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Atlanta Labor Day Regional[9/9/09] Many of our young players tackled the
Atlanta 'Labor Day' Regional events over the weekend. All put their hard learned
lessons to work and found great enjoyment & success in their bridge game!
Youth NABC Results
[8/9/09] Atlanta Junior Bridge showed a strong force at the Washington DC Youth NABC with 41 young players taking home a shopping cart full of masterpoints! District 6, the Youth NABC volunteers and ACBL staff did a fantastic job of making the kids feel comfortable and giving them an event they will remember for a long time. Angie Green of Alpharetta was elected to receive the Sportsmanship Trophy and $1000 college scholarship donated by Phil Gordon. This prestigious award is voted on by our young players to the person who best exhibits sportsmanship and ethics throughout the tournament. Astronaut Greg Johnson came Saturday morning, gave a presentation to the players and answered questions about his experiences in outer space. One of the highlights of the Youth NABC was a visit from Bill Gates on Saturday where he spoke with the kids, shook hands and even signed a few Youth4Bridge baseball caps. We can’t possibly list all the winners, but here are our youngsters who placed in the overalls of each event:
Baron
Barclay National Youth Open Pairs National Youth Swiss Teams
Flight
A
Flight
C
Thursday Morning Youth Open Pairs
Thursday Morning Cardrook Pairs Thursday Afternoon Youth Swiss
Flight
A
Flight
C
Thursday Afternoon Cardrook Pairs
Friday
Morning Cardrook Pairs
Friday
Consolation Pairs
Friday
Afternoon Cardrook Pairs
Saturday Morning Cardrook Pairs AJB’s Masterpoint List 3 23.62 Zandy Rizzo, Alpharetta GA 4 23.62 Murphy Green, Alpharetta GA 6 19.27 Sean Gannon, Atlanta GA 8 17.55 Richard Jeng, Johns Creek GA 9 17.55 Andrew Jeng, Johns Creek GA 22 9.33 Hunter Smith, Alpharetta GA 23 9.33 Mili Raina, Alpharetta GA 32 7.29 Ricoh Das, Alpharetta GA 34 7.27 Arjun Dhir, Alpharetta GA 35 7.27 Angie Green, Alpharetta GA 39 5.72 Jamal Strickland, Atlanta GA 40 5.72 Drake Jones, Atlanta GA 58 4.16 Tage Kelkar, Norcross GA 67 3.59 Aashna Choudhary, Alpharetta GA (adding points from below 4.05) 68 3.59 Saachi Hingorani, Alpharetta GA (adding points from below 4.05) 70 3.55 Aidan Kedzierski, Marietta GA 71 3.55 Hannah Kedzierski, Marietta GA 72 3.45 Peter Wexel, Lilburn GA 73 3.45 Jacob Wexel, Lilburn GA 74 3.31 Karan Vohra, Alpharetta GA 75 3.31 Surabhi Ghai, Wayne PA 77 3.15 Julia Abelsky, Atlanta GA 85 2.67 Mary Wexel, Lilburn GA 86 2.67 Ruth Wexel, Lilburn GAVA 88 2.63 Samuel Cai, Suwanee GA 90 2.63 Amanda Pham, Marietta GA 94 2.29 William Dang, Alpharetta GA 97 1.97 Charles Cannon, Atlanta GA 102 1.89 Maya Kelkar, Norcross GA 116 1.39 Lauren Langford, Atlanta GA 117 1.39 Erin Langford, Atlanta GA 124 1.27 Isaac Wexel, Lilburn GA 139 0.85 Christopher Brown, Atlanta GA 140 0.85 Khari King, Atlanta GA 153 0.46 Saachi Hingerani, 154 0.46 Aashna Choudhary, 158 0.36 Grace Kelley, Atlanta GA 160 0.35 Phoebe Wexel, Lilburn GA Click here for the complete list Bill Gates Visits Youth NABC[8/7/09] As many of you know, Bill Gates stopped by the Youth NABC and we have a video of his comments on YouTube. Go to www.youthnabc.org and click on YouTube to hear his take on Youth Bridge. AJB was on the cover of Saturday's daily bulletin: http://www.youthnabc.org/asset/file/2009/bulletin/Saturday.pdf. Over the next several days I'll be sending more pictures, writing more stories and letting you all know about the great things that happened. So go read the bulletins on the Youth NABC site http://www.youthnabc.org/index.php?id=17 and then keep coming back to our AJB site for more stories, pictures and information. Let me also take a moment to say 'thanks' to all our parents, teachers and officers of AJB who worked above and beyond the call of duty helping out at the event. Having a group of parents and volunteers that had experience in working with large groups of kids was invaluable to the success of the Youth NABC. Thanks everyone Patty Tucker ACBL Youth Advocate Elected[8/5/09] Congratulations go out to Murphy Green who was elected by his peers as the ACBL's first Youth Advocate and to the AJB students who were chosen to represent District 7 in their first class of Youth Ambassadors: Zandy Rizzo, Andrew Jeng, Richard Jeng, Ricoh Das, Mili Raina, Murphy Green, Angie Green, Arjun Dhir, Monali Shah, Ashish Shah, Hunter Smith, Maya Kelkar and Amanda Pham.
