SiVY Junior United States Bridge Championships Training Weekend
Oct 7 and Oct 8, 2017 
More than 20 young players from the Bay Area will be competing in Atlanta this December in the Junior US Bridge Championship (aka "Junior Trials"). They'll be trying to qualify for the 2018 World Youth Championships, to be held in August in China. All Bay Area juniors who are entered in the Trials were invited to participate in a special training event. Most have been regulars in the SiVY program.
The training weekend provided an opportunity for the local youth players, ranging in age from 12-24, to get to know each other better, while practicing and getting tips from mentors. Everyone had some opportunity to play behind screens, which many of the players had not done before. Twelve year-old Olivia Schireson, who will be competing on an all SiVY U16 team, said "I learned a lot and had fun. I am glad that I had a chance to practice with screens before Atlanta."
Several players attended without a partner, usually because their trials partner is someone from another part of the country, who they met through the USBF online training program. Those players either paired up with one another, or had a mentor for a partner.
Michael Rosenberg, who organizes the USBF Junior training program, was there for the post mortem at the end of Saturday's training. While most of these players have interacted with Michael online, for many this was the first time in person.
Details about the Michael Seamon Junior USBC, including rosters of teams entered, can be found here:
A big thank you to all the mentors who volunteered over the weekend, plus the parents who helped organize and provided snacks.
- Will Watson provided pre-duplicated boards and hand records, in addition to directing and mentoring.
- Barry Goren, who works with some SiVY players through the USBF Junior training program, drove all the way from Las Vegas for this program.
- JoAnna Stansby
- Li-Chung Chen
- Anant Rathi
- Debbie Rosenberg
- Floyd McWilliams
- Michael Rosenberg
- Max Schireson
- Qing Lu
Bay Area players are competing in the US Junior Trials in four different events:
Players on U26 Teams: Ninad More, William Zhu, Adam Kaplan, Kevin Rosenberg, Daniel Sonner, Nian Si, Yewen Fan
Players on U21 Teams: Michael Zheng, Stella Wan, David Zheng, Brent Xiao, Kevin Huang, Cornelius Duffie, Sarah Youngquist
Players on U16 Teams: Olivia Schireson, Miranda Schuyler, Calix Tang, Aman Desai, Rory Xiao, Jonathan Yue, Michael Hu, Arthur Zhou, Michael Xu
Player on Rona Rona Cup Teams: Isha Thapa