CONGRATULATIONS, again to Mary Ann DuFresne and Marion Ellingsen for receiving the much-coveted ABTA’s Best Book of the Year Award for their book BRIDGE WITH BELLS AND WHISTLES!! This was the award for the best intermediate bridge book of the year. All of the books for the year were voted on by an expert panel of ABTA officers as well as bridge pros Jerry Helms and Karen Walker. 

We at NCBC are very proud of our instructors and authors. Guess they are no longer unknown authors from NCBC and Spring Hill, Florida! 

If you have their book, you will notice that these lovely ladies thanked their “patient and knowledgeable reviewers: Mitch Edelman, Margie Mullarkey, Gerry Panos and Paula Storch.”

Mary Ann duFresne and Marion Ellingsen are just back from Toronto and the annual conference of the American Bridge Teachers Association. If you’ve noticed their big smiles, that’s because they received a much-coveted award at the conference – ABTA’s Best Book of the Year Award – for Bridge with Bells and Whistles!

All the nominated books for the year were reviewed and voted on by an expert panel of ABTA officers as well as bridge pros Jerry Helms and Karen Walker. Mary Ann and Marion were especially proud to win out over titles by more renowned bridge writers like Seagram and Bird. It was quite an achievement for two little known bridge teachers from Spring Hill!

Congratulations to Pat Peterson who earned the prestigious Master Teacher title at the Toronto conference of the American Bridge Teachers Association. Earning that certification involves a challenging application process, a written bridge proficiency test, a panel interview (really an interrogation!) by ABTA officials, and a teaching ‘audition.’

What an achievement!!!

The local people in the District 9 Races are produced by hand, so if you notice any errors, let us know.

The local people in the ACBL National Races are produced by hand, so if you notice any errors, let us know.

A big thank you to our Boards, Directors, Coordinators, Liaisons, Instructors, and Open Players for working so hard with the 299ers over the past 1 1/2 years. You have taken many from rank beginners who were just learning how to play duplicate bridge to now feeling comfortable and ready to advance to the next level -- that of playing and feeling comfortable with the Open players. We have learned how to use bidding boxes, convention cards, bridge pads, bridge etiquette; how to play and score in Pro-Am, Swiss games, and regular games; as well as how to get involved in Regional and Sectional Tournaments, and so on.