What bridge players can learn from football

Hi all,

Well another football season is over and it's time to write another blog spot on one of my favorite topics: gleaning winning strategies from other competitive endeavors.

Who can relate to 2009/2010 season when Bret Favre in the instrumental moments of a quarterfinal game took a high risk call to blow a chance in the playoffs? Conservative run was needed instead of a high risk pass--interception. Who's done similar things at the bridge table?

Who can relate to the final superbowl game (Colts vs Saints) where onside kicks, two point conversions and blitzes were made at the appropriate times and executed appropriately for a Saints win. Who's done similar things at the bridge table?

It has always amazed me that in team events, most players in lower level competitions concentrate on individual execution, solo or within the partnerships, to promote a win without fully analyzing or paying attention to what is needed to win the event.

I speak from experience. Once in a relatively tough flight A event we had "won" the event before the final two matches were played. Phone calls were placed to "home folks" that the Knaap team was clearly leading and would easily slide into the first place position. What happened? One of the partnerships ended up playing 3DXX in opponents' suit. The result: a 1 VP overall loss. Was somebody paying attention to what needed to be done, or were players just executing as per the first two rounds of the event? Who wouldn't sell out a low level contract before confusing the issue for an "at most" lose five imps?

I had another example last Salem tourney. As promoted by team captain Knaap, if there is anything on the line at all before the last match, it pays to execute a team "huddle" to assess the placement of the team at that point in the competition.

The situation was clear, on a 20 VP scale we were leading second and third by 7/9 vp's respectively. We took a look, the opposing team seemed OK! but we knew we had a chance to nail this thing here. I told the team that we didn't need to win by a huge margin but that a small margin win would make us unquestioned victors of the Sunday team event. My advice to the players? "Slow down, think and stay steady. Take advantage of any mistakes."

So what happened? The team had to score up a grand off a cashing ace vul. Lose 17. Yep, it was admitted that listening to the captain(ess) might have been appropriate at this important juncture of the competition. We did end up winning the event, however, since no one blitzed to put us second/third and teammates managed to cover a -17.

So here's the deal. In almost every other serious competitive endeavor, someone keeps an eye on what needs to be done while the individual competitors concentrate on execution. The football teams have a myriad of coaches at all levels. Baseball has their first and third base coaches. The gymnasts have spotters and coaches who say when the high risk moves are needed to win the competition, or when they are to be avoided to possibly turn a win into a loss.

So as you are entering the final rounds of a team competition, at least take a moment to get the team together and recognize what needs to be done and plant a firm reminder in everyone's consciousness. It seems only normal as this is done in most other competitions --sport or otherwise.

I'm not sure this is universal thinking, but you might try it and see if it works.

I would be glad to answer any further questions.