Kaushik, Prabha, Padma and Kingo had completed 5 years in their respective workplace and were recollecting their first day at work and how the nicely structured induction programs helped them settle down quickly in the organization. Over the last 5 years all of them had moved from freshers to middle management positions.
Kaushik asked a very pertinent question, “Do we have an induction program for freshers in Bridge?”. Everyone looked at each other and the question stunned everyone as they had never heard or seen such a program. “This is a very important point. Instead of welcoming newcomers and making them comfortable, we tend to do exactly the opposite and people move away from the game. Let us discuss the issues and how we can address them”
Kingo was the first to respond saying, “Bridge players are ruthless at the bridge table. They will call the director at the drop of the hat on some minor infringement, this puts off newcomers, and they tend to move away from the game”. Prabha added to the point saying there are two issues on the point raised by Kingo, “One is how do we know the opponent is a newcomer – we need something like a L board in driving saying that the person is a newcomer and hence infractions should be pardoned. The second point is that newcomers should initially play amongst themselves in bracketed events and move to open events after they develop a comfort level”.
Padma was doing some intensive work on her cell phone and jumped in saying “Bridge education people admit that the conversion of students to regular tournament bridge players is very low. This is because most people want to just enjoy the game as a pastime. The few who dare to come to tournaments are put off by director calls and related penalties and move away from the game”, said Padma. She went on to say, “The solution is to have more bracketed events or open events in which there are special prizes for newcomers to encourage them. They then get to compete against good players and encouragement through prizes”
Kaushik was smiling when he said, “I recollect my first bridge tournament. There were 5 director calls in 24 boards. We had told the directors that we are playing our first game before the event started and he must take a lenient view of our errors and we will not repeat them. He came to the table 5 times and did not penalize us and told opponents to proceed as we would like to encourage newcomers. I think the concept of having a mentor for newcomers is a good idea. This will ensure that newcomers have someone to consult if there are issues which they faced in their initial tournaments.”
Everyone packed up and left thinking about their first tournament and how nervous they were when they played the first event in their life.
Tailpiece:
Goofy was reminded of his puppy days based on this discussion. He was also very nervous as he was so small and had a fear of getting hit by a car as he was not visible to drivers especially in the dark. Luckily, he survived, and he now chases cars with vengeance to make drivers nervous of him.
