Unit 131/ District 15 Grand National Team finishes 2nd! Great job and congratulations to the Flight B team of Paul and Lily Chan, Greg Barnes, and Mark De Garcia. They had an outstanding GNT tournament at the New Orleans NABC!
Congratulations to the Flight A and Flight C Bragging Rights Teams. Trophies coming back home to K.C. again!
Unit 131 North American Pairs Unit Final - Sunday, Sept. 26 10 a.m. and tba - two session pair game, at the Bridge Studio, 95th & Metcalf, Overland Park, KS. You must qualify at the club level to be eligible to play in the Unit Final.
Kansas City Fall Sectional Flyer October 8-10
Kansas City Holiday Regional Flyer December 26-31
Kansas City Regional Online Reservations at the Sheraton only $79 per night!
Special Board Meeting: Sept. 4, 2010 4:45 p.m. at the Bridge Studio
Unit 131 Board:
President: Kathy Rolfe
1st Vice-President: Richard Troth
2nd Vice-President: Linda Eakes
Secretary-Treasurer: Bill Cue
Past President: John Glagola
Board Members-at-large - 2 year terms ending in April 2012:
Greg Barnes, Patty Calliham, Don Childers, Jim Gross, Barbara Hicks, Lynne Wenski
Board Members -at-large - terms ending in April 2011:
Jeanie Brown, Steve Day, Michael Hughes, Fred Lambert, Craig Schallert, Alan Spohn, John Stewart, Nancy Trager
Two youth teams were in the field on Friday night July 9, 2010. The kids ranged in age from 9 to 20. All were former students of Kathy Rolfe, who gave them a special coaching session a few days before the tournament on how to play and score at team games. One team was Michael Lakner and Tyler Braden, rising 8th and 9th graders, sitting North-South and their East-West partners were Michael and Patrick, rising 5th and 6th graders. On the other team were Sara and Kate, rising 5th and 7th graders, sitting North-South, with teammates Trevor Houston, 2nd year college student, and Austin Buchanan, rising 9th grader, sitting East-West. They learned a lot and had fun talking to a lot of other bridge players. Michael Lakner also had some caddy training by watching the caddies at work. This was important because he was a new caddy the next day. He was even able to play with John Glagola, caddy master, as his partner to fill in the Saturday evening side game, which made him a very happy caddy—paid to work but getting to play for free at the same time! What a deal! I heard about his double of 4S for a plus 800 from his partner that evening and from his opponents the next day. Tyler Braden and Michael Lakner could also be found playing in the pair game Friday afternoon as well. I think we have a whole new generation getting hooked!
Fred Dahlquist,age 102, and his son Bill, sat down to play North-South at their local social duplicate club on Saturday July 17 at noon at John Knox Village. Sitting West was Michael Lakner, age 13, and his partner and bridge teacher, Kathy Rolfe, was sitting East. The first board was 3NT by North (Bill) for down 1. The next board was also 3NT by South (Fred) this time for down 2. The third and last board of the round was also 3NT! This time however played by East (Kathy), making 7! Fred is shown here trying to figure out how that happened! Michael and Kathy finished the day with a 72.78% game which was only 2nd!
“Come and see this!” I was told repeatedly as various players at the Columbia Mid-MO sectional tournament saw the 4 very young bridge players in the pairs game. I had to smile and say, “Yes, I know! They’re my students!” The four players, Kate, Michael, Sara, and Patrick, (seen in the picture here from left to right), were from a home
school group that I taught beginning bridge to this past spring. They range in age from 9 to 11 and are siblings and cousins. Kate and Patrick finished first in the student scholarship section at the April sectional in Kansas City. In the 10 a.m. June 4, 2010 session they mixed it up with, Kate and Michael playing together, sitting North-South, and Sara and Patrick sitting East-West,starting at the same table. Their Aunt Aletia drove them to Columbia just to play in the game. Aletia plays bridge too but opted to watch instead of finding a partner and playing herself. In fact most of their family plays – a total of 5 aunts, 2 grandparents, and 3 other siblings/cousins play the game that I know of, as I’ve also given them lessons! The kids did not place but they had some very good boards and they had a lot of fun, enjoying the great hospitality and talking to the other players. They are looking forward to playing in a game or two at the summer sectional tournament as well.
Michael (Mickey) Creech, Jr., senior from Lee's Summit West High School (LSWHS), received the second Kathy Rolfe Bridge Scholarship at the Academic Achievement Awards Assembly at LSWHS on May 6, 2010. This is a $500 renewable scholarship made available from the Eugene J. Rolfe Memorial Education Fund administered by the Truman Heartland Community Foundation. To renew the scholarship Mickey will have to maintain a B average or better in his post-secondary education, keep his ACBL membership current, and continue to earn masterpoints. Mickey also received the Eugene J. Rolfe Memorial scholarship, a $1000 renewable scholarship which is given to a graduating senior with a musical background who is going on to major in engineering in college. Mickey will be using both of these scholarships to major in aerospace engineering at Purdue University.
Mickey was a 4th grader in the ASPIRE class of Mrs. Stacia Garland at Cedar Creek Elementary, the 4th bridge class I taught during my first year of teaching bridge in 2002. He has pursued playing bridge with a passion, playing in the annual Instant Matchpoint Competitions, playing at local clubs as well as various sectional and regional tournaments. He has played social bridge as well.
Congratulations Mickey!
