February 5, 2013: The battle for winning the RYBAP competition is tightening up as Washoe County Middle School Bridge teams prepare for the Spring Team competition scheduled for Saturday April 27th at the John Ascuagas Hotel in Sparks. Bridge Team members from Billinghurst, Sparks, Depoali Middle Schools and the Davidson Academy are well represented in the top ten rankings for the RYBAP competition as of February 1st. The school teams are putting a lot of time in on the Saturday Teaching Table and play with Directors and teachers on Bridge Base Online and earning big points toward the RYBAP awards to be given out at the end of the school year. These practice sessions are helping students from all the participating schools to improve their play of the hand and now that the Spring Semester is upon us they are beginning to develop improved bidding skills as class room work is focusing on bidding and partner communication . Although Henry Weisberg (Billinghurst) and Arsh Bhardwaj (Sparks) have crossed into triple digits in the point standings, it doesn’t take anyone very long to accumulate big points online and at the Saturday teacher table, especially now that a new weekly quiz is available at which students can earn up to 10 RYBAP points just by participating and answering the questions correctly. Bridge is a partnership game and in addition to evaluating the strength of one’s own hand to take tricks, the 15 words, letters and numerals that make up the limited language used to communicate with partner requires the players to learn how to show partner the strength, suit distribution and high cards contained in their hands. Of course, regular attendance at the after school activity bridge classes is essential to learn new elements of the basic “Standard American Yellow Card” bidding system as well as some of the core type conventions that go along with it. On top of that students earn double RYBAP points for attendance during the Spring Semester. The next big payoff will come at the April Team Game Tournament with as many as 50 RYBAP points available to the winners of the Team game and the same amount available to the overall winners of the Pairs side game.
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Middle School students who wear black Tee shirts with the logo as shown on this page have participated in one or more Reno Youth Bridge-WCSD interscholastic duplicate bridge tournaments. Reno Youth Bridge sponsors three of these major tournaments and the Mid Winter Tournament just completed was the first one during the 2012-2013 school years. This being the first experience for many of the players, all participants found out just how much fun it is to be a part of this bridge learning and playing program. Beginning in January RYB will introduce the use of Bridge Base online, a software application that allows the user to play the game right on their Web Browser. Sometime in March, the Directors of RYB will invite students from all the participating schools to form teams of four and enter the WCSD-RYB Online Team Game in which a Swiss Team format will provide for three or more schools to play in head to head matches against each other. The winners of this team game tournament will receive a special RYBAP points award bonu,s the amount of which will depend upon the number of teams that play in the event. Watch for more information on this website
Reno Youth Bridge Mid Winter Tournament
The rankings and master points awarded for the first four places overall and for the first and second place in each section are shown in the table. Master points are red points which are awarded when you play in Regional tournaments as this one was.
Bud Brewer 20
May Smith 50
Richard Baumgarten 60
Learn MoreSaturday, December 29, 2012: Sixty hearty students of the WCSD Middle Schools and members of Reno Youth Bridge after school activity program came out on a cold wintry day to challenge their 
fellow students in the first of three major interscholastic bridge tournaments held by RYB during the school year. Students not only have fun learning how to play the most popular card game in the world but have an opportunity to hone their skills and compete for over $3000 in awards made to the Middle School Students who at the end of the school year have accumulated the highest number of RYBAP achievement points. Points are awarded for consistency in attendance, participation in bridge club tournaments, online bridge play, and rankings in three major tournaments plus online team game challenges. A student accumulating the highest number of RYBAP achievement points over the fall and spring semesters will receive a $1000 “Condition Precedent” College or Trade School Scholarship upon graduation from high school. Certainly on a day like it was Saturday morning, most school kids are sleeping or maybe watching television. Not this group, who are learning the basics of a card game the practice of which has been shown to enhance relative academic achievement.
Bridge is a partnership game so it offers the opportunity to advance social skills. The students shown here are concentrating as hard as they can to remember what card has been played and whether they will be able to make their contract. Simple math of keeping count, visualizing opponent’s holdings and making inferences from what they do or don’t do are just a part of what the bridge player has to deal with to be successful. Bridge, a trick taking game, was extremely popular in the early part of the last century with over 20 million young and old playing the game regularly. 
