tim – Page 4 – EBU Membership Development

From classroom to clubroom: how to bring new players into club sessions

Bridge is a lot of fun and getting people to learn the game in your club may not be too difficult. It is also well-known that new bridge players must be offered some form of gentle, supervised play before venturing into one of the club’s main sessions. The truth though is this: the club’s membership development is not complete until some of those players migrate to a main session. Otherwise, they are not fully integrated, nor are they helping to address problems of low numbers.

There are several reasons why this is a challenge. One of the basic ones is speed of play. Playing a board in 7 to 8 minutes is stressful if you are not used to it, and experienced players may not be aware how many things which seem obvious to them take time for a beginner to work out.

Introducing players to the main club sessions is essential though, and we have prepared some tips on how to do it here.

Promoting bridge in your area with a dedicated web site

What does someone do if they want to learn bridge, or find out more about it, but do not have existing contacts in the bridge world?

Such people will likely turn to a web search and may end up contacting a local club, or finding the EBU’s site or one of any number of bridge sites out there on the web.

It can often be surprisingly difficult to get basic information on where you can learn bridge in your area, which is why we recommend having the county association, or a group of clubs, set up a web site dedicated to that purpose. General bridge sites and club sites tend to be dominated (understandably) by results, news of events, and information that looks quite specialist and perhaps off-putting to a casual visitor.

Here are a few examples. Learn Bridge Yorkshire was used in the Yorkshire membership development pilot and remains a very active site.

You can see immediately the basic ingredients. It comes straight to the point: how can you find bridge lessons in Yorkshire. It has contact details, background on why learning bridge is a great idea, and schedules of where and when bridge lessons are available. It is also bright and friendly.

Another example is South Notts Bridge. This site was put together by four clubs in South Nottinghamshire who decided to do something about declining membership. There is news of an open day coming up soon, background on the game and its (inexpensive) cost, and clear direction on who to contact for more information.

Another up and coming site is from Norfolk. Play bridge in Norfolk sets out the options for playing bridge in the area, has background on the game, and explains what to do next in order to get involved.

Tips? Here are a few:

1. Try to include some pictures. We can provide images to EBU affiliated clubs or county associations for which permission is clear, or better still, use your own (or a combination), to give a local feel.

2. If possible, support SSL connection which encrypts the traffic. Google will downgrade sites that do not work over https.

3. Make sure your site works well on tablets and mobile phones as well as PCs. The easiest way is to use a template that provides such support automatically.

4. Keep it simple. A clear message and immediate call to action is much more effective than long explanations.

Why we should get more people playing Bridge

Bridge is a wonderful game. It is enjoyable, challenging, social and endlessly fascinating. The appeal of bridge is proven by the enthusiasm of club members, many of whom play once or twice a week throughout the year. Better still, it is inexpensive, with many clubs charging just a pound or two for a full evening session.

At the same time, most bridge players will be aware that of the aging demographic in our game. This is a global phenomenon and there are many reasons, ranging from the distractions of the Internet to the fact that bridge takes a bit of effort to organize, requiring not only tables and equipment but also the right number of people to play. Further, while bridge is not a difficult game to play (though challenging to play well), it needs teaching and cannot be picked up an hour or two.

There are two reasons why there is an urgent need to bring more people into the game.

First and most positively, bridge is beneficial in all sorts of ways. Research suggests that it is good for our health, but perhaps even more important is that it is good for our quality of life. Learn bridge and you need never be bored again. Whether you are a young person with time on your hands, or an older person looking forward to retirement, learning bridge is a fantastic investment that is repaid many times over. Bringing more players into our clubs is good for the community.

Second, if we do not introduce more members to our clubs, their very survival is under threat. Bridge players may live longer than most, but the truth is that every healthy organisation must have new members joining to match those who move on for whatever reason.

There is data elsewhere on this site that explores this in depth, showing that we must take action now to keep the game of bridge vibrant and enjoyable for the future.

If you would like to know more about how to increase the membership of your club, please do contact us now.