Bridging the Generations Together
[7/16/09] The Roswell Duplicate Bridge Club, Roswell Adult Recreation Center and Atlanta Junior Bridge joined forces to present the first Multi-Generation Bridge Game Party on July 10, 2009. 41 tables of players talked, partied, ate and played bridge with each other. Ten of the tables were young players from the ages of six to fifteen. At the lunch break we pulled out signs representing every decade between 1920 and 2000 to see if we could find a person in the room born in each decade. We got them all but one – 1980. Everyone present agreed to search out friends born in 1980 and teach them bridge before next years game! A highlight was club owner Bill Mark’s presentation of a check for $1500.00 to AJB to help them continue their classes, camps and games for kids in the greater Atlanta area. Atlanta Junior Bridge presented a framed certificate to the club and center expressing their appreciation of the event.
4th of July Tournament Was a Blast for AJBhttp://www.mabcbridge.org/SectionalTournaments/Atlanta/090701/Info.htm#Friday
[7/11/09] AJB was out in force at the tournament this year as everyone worked at honing their skills for the Youth NABC in Washington DC. Congratulations to North/South winners Hannah and Aidan Kedzierski and East/West winners Amanda Pham and Samuel Cai for their excellent performance in the July 3rd AJB game. Amanda and Samuel also finished first overall with an impressive 69.45% game. Congratulations are also due to Andrew and Richard Jeng, Zandy Rizzo and Murphy Green who won two bracketed knock-out events at the tournament. Our AJB Goes to Washington raffle was held on Sunday July 5th and the winner of the 32" Flat Screen HDTV and Nintendo Wii was Kevin Whittington. Congratulations Kevin! Thanks to everyone who participated and made this trip to DC possible for our young players. Due to your efforts over 40 Atlanta Junior Bridge players will compete in the Youth NABC. Click here for more photos. New Location for Saturday Morning Games and Classes
[7/1/09] The Atlanta Duplicate Bridge Club is moving to the Peachtree Renaissance offices located at 6761 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta Georgia 30360. The club can be reached off of Winters Chapel by turning right on Renaissance Boulevard just past the QT gas station, or you can take the access road which runs alongside Peachtree Industrial between Tilly Mill Road and Winters Chapel and turn right on Renaissance Blvd just past 'Beverage World'. Our classes are unchanged; 9:30 to 11:30 with Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced instruction and a game the first Saturday of every month (unless there is a conflict with a tournament). Join us for our next class on July 11th and our next game on August 1st. Greenville Regional[6/25/09] Congratulations to Richard and Andrew Jeng on winning the 0-750 Gold Point Pairs at the Greenville Regional! Their 60.86% game in this two-session event gave them a clear win. Well done. http://www.mabcbridge.org/RegionalTournaments/Greenville/090608/Results_Sat.htm The LEAGUE National Awards and Recognition Breakfast
Atlanta Bridge Unit AJB Benefit Game[6/7/09] The Atlanta Bridge Unit (ABU) of the American Bridge Association (ABA) held a covered dish Benefit Game on May 30, 2009. The purpose of the game was to support ABA members Bette Hardin, Queen Jackson and Allean Strickland, who are teaching in the ACBL's Atlanta Junior Bridge program. The proceeds from the game will be divided equally among their AJB students who are going to attend the Summer NABC in Washington, D.C. The game was held at the Quality Living Senior Center. There were twenty-one tables in play. Three and one half tables consisted of Atlanta Junior Bridge players. Shirley Williams, President of the ABU; Evelyn Gilliard, Area Coordinator; Bette Hardin and Edith Knowlton, Game Directors; Evelyn Cook, Worth Christler and Emma Fountain, Logistic Coordinators; and the membership of the ABU were responsible for the successful event. The ABU thanks Patty Tucker for her visit and support. Thank you Atlanta Bridge Unit for your support.