With the availability of television after World War II and the introduction of video games during the 1970-1990 years, bridge lost a generation of participants. Kathy Lane, President of Reno Youth Bridge and one of the Founding Directors of RYB says that the American Contract Bridge League Education Foundation has a well-structured learning program that is designed for volunteer teachers in our schools and does provide for a stipend to be paid to them to step up and begin recruiting and organizing after school activity classes teaching bridge to students interested in learning how to play the game. This Saturday the overall winners of the RYB-WCSD Mid-Winter Middle School Duplicate Bridge Tournament was the pair of Henry Weisberg and Mathew McKinley, members of the Billinghurst MS Bridge Team taught by Collett Gilmore and assisted by RYB Associate, Marge Quaglieri. Section winners included Mason Fisher and Mathew Longland from Sparks MS. In the Mini-Bridge section, East West winners were Arsh Bhardwaj and Smit Shah from Sparks MS and North South winners were Hayley Davis and Kat Kallas from High Desert Montessori Charter School. In the High school Division played as a Team Game, the team of Giovanney Zuninga, Joseph Magana, Brent Judy and Dylan Doraskar defeated a team from Davidson Academy made up of Sarah Mcharg, Jessica Fuchs, Tyler Hart and Jackson Hart. The next major interscholastic competition will be in the Spring Team game Championships to be held in late April. Click on photos to see enlargement.
December 2,2012: Kathy Lane says “Remember the Date: Saturday,December 29th, 2012, at the Grand Sierra Resort, Reno Youth Bridge will hold the first of three major WCSD interscholastic duplicate bridge tournaments. This event will take place at the ACBL Reno Regional taking place during the Christmas-New Year break. Registration starts at 9:30AM. Tournament begins at 10:00AM and finishes at 1:30PM after which lunch is served to all players, teachers and parents during Award Ceremony. Snacks will be served for the hungry. This is the first big step students can take toward winning the $1000 college scholarship awarded to the student accumulating the highest number of RYBAP achievement points during the school year. Don’t miss this event! Mini-Bridge and Contract sections will be available. A High School Section will also be available. Black shirt Game Jerseys will be provided for all who are entering their first RYB Tournament. Get a partner or one will be made available so come play and have fun.
September 28, 2012: Kathy Lane, President of Reno Youth Bridge, Inc. (RYB), announced that the Directors have received notice from United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra (UWNNS) advising that Reno Youth Bridge, Inc., having met UWNNS Standards of Excellence, has been accredited as a Partner of United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra. The Partnership status will be in effect for a period of three years providing RYB remains in compliance with the Standards of Excellence. Karen Barsell, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated UWNNS is proud to partner with Reno Youth Bridge as the two organizations work together to meet the needs of our northern Nevada communities.
United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra is dedicated to making a real difference in our community in the focus areas of Education, Financial Stability and Health. Therefore, the board of directors of the UWNNS has acted to move their organization to a full “Community Impact” model for the region, and will phase in a more strategic means of funding organizations and partnerships that truly can make a measurable impact in three focus areas – Education, Financial Stability and Health. Reno Youth Bridge, now in its fifth year of teaching middle school children how to play bridge, an activity deemed productive for enhancing academic and social advancement, has been deemed qualified to become a Partner in this process.
Learn MoreSeptember 25, 2012: Bob Garret Director of District 21 presented a very generous gift of Twenty Five Hundred Dollars ($2500) to Reno Youth Bridge at the Tuesday “Eight is Enough” Swiss Team Game held at the Reno Bridge Center. Accepting the gift on behalf of the fourteen middle school after school teaching program was Kathy Lane, President of Reno Youth Bridge. Growing each of the past four years, this fully funded partnership with the Washoe County School System has not only stimulated increased interest by students but also allowed certified volunteer teachers to not only be a part of the program but also to enjoy learning to play the game right along with the students. The cost to provide a year long after school bridge class and sponsor three major tournaments to allow the students to test what they have learned is approximately $1900 per school. Reno Youth Bridge depends on the continued generosity of bridge players, teachers, parents, Reno’s participating Merchants and the ACBL Education Foundation to fund their effort to enable Washoe County Middle School students to enhance their academic achievements and enjoy learning the values provided by the game of Bridge.
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Reno Youth Bridge, a 501(c)(3) non profit Nevada Corporation, is funded by the generous contributions from individuals, families and charitable foundations here in the Reno Community. None of the RYB Directors or Officers receive compensation for their services. WCSD Certified teachers at each of the participating schools do receive a stipend for their volunteer efforts to teach the game of Bridge to WCSD Middle School Students. If you would like to help us fund our program we have provided the convenience of Pay Pal Credit card services. Just click on the Donate Button on any page or call Bud Brewer at 775-849-4113. Thank You!