Ace, poker, bluff, and more. A simple, standard deck of 52 cards has the power to unfold into many unique, appealing games of all kinds. One among this plethora of games is the complex game of bridge.
Over the summer, junior Kayden Ge and his brother, 2024 Pinewood graduate Brandon Ge, won silver at a bridge competition called the World Youth Team Championships in Italy. They represented one of two USA international bridge teams in the U21 category.
Both Kayden Ge and Brandon Ge have been playing bridge since they were young.
“I was introduced to it by my dad when I was little,” Kayden Ge said. “I’ve [fallen] in love with the game ever since, and I’ve been competing on the world stage for about five years.”
The competition this summer was held in a small town in Italy called Salsomaggiore Terme, where their team, USA2, placed sixth after a series of round-robin style qualification matches that occurred over four days. They then won their next match against Denmark by a high margin. After winning against the other USA team in the semifinals, they continued to the finals against Estonia, where they won a silver medal.
Leading up to the competition, both brothers described having to commit a lot of time to the game. Additionally, they arrived in Italy two days before the competition to compensate for jet-lag, which could hinder their performance. Both Kayden Ge and Brandon Ge were already aware of the commitment.
“Bridge is one of those things where the more you put into it, the more you get out of it, because if you stop playing, you lose all of it,” Brandon Ge said. “Leading up to the tournament, you realize it’s part of the deal, that you have to put a lot of time and effort into practicing and into playing more tournaments, so that you can go into Italy thinking you’re confident in yourself. ”
Kayden Ge said that practicing for the competition takes time as well.
“It’s not something that you can prepare for in two weeks,” Kayden Ge said. “It’s something you have to build up for.”
Both Kayden Ge and Brandon Ge expressed pride and satisfaction with their silver medal win.
“I’m obviously very proud of my team,” Kayden Ge said. “We worked a lot, and a lot of us didn’t think we were going to make it that far. I’m very proud of how we handled ourselves mentally, how we stayed consistent.”
