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Sam Was With Me In TorontoCategory Archives: Stories
Paul Sekula – Silver Life Master
The Harrisburg Bridge Club spends inordinate amount of time training and developing beginning bridge players. We have a stable of not yet Life Masters, who play better than I do. Mike Mendelson and several others have dedicated a lot of time and effort to developing neophyte players, to get pretty good, pretty quickly. The Harrisburg Bridge Club is a great place to play bridge, with a home like atmosphere and tremendous member cohesion; it is worth driving 100 miles or more to play at our club. The members own our club, so we have a club, not just games.
I played with two advanced partners, frequently to get the number of brightly colored points that I needed. So a special thanks is extended to Mike Zeller and Midge Sobolewski.
Another special thanks is extended to Chuck Meister of the Martinsburg, WVA club; Phil Davis of the Chambersburg club; and Dennis Wick who is willing to work with very junior players, even though he is an Emerald Life Master. Not many advanced players will do that. Those three men helped me immensely when I took up the game, here in Central PA.
Deborah Farkas – Club Master
I took my first bridge lesson after I retired. I like my local club, KOP, people are nice and the more experience players give great lessons. I’ve been playing duplicate bridge for almost two years. It took me longer than I hoped to reach this milestone but I feel I’m improving and enjoy playing.
Shelly Weismer – NABC Master
I started playing bridge back in the old days when you were given small pieces of paper with your points earned. I think you were supposed to mail them in to record the points with the ACBL. Unfortunately I never remembered to do that. Time went by and I stopped playing for many years when my children were little. Several years ago I returned to the table. So much had changed , so many new master levels. But it was still the game I loved. And oh, how I love this game. Besides being fun, sociable, mind stimulating, and of course a bit stressful, there is the reward of another master level to strive for. I am so excited to now call myself an NABC Master and look forward to becoming a Life Master. That may be a long ways off but I’ll sure have fun getting there.
Bob Shenkin – Silver Life Master
About 10 years ago, give or take a few, we started playing again and found another novice pair who were interested in playing team games. So we played and had a lot of fun and some success. We played mostly for going out to dinner together after the games. Slowly we began to accumulate master points. When we saw who we were playing against, we would look at each other and say, with awe, “Most of the players on that team are LIFE MASTERS.”
But we persevered, took lessons, played and went to tournaments. Eventually we all became life masters at about the same time. What I remember is feeling that I had reached the highest level that I was ever going to achieve. Becoming a silver life master seemed completely out of reach. But after we reached life master status and continued to play, the points seemed to come in almost of their own accord. After a few more years, I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could actually reach silver life master rank. And now that I have done so, I am looking forward to reaching the next rank.
I play for fun and for dinners after team events and to travel to the places that the regional and national tournaments are held. Reaching the next rank has never been my principal motivation but it is, nevertheless, very pleasant to do so.
Gail Bishop – Silver Life Master
My journey on achieving this milestone of Silver Life Master has given me a sense of self accomplishment and is very rewarding. I have been a member of the Harrisburg Bridge Club for many years and have enjoyed the friendships made. Fellow players have been helpful and supportive while I was working towards this goal. I love the atmosphere of competitive bridge, the welcoming environment and the encouragement of fellow players.