one coming now but sometimes the program director, Jonathan Roberts, fills in. It'd be nice to have more."

Most of the regulars are those who are retired but McCord thinks it could be a fun activity for someone younger.

"Most of our players are retired and they have the time to play," McCord said. "I think younger players would like it as well."

McCord said she has taught approximately 45 to 50 students during her four- or five -year tenure and currently has a group of regulars that number between eight and 12.

"We're willing to start them from scratch," McCord said. "Some of them used to play a long time ago and are just getting back into it."

The party will be held in the YMCA's conference room from 7 to 9 p.m., and players should be ready for play at 7 p.m. McCord is hoping that word will get out to bridge players about the opportunity.

"I'd like to see some more people get involved, it's a lot of fun," McCord said.

Contract bridge is a card game that involves bidding, a contract and play to take tricks -- a collection of four cards, one contributed by each player at the table. Modern contract bridge is a variant of whist, which was a very popular card game for centuries. Derived from Russian whist, contract bridge was the result of innovations made in 1925 by railroad executive Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, who was also a champion yachtsman, to auction bridge which itself wasn't developed until 1904.

Bridge World magazine maintains that it's a healthy activity that "fully occupies the mind," and for some offers a sort of therapuetic stress relief as well as a way of exercising the mind, as illustrated by this quote found on the magazine's Web site, www.bridgeworld.com. The site also offers many tips, a glossary, playing techniques aimed at both veterans of the game and novice players.

"Many games provide fun, but bridge grips you. It exercises your mind. Your mind can rust, you know, but bridge prevents the rust from forming.'

- Omar Sharif

Anyone wishing to participate in Tuesday's bridge party should call McCord at the Osage Prairie YMCA at (417) 667-9622.