By Rosaline Lee (21S06H), Novia Loke (21S03N), and Daniel Ng (21S06R)
Hello, come on in! Welcome to Raffles Institution Bridge Club, where you would hopefully be able to soon call home. Here, take a seat, we have one for you at the table. This is where you will be training with your peers for future tournaments, where you will sharpen your skills and your thinking, where you will find yourself a part of a family.
By the way, what we play here is known as Contract Bridge, which is nothing like Floating Bridge. If you have heard of the latter, or even tried your hand at it during social gatherings, you would have realised that it is more often than not, simply a test of luck. However, here at Raffles Institution Bridge Club, we take away the trivial uncertainties and refuse to be at the beck and call of Lady Luck. Rather, we immerse ourselves in the thrilling world of Contract Bridge, where we can flaunt our skills on the battlefield, tussle it out with one another using a plethora of conventions and cardplay techniques, whilst experiencing an exhilarating adrenaline rush like no other.
A quick Google search on Contract Bridge would yield the following results: bidding, dummy, finessing… What on Earth are all these terms? Don’t worry about that for now, for one of the charms of our CCA is in its supportive community. The friendly seniors, coach and alumni here are always ready to lend you a helping hand and train you to become a better bridge player. With their help, these words will become part of your everyday vocabulary very soon. They are also always open to giving you tips and helping you with your bridge play. Besides, many of them joined the club without any prior knowledge of bridge too, and have nonetheless achieved outstanding results in bridge competitions, such as the annual Hwa Chong Cup, National School Teams, Matchpoint Teams and the one and only Raffles Pairs! As long as you are earnest and willing to put in the hard work, with time, there is no doubt that you too, can become a commendable bridge player.
Oh, would you look at the time, it’s already 6.30 pm! But, before you go, here is some additional information for you. Our CCA hours are from 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm, held every Wednesday and Friday. While Friday training is optional for J1s, you are of course more than welcome to come join us! Since it is Friday today, some of us will soon be heading down to the Singapore Contract Bridge Association (SCBA), located just right around the corner at Bishan Community Centre, to play a game or two with other Bridge enthusiasts. A deck of cards, some late-night snacks and a table of friends, is there a better way to end the day?
So, what are you waiting for? Come join the Raffles Bridge family and we hope to see you again at Bridge Club!