AJB Players Do Well at the Covington Sectional[6/1/09] Congratulations to Zandy Rizzo and Murphy Green of Alpharetta and Richard Jeng and Andrew Jeng of Johns Creek for their great game at the Sunday Swiss Teams in Covington. They played in the open Swiss Teams and came in 5th in Flight B. Well done guys! http://www.mabcbridge.org/SectionalTournaments/GreensboroGA/090529/Info.htm Jerry Helms Seminar 2009[5/12/09] Nationally famous writer, teacher and player Jerry Helms returned to Atlanta donating his time for the second annual Atlanta Junior Bridge fundraiser. A rousing success, Jerry raised over $7,000 for AJB’s youth efforts. Our sincere thanks go to Penelope Smith, Gene Manion and Jackie Key of Charlotte for giving their energy and time in duplicating many, many sets of boards and organizing all of the seminar material. Gailyn Thornton, Dick & Jenny Cannon, Jackie Henry, Allison Spears, Julia Stewart, Betty Hall, Cathy Totis, Julie Gregory, Marty Nathan and Sam Marks handled the Atlanta end of the organizing effort with style and class. They have the gift of making a difficult and demanding job appear easy.
Grand National Teams[5/4/09] Our Atlanta Junior Bridge students played well in the Grand National Teams last weekend in Morganton NC. Congratulations to the team of Zandy Rizzo, Murphy Green, Angie Green, Arjun Dhir, Andrew Jeng and Richard Jeng for placing third Saturday which qualified them for the flight C semifinals Sunday in the Grand National Teams. The Dhir team finished 3/4. The team of Ricoh Das, Karan Vohra, William Dang and Jimmy Fordham placed fifth on Saturday. Coming from behind at the half, they barely missed qualifying. Another 3 VP's would have won them a place in the playoffs also. Well done and congratulations to everyone. Not only did you play well, but your behavior, skill and demeanor was commented on throughout the tournament, earning good marks for young bridge players everywhere. Zandy, Murphy, Angie, Arjun, Ricoh, Karan and William are all from Alpharetta and currently attend classes taught by Carolyn and Lee Eckert. Andrew and Richard are from Johns Creek and are taught by Marty Nathan at the ADBC and by Lola Sliom. Many of the players are graduates of AJB's Summer Camps taught by Nancy Watkins and Patty Tucker, all still attend summer camps on a regular basis. Jenni and Tom Carmichael have been working on precision with Zandy, Murphy, Andrew, Richard and Arjun at Alpharetta Bridge Club. Thank you to all of the teachers, assistants and subs that share a part in their success. See also http://www2.morganton.com/content/2009/may/02/day-well-suited-bridge/. Bridge Makes a Comeback[3/24/09] Channel 13 news in Houston did a great segment about bridge that aired Friday, March 20th in Houston. The segment is currently up on the Channel 13 web site at the following link, if you'd like to view it. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6721496 2009 Georgia State Youth Team Championship — A Great Success and Great Fun[3/5/09] Even before the tournament started ...the fun started. The new spring AJB t-shirts designed and created by Diana Hughes were a great success and the kids were delighted with the bright tie-dyed shirts. Thank you Diana for a terrific job! Thanks also to Richard Starr who also tie-dyed a considerable amount of the shirts to get ready for the tournament.
