August 2021 - 32

CLUB News
Arizona club reinvents,
reemerges
by Liz Erling | Bridge on Shea
B
ridge on Shea is a memberowned
club in Scottsdale AZ.
In 2019, we were the secondlargest
club in Arizona. In 2020, BOS
ranked first, and outpaced the next
club by almost 1100 tables.
The trio of Suzette Wynn, Sallie
Dillian and I, " the dream team, " did
what so many clubs had to do to transition
online: We helped players create
BBO accounts, upload money and convention
cards, taught them how to find
games, how to register, how to Alert and
how to use the partnership desk.
When we decided to reopen, it felt
like we were starting from scratch.
COVID shined a blinding light on the
complacency of our old, outdated and
ineffective methods of building a viable
club. We changed our whole approach
and, with a lot of hard work, found
ways to become even more successful.
Even the local media took notice, and
BOS has benefited from the publicity
generated from newspaper articles and
TV news spots.
Because players had become accustomed
to getting daily calls, texts and
emails, we used that familiarity to stay
in constant contact, prompting players
about partnerships. Spurred into fostering
an environment of constant communication,
we have been able expand
our player pool, converting players who
played maybe twice a week into four- to
five-days-a-week players with different
partners. Players got so used to finding
partners online, we have an entire
corner of our website dedicated to
partnerships, and it is live and updated
immediately. We don't sit around and
wait for someone to leave a message
after the beep anymore. The players
know how to use the technology and it
helps us all. It's much more effective.
32 | Bridge Bulletin | August 2021
Liz Erling interviews Mary Hirschfeld,
a BOS player, for a TV news story.
method, players build confidence. They
can sit at a table with the ability to reason
out a sequence rather than panicking
when they can't remember the " rule " or
what they " should bid. "
Instead of languishing in limited
The Scottsdale Independent's online
edition featured BOS in June.
Many new partnerships include players
" playing up, " emerging from limited
games into open games with moreexperienced
partners. Sometimes they
are scared, but we always tell them, " If
you don't enjoy yourself let us know
and we will take care of you " - what do
we have to lose?
If bridge is forever changing,
shouldn't that be reflected in the way
we teach it? We did all the classic lessons,
looked at our retention rate, then
evolved. Pre-COVID, we printed out
books, and players took pages of notes,
somehow trying to memorize their way
into understanding. They became frustrated
and didn't come back. We have
shifted our entire teaching philosophy
from rules, memorization and notes
into building a strong understanding
of the logic behind why we bid, play
and defend the way we do. Using this
games or supervised bid-and-play, we
encourage players to play with another
emerging player in their first open game.
Some of the players, especially the ones
with talent, are shocked at how quickly
they are picked up by good Flight B or
even A players just champing at the bit to
help bring them along. Not only does this
make them more comfortable playing, it
helps to cement the sense of community.
When BOS engaged local media with
our story of reemerging after COVID, it
was an incredibly empowering feeling to
have these outlets welcome the opportunity
to hear our story and promote
our club and lessons, especially when
we were unable to afford any type of
advertising on our own. It helped us
realize bridge is not stagnant, we are still
relevant and people want to hear about
us. Don't be afraid to ask, twice, three
times - keep pushing. You have a story
and people want to hear it. It helps all
parties, and the worst they can say is no.
Don't be afraid to take the first step. I
never thought a TV news station would
want to film a room full of quiet bridge
players, but they did.
August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2021
