[JanM]

The USBF will hold two Junior Trials in 2008, one for teams attempting to qualify for the WBF Patino Cup (26 & under) and Damiani Cup (21 and under) in Beijing October 4-13 and one for teams attempting to qualify for the FISU games in Lodz, Poland Sept. 2-9. Both Trials will be held in Las Vegas before and at the beginning of the 2008 Summer NABC. Both will be team trials. Current plans are to allow teams of 4, 5 or 6 players to compete in both trials.

The "WBF Trials" will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 15 & 16. Advance entries will be required and the event will either start with a Round Robin to cut to 4 teams or with a Round of 8 (or if only 4 teams enter with the Semi-finals). Exact match lengths still to be decided. Teams must consist of USBF active members who were born in 1982 or later. Players who wish to compete in the Damiani Cup event (players born in 1987 or later) must compete in these Trials but do not need to play on a team all of whose players are under 21 - the USBF Damiani Cup team will be chosen from eligible players who competed in the "WBF trials." The winner of the "WBF Trials" will be the USBF team for the Patino Cup (the team will be required to augment to 6 if it has fewer than 6 players).

The "FISU Trials" will be held either on Thursday and Friday, July 17 & 18 or on Saturday and Sunday, July 19 & 20, depending on when the ACBL Intercollegiate Championship finals are held. The FISU Trials event will be a team event for teams with 4, 5, or 6 players. The USBF will send 2 teams to the FISU championships. The winner of the FISU Trials will be one of those teams. How the other team is to be chosen is still TBD.

[Apollo81]

What is the age requirement for the FISU Trials? What is the minimum number of credits participants must be taking?

[Apollo81]

Was any consideration given to the second week/end for these trials? Seems like there might be a fair # of people who would be interested in playing in GNTs and the trials, which now conflict.

[Apollo81]

I take it the event date listed on this page is wrong

http://www.fisu.net/site/page_1445.php

[MiniMeck]

Yea, terrible idea to schedule the trials for those dates, probbably that many of the potential participants will have commitments for the GNTs

[JanM]

The Junior Committee discussed at length whether to hold these Trials before the NABC or during the second weekend. There was general agreement that there were likely to be more conflicts at the end of the tournament than for the GNTs. Unfortunately, there is also general agreement that the Junior Trials need to be scheduled either immediately before or during the Summer NABC, rather than as a separate stand-alone event.

The Junior Committee meetings are open to anyone who wishes to attend. The scheduling of the Trials was discussed at the Nashville and San Francisco meetings.

With regard to the FISU website you point to, I am now confused. We've consistently been told that the FISU event was scheduled for Sept. 2-9. I will try to find out which dates are correct and thank you for the link.

[MiniMeck]

Seems to me that the best way to achieve maximum attendance would be to schedule it so that there are no conflicts, anything during the nationals has major conflicts, obviously cost issue would seem to not suggest a completely standalone event, but surely it could be attached to a regional as with the senior trials or just put with the open trials which would basically eliminate the cost issue, do not know about meetings, but was there discussion of holding it at a regional in stead?

[JanM]

I believe that the information at http://www.fisu.net/site/page_1445.php is in fact wrong. If you click on the link on the right hand side of that page for the event website http://www.bridge2008.net you will find the September dates we've seen elsewhere. I will email the organizers to make sure, but I think that the June dates are simply a mistake, probably arising out of the entry closing date which is June 3.

[JanM]

MiniMeck, on Dec 5 2007, 06:03 PM, said:

Seems to me that the best way to achieve maximum attendance would be to schedule it so that there are no conflicts, anything during the nationals has major conflicts, obviously cost issue would seem to not suggest a completely standalone event, but surely it could be attached to a regional as with the senior trials or just put with the open trials which would basically eliminate the cost issue, do not know about meetings, but was there discussion of holding it at a regional in stead?

Yes, there was discussion of holding it at a Regional and that was not a popular choice. The problem is cost & scheduling for the players, in case that wasn't clear. Holding it with the Open Trials wouldn't help that at all and would cause problems in some years for players who wish to play in both the Open and Junior Trials. Even this year, with the Under 28 team not being selected by a trials, I know of one Junior who plans to play in both the Open and Junior Trials (and that is not to say there aren't others, just that at this moment I only happen to know of one).

