Podcast 4 – Youth Bridge (Video)
In this podcast, Lesley Millet interviews Rowena White and Richard Croot about youth bridge development, focusing especially on Yorkshire. Rowena describes running a long-standing school bridge club and a weekly youth academy that is informal, free, inclusive, and flexible to accommodate busy schedules and students with different needs. Richard highlights how youth bridge can grow through academies, school clubs, enthusiastic teachers, external volunteers, and even students themselves taking initiative, while noting how difficult it can be to gain access to schools. They discuss upcoming Yorkshire youth competitions, bridge camps, and the wider social, educational, and personal benefits bridge offers young people, particularly those who may struggle elsewhere or lack other opportunities to represent their schools.
They also discuss the importance of developing youth bridge through academies, schools, and universities, emphasizing that encouraging young people to play bridge offers social and cognitive benefits compared with solitary activities like computer games. The speakers stress that successful youth programmes rely heavily on the support of local bridge clubs, which can provide volunteers, resources, and links to schools and universities. While only a few youth bridge academies currently exist and none are large, they are seen as a workable model when driven by committed individuals and supported locally. Overall, the conversation concludes that the future of bridge depends on closer collaboration between schools and local clubs, with flexible, realistic volunteering as the key to growth.
