Bridge is a great game. Many of us spend hours every week in search of those elusive masterpoints needed to advance to the next rank on the way to or beyond Life Master status. It’s an incredibly difficult game to learn, one never mastered.  The Villages is extremely lucky to have a huge base of players, ranging from those who have just finished a “Learn to Play Bridge in a Day” class or started playing duplicate to Platinum Life Masters with over 10,000 Masterpoints.

This brings me to the VDBC mentor program. This program was started many years ago and I feel it is one of the MOST underutilized tools bridge players of all levels have to get better. This is why I agreed to “volunteer“ for the position.

I am proposing we radically expand this program on a “Pay it Forward” basis. For those of you who do not get this admittedly old pop culture reference, it means doing a good deed in the belief that the person receiving the good fortune will pass it along to the next person, and so on…. An example of this which makes the social media rounds every once in a while is: at a fast food drive thru you offer to pay for the meal for the car behind as well as your own.  There have been reports where this chain went on for over 30 cars where the person pays for the car behind them.

What does this mean in practice when it comes to the mentor/mentee program? To all my Open game friends, YOU should sign up to be MENTORS.  At some point in your past, bridge players better than you have spent their time and energy teaching you this game. If you think about it, being a mentor is just “Paying it Forward” for all of the past help you have been given.

To all of the 100-2000 players out there, YOU should also want to “Pay it Forward” and be a mentor. You have been playing long enough that someone has already spent their time teaching you:  YOU can and should share that knowledge.  Because you live in this great bridge community, YOU should also really want to be a MENTEE.  After all, the best way to improve your game is to learn from someone who plays better.

Finally, those with 0-100 points may be asking “How can we be mentors”?   The answer is that The Villages has a large beginner bridge class schedule and the way YOU can “Pay it Forward” is to volunteer to play with those new students in a 0-100 game.   YOU too should also REALLY WANT to be a MENTEE. Bridge is hard and the best way to learn is by playing with more experienced players.

In short (though I haven’t been 😀), if you want a MENTOR, then you need to promise to be a MENTOR in the future.

How the Mentor-Mentee Program Will Work

By clicking here you should be brought to a page where you can fill in some information, volunteer to be a mentor, request to be a Mentee OR preferably both=the “Pay it Forward” option.

I will then take this list and do my best to match mentors with mentees. It is likely that everyone who selects both will not be a mentee the first pairing, but I will work hard at getting anyone “Paying it Forward “ a mentor the next time we match.

The mentor games usually run the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month at 9am at Lake Miona Rec Center.  When possible, I am looking to change mentor-mentees quarterly, so the first pairing will last till the end of June. This does NOT mean that if you are going on vacation or only live here part-time you cannot sign up: I will try to match up similar time frames.

This MENTOR game should be special and the board has agreed to bring in doughnuts or something else to go with the coffee, as it is 9am after all.

General rules:

This is first and foremost a learning experience. Rude and disrespectful demeanor or behavior will not be tolerated. Mistakes will happen and directors will make rulings in the best interest of the game rather than the strictest letter of the law.

Mentors should generally work with their mentee rather than their opponents.  The best wayto explain concepts or discuss hands is use the time between rounds and after the game to be gently constructive and supportive.

The game will be stratified based on the Mentors’ masterpoints rather than the pair’s average.  It will consist of 18-21 boards with slightly more time allotted per round than is typical of other VDB games.

Like all stratified games there will be wide gaps in partnership experience levels. This is an Intentional and positive feature of the game and not a bug. Playing against better players helps you get better even if you don’t win the game that day.

MENTORS are reminded that they are there to play their best and teach, not to maneuver hands so they declare.  All pairs should arrive at least 15 min early to ask and answer questions and discuss systems.  It is the MENTEES’ responsibility to confirm with their Mentors they are playing and to SIGNUP using the reservation system as they would for any other VDB game.

I encourage all players to spend some time after the game going over the hands.  Since I frequently play in the 1:00PM Lake Miona game, I will happily go over any or all hands between sessions. This is the best way to get better.

There is room for 58 mentors and 58 mentees in each quarterly cycle; I hope to see capacity.

Registration for our 1st game will be April 6. This program should be VDB’s ‘crown jewel’ as I sincerely believe there to be no other bridge club in the U.S. capable of teaching/learning through such kindness and generosity of spirit.

I look forward to seeing you on April 6 🤞🤞👍👍! Remember to “Pay it Forward “ and sign up on the Mentor- Mentee page by March 26th, so I have time to get this organized.

Good luck at the tables!!

Bob Fashingbauer

Mentor/Mentee Coordinator

Bobfash@comcast.net