There are usually fewer Juniors in the GNTs than in the mini-Spingolds and the final weekend Swiss, which are the other possible Summer NABC conflicts. Most people thought that adding another two days to the Summer NABC would be unattractive to the players, even if the space were available then. There is general agreement that it needs to be in the summer, so that people who are in school don't have a conflict. The consensus was that more Juniors come to the NABC than to any Regional and that they shouldn't have to make a special trip for the Junior Trials. Conflicting with the GNTs isn't a perfect solution, but there just isn't a perfect solution.

[Apollo81]

Given the GNT conflict issue, does it make sense to do the FISU trials Sat-Sun and the Intercollegiate Championship Thu-Fri? I would imagine there would be fewer players wanting to play in the GNT and Intercollegiate than the GNT and FISU trials.

[JanM]

The scheduling of the Intercollegiate finals is up to ACBL. We are hoping that they will decide to schedule them for Thursday-Friday, so that the FISU trials can be on Saturday-Sunday, so it doesn't conflict with the GNT (although it does of course conflict with the Life Master Pairs) and also so that the players in the Intercollegiate finals will have an opportunity to meet other players and form teams for the FISU, for which all players don't have to be from one University. I have not yet heard whether that will work out, hence the uncertainty about the dates for the FISU trials.

[Apollo81]

Apollo81, on Dec 5 2007, 10:56 AM, said:

What is the age requirement for the FISU Trials?  What is the minimum number of credits participants must be taking?

I can answer one of my own questions:

"AGE LIMIT:
The competitors must be born between January 1st, 1980 and December 31st, 1990."

From http://www.bridge2008.net/ INFO tab

I don't see the answer to the credits question on their site though.

[JanM]

I think that the answer to the credits question is pretty vague - as I understand it, it's up to your University to "certify" you as eligible. I suspect that different universities may have different ideas about what that means. But I'm just guessing.

[Apollo81]

JanM, on Dec 5 2007, 07:33 PM, said:

The scheduling of the Intercollegiate finals is up to ACBL. We are hoping that they will decide to schedule them for Thursday-Friday, so that the FISU trials can be on Saturday-Sunday, so it doesn't conflict with the GNT (although it does of course conflict with the Life Master Pairs) and also so that the players in the Intercollegiate finals will have an opportunity to meet other players and form teams for the FISU, for which all players don't have to be from one University. I have not yet heard whether that will work out, hence the uncertainty about the dates for the FISU trials.

Is this likely to be settled by the end of the spring NABC?

[JanM]

I expect that it will be settled in the next few weeks.

[JanM]

I heard back very promptly from the FISU organizers, and the September dates are correct - September 2-9, 2008 in Lodz, Poland for the FISU tournament. They apologized for the confusion which was apparently caused by slow updating of the website.

[Apollo81]

Jan,

Please comment on the content of this?

http://www.bridgeiscool.com/CollegeBridgeC...nnouncement.pdf

Thx
-Noble

[Apollo81]

Apollo81, on Dec 7 2007, 02:54 PM, said:

Jan,

Please comment on the content of this?

http://www.bridgeiscool.com/CollegeBridgeC...nnouncement.pdf

Thx
-Noble

In particular, re this statement:

"This year, the highest-placing team consisting entirely of U.S. citizens will be nominated by the ACBL to the United States Bridge Federation as team USA #1 for the 2008 World University Games in Lodz, Poland. (The USBF, at their sole discretion, may accept or reject this nomination.)"

Why would the ACBL think that a team of players, born 1983 or later, each taking at least 7 credits, all from the same university would constitute a good team at the international level, where the requirements are 1980 or later, no specific credit requirement, and not necessarily all from the same university? It just makes no sense at all.

I realize of course that the USBF is under no obligation to listen to the ACBL, as the last sentence says.

[Apollo81]

Actually, now that I think about it, is US citizenship required for a person to be on a USBF international team?

[Elianna]

Apollo81, on Dec 7 2007, 12:11 PM, said:

Actually, now that I think about it, is US citizenship required for a person to be on a USBF international team?

I agree the US citizen part sounds funny. I wonder, though, if it may be a way of dealing with the idea of foreign students (who are students at American universities, but not considered residents)?

Although if that were true, maybe they just would say are "US residents", so my guess is likely wrong.

-Elianna, who is sad that's she's too old by any mark.