As we got down to the 'real' business of Saturday, 13 tables of young players participated in the tournament held during the Roswell 'Almost Spring' Sectional . Four tables of youngsters played in the Card Rook game for beginning players and the remainder in the Georgia State Youth Team Championship. The results for our State Team Championship? A tie for 1st and 2nd place! After two rounds, the DHIR team was ahead of the GREEN team by 2 VP’s. Not to be outdone, the 3rd round found the GREEN team had flip-flopped the score and they were ahead by 2 VP’s. As the fourth round was completed and the final scores were submitted to the Director, Nancy Watkins, the captains of each team ‘did the math’ and even before the rest of us knew the answer, both the DHIR and the GREEN team were aware that a tie of 68 VP’s was the final score! The final results:
In the Card Rook game Jamal Strickland and Drake Jones of Atlanta had a huge 76% game to carry them to a win. Finals here were:
Congratulations to everyone. What a great time we had! 2008 Masterpoint Races[2/4/09] Congratulations to several of our Atlanta Junior Bridge students on doing well in the Unit and District 2008 Masterpoint Races! The Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race is for points won in any ACBL sanctioned event in the past year. The Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race considers only those points won in club games. Each player is ranked from the number of masterpoints they held when the year started. Arjun Dhir (Alpharetta) led the way winning the Unit 114 5-to-20 Mini-McKenney Masterpoint Race (95.64) and the 5-to-20 Ace of Clubs Masterpoint Race (53.40). Arjun also placed in District 7 taking 2nd place in the Mini-McKenney and 5th in the Ace of Clubs Race. Richard and Andrew Jeng (Johns Creek) finished tied for 2nd and 3rd in the Unit 114 Mini-McKenney (72.91) and 10th and 11th in the 5-to-20 Ace of Clubs (29.51). Richard and Andrew also finished tied for 7th and 8th in the District 7 5-to-20 Mini-McKenney. In the 20-to-50 Mini-McKenney, Zandy Rizzo (Alpharetta), with 78.94 masterpoints, finished 5th in Unit 114 and 23rd in District 7. Congratulations also go to Sean Gannon in the 50-to-100 Unit 114 Mini-McKenney. Sean finished 4th with 103.48 masterpoints. On the national level we also had many students place in the top 50 in the Youth Masterpoint Race category:
Well done to all! We’re proud of you. For a full listing of the masterpoint races go to http://www.acbl.org/about/mpraces.html.
AJB Pot Luck Dinner
New Class Series in Norcross[1/9/09] A new junior bridge class is beginning February 7, 2009 at the ADBC, Saturdays, 10:00-11:30 a.m. All levels are welcome; new players will start at the beginner level and progress at their own speed. The cost is free. Tell your friends! U.S. News: Learn To Play Bridge[1/2/09] In a December 18 U.S. News and World Report article, columnist Mike Salmon touts bridge as a way to improve one's life. Did you know that….[12/18/08]
We need your help to continue. AJB has been funded solely by donations and grants from bridge players, bridge organizations and parents of students over the last three years. Over 70% of all funding we receive goes directly towards continuing our classes, camps and playing opportunities for our young players. Together we have created an organization to show young people the fascinating world of Bridge. Thank you for your support. Georgia Youth Open Pairs State Championship 2008
Third place went to Zandy Rizzo and Arjun Dhir, with Ricoh Das and Sean Gannon finishing fourth. Mili Raina and Kenneth Yang (5th) were followed by Surabhi Ghai and Hunter Smith (6th).
Click here to see the session recap listings. At one point in the Card Rookie game, the director was called to the table to clarify who was supposed to be dummy. The auction had gone:
Kroger Gift Cards[09/25/08] When you purchase a Kroger gift card from Atlanta Junior Bridge, you get the full face value of the gift card. Kroger will donate matching funds equal to 5% of all gift card sales to AJB. Click here for details. See also the News Archive Index | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[6/9/09]
Congratulations Richard and Andrew Jeng - Winners of the School
Bridge League tournament! Richard and Andrew with their parents Wenwei and Sam
spent the day in New York courtesy of School Bridge League. They arrived at the
Pier Sixty at Chelsea Pier the morning of June 5th for the LEAGUE National
Awards and Recognition Breakfast after which all the Youth were divided to 4
groups to know each other and brain storming about how to have a better world
and how to bring service back to our community. This was followed by a lovely
lunch with the whole event ending around 1:30 pm. Guest speakers at the lunch
were Arne Duncan (U.S. Secretary of Education), Josh Lucas (Actor), and Jessica
Yellin (CNN Correspondent). The family also had a chance to meet with Mr. Bill
Hoogterp (The LEAGUE CEO & Commissioner) his wife Maria. Ms. Maria told Richard
and Andrew that she was 'inspired to take up bridge too'. Richard and Andrew
will be one of the pairs representing School Bridge League at the Youth NABC in
Washington DC. Well done! 
We also announced the winner of the contest to create a new design for the
Washington 
[12/09/08]
At the Georgia
Youth Pairs State Championship this Saturday we had 19 tables of our Georgia
youth testing their skills. Richard and Andrew Jeng of Johns Creek came
out on top, snagging the 1st -place trophy in a closely-run race
against Murphy Green and Ashish Shah of Alpharetta who finished 2nd . With one round to play, there was approximately a 3-matchpoint difference
between the pairs.
In the Card Rookie pairs (the newcomer event)
Sahil and Nikita Raina finished 1st , followed by Bob
Wiley and Ally Wardlow in 2nd place.