The 2010 student bridge scholarship competition was held as a part of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Unit 131 Sectional Tournament held at the firefighters Hall at 6320 Manchester Avenue in Kansas City on Friday, April 23. This is the fourth year the unit has sponsored this event. Unit 131 paid to bus the students from the Lee’s Summit School District so that they could play in the sectional; they could see what it was like as the adults played in another section of the tournament, starting just 1 hour after the kids; and perhaps most importantly the adults could see them play and encourage them to continue.
There were 17 tables of four students each, ranging from 4th grade through 12th grade, in play. All were either current or former students of Kathy Rolfe who has been teaching bridge in various school settings but primarily within the Lee’s Summit School District since 2002. She has taught primarily in the ASPIRE (4th-6th grade gifted and talented) classes. 12 boards in a standard Mitchell movement were played. The session was directed by Kathy Rolfe and by ACBL tournament director Chris Patrias, who was also busy running the adult sections of bridge.
At the end of the afternoon the top North-South pair and the top East-West pair won not only their silver masterpoints, but also a trophy provided by Unit 131, and each player also received a $50 scholarship to be used for their post-secondary education. The scholarship is funded from the Eugene J. Rolfe Memorial Education Fund administered by the Truman Heartland Community Foundation. In addition to the top places, twelve other pairs also played well enough to earn silver masterpoints.
Forty-three of the students joined ACBL this year and four of the students had previously joined ACBL when they played in previous Scholarship Tournaments. This is important because it is one step they need to take in order to be eligible to win an additional scholarship given to a graduating senior. Any graduating senior who has the required 3.0 grade point average, is a member of ACBL, has at least 1 masterpoint, and is a former student of Kathy Rolfe is eligible to win a $500 scholarship which in turn is renewable for another 3 years if the student maintains their GPA and continues to add to their masterpoints each year while retaining ACBL membership.
The winners of this year’s competition were: East-West: Patrick and Kate, 5th and 6th graders from the Seton Home School Group and North-South: Michael Lakner and Tyler Braden 7th and 8th graders from Pleasant Lea Middle School. Patrick and Kate each received 1.13 silver masterpoints for their 1st place overall with a 69.43% game. Michael and Tyler each received .85 silver masterpoints for their first N/S and 2nd overall with a 66.2% game. Most of the players were from 10 schools in Lee’s Summit: Sunset Valley, Underwood, Cedar Creek, Summit Pointe, Mason, Trailridge, and Greenwood Elementary Schools, Pleasant Lea Middle School, Summit Lakes Middle School, and Lee’s Summit West High School. There were 4 players from the Seton Home School Group, and 4 players from Ruskin High School. Every school at the tournament had players earning masterpoints. All players earning masterpoints (mps) are listed here along with their grade level and school.
Patrick / Kate 1.13 mps 5th / 6th gr. Seton Home School
Michael Lakner / Tyler Braden .85 mps 7th / 8th gr. Pleasant Lea M.S.
Brady Hemmel / Evan Schoenherr .64 mps 6th grade Underwood Elem.
(Tyler Charles)/Michaela Thomson / Alicia Cotto .48 mps 6th grade Sunset Valley Elem.
Sky Masters / Jessi Kuse .36 mps 5th / 6th gr. Trailridge Elem.
Connor Schott / Lucas Hall .28 mps 6th grade Mason Elem.
Andrew Ruth / C. Paul Williams .27 mps 11th grade Ruskin High School
Chris Ballowe / Khaheem Coley .27 mps 11th / 12th gr. Ruskin High School
Austin Buchanan / Brittany James .20 mps 8th gr./ 9th gr. Summit Lakes M.S./LSWHS
Adam Moore / Cole Huff .20 mps 6th grade Summit Pointe Elem.
Mary Clare/ Amy Hodson .19 mps 6th / 5th gr Greenwood Elem.
Kyle Greenwald / Daniel Valmassi .19 mps 4th / 5th gr. Underwood / Mason
Jacob Schnitzlein / Alex Geoghegan .14 mps 5th / 4th gr Trailridge Elem.
Jackson Pietig / Gavin .14 mps 6th grade Cedar Creek Elem.
Greenwood Elementary School students finished the Bidding Series course with a mini-tournament on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Twelve students (7 sixth graders, two 5th graders, and 3 fourth graders) played seven boards with an individual movement. Each board was played three times. Top on a board was therefore 2. Finishing in first place with a score of 10.5 was Caroline, a 4th grader! We had a 2-way tie for second place with 8.5 matchpoints and a 2-way tie for third place with 8 matchpoints.
Trailridge Elementary School students finished the Bidding Series course with a mini-tournament on Thursday, April 15, 2010. Nine students were playing eight boards with an individual movement, requiring one student to sitout each round. Each board was played twice. Top on a board was therefore 1. We had a 3-way tie for first place with 4 1/2 matchpoints for Sky Masters, Jessie Kuse, and Alex Geoghegan.
Sunset Valley Elementary School students finished the Bidding Series course with a mini-tournament on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Eight students (7 sixth graders, and one 5th grader) were playing eight boards with an individual movement. Each board was played twice. Top on a board was therefore 1. We had a 3-way tie for first place with 5 matchpoints for Michaela Thomson, Jarod Snook, and Kate Bussen.
Seton Home School students finished the Bidding Series course with a mini-tournament on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. Eight students were playing eight boards with an individual movement. Each board was played twice. Top on a board was therefore 1. We had a tie for first place with 5 matchpoints between Kate and Michael.
