I'm the non-playing captain of the Scotland U26 bridge team, and my main responsibility has been getting the team to the championship in Veldhoven, near Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. That mission has been largely successful, as five out of the six have made it. That might sound bad but for a while we had only three players (a very bad number for a bridge team) and I only just made it here myself, arriving after the registration desk had closed (apparently there's a stroop-wafel in the goody-bag).
Schiphol airport was not the problem, rather trains across Holland. But the important thing is we have a team, and I have submitted the line-up for tomorrow morning' match ahead of schedule. Choosing the four to play was made easier by the fact that one of our team who lives in Amsterdam had to return there after getting stuck in Rotterdam for many hours. She will try again tomorrow morning. It's a small country and I think between us we covered it all today.
Donald has promised that next time he is going to hire a van and drive everyone all the way from Scotland.
Our full line up is
| Michael Kennedy & Donald MacKillop | Weak NT, four card majors |
| Tamsin Munro & Jamie Day | Weak NT, four card majors |
| Jack Shearer & Lydia Foale | Strong NT, five card majors |
While everyone else was registering and enjoying their stroop-wafels I attended the captain's meeting. Lots of questions about the new tablets that are being used for bidding, alongside real cards. After that the Opening Ceremony - there are 28 nations here in events from U16 to U31. Plus a magic show. A woman got into a box and her top half was slid sideways, to the sound of Crazy in Love. My favourite bit among the many card tricks (know your audience) was when someone threw playing cards quite far into the audience.
It is very hot here, even at night. We just played a few practice hands in sweltering bar but I'm assured the playing area is cooler. Hopefully the heatwave won't affect the Northern European teams unduly. But we are not here to win it. Scotland has a very inexperienced team and we will be learning rapidly as the event progresses. With no Northern Ireland team we are the minnows. But, I wonder, can the minnows become winnows? Probably not tomorrow morning as our first match is against Sweden, who start as favourites alongside Poland.
Slightly confusing event website here
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