Bridge on the brain

A summer elective gives local intermediate students a fresh educational outlook on a classic card game

Just eight days ago, Moanalua Middle School seventh-grader Chase Yokoyama had difficulty remembering to do his chores.

Now he credits his participation in daily bridge card games at summer school with helping him remember to empty the trash without his mother asking.

"My mom said, 'Chase, you're getting more responsible.' So she noticed," said Yokoyama. "I concentrate better."

Yokoyama is so enthused by his discovery of bridge, which he believes will help him with life skills like logic, teamwork and communication, that he would rather play it than watch TV or play video games, his previous pursuits.

"I concentrate better. It uses your brain the whole time," he said. "I like bridge better than video games or sitting there watching the TV. ... It makes your brain stronger."

Moanalua Middle School is offering for the first time this summer an elective class in bridge, a trick-taking card game of skill and chance played with two teams of two which relies on communication and planning skills.

The class is taught by volunteer Busaba Williams, a retiree and avid bridge enthusiast who is not paid by the state Department of Education for her work. The fledgling summer bridge class is part of the "School Bridge League," a national initiative sponsored by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both avid bridge players who credit the game with aiding successful decision-making.

Williams also teaches bridge at Washington Middle School, Niu Valley Middle School and the Boys and Girls Club.

"We saw the benefits for the kids. ... It's a complex thinking game, a leadership game. I would love to have this in every school," she said. She hopes the game will catch on to other schools and already has some promising signs of success: national exposure.

Under Williams' tutelage, a team of 11 students, mainly from Moanalua and Washington middle schools, are traveling to Atlanta to represent Hawaii at the first Youth National Bridge Championship.

"I'm really excited," said Rachel Tanoue, 13, a Moanalua Middle School eighth-grader.

According to a study published in Bridge Bulletin, schoolchildren who played bridge had higher test scores than non-bridge-playing students in all subjects. The most dramatic increase was in math and science.

"Bridge is a game that develops inferential reasoning skills, which are very difficult to teach elementary students," wrote the author, Christopher Shaw.

Moanalua Middle School summer school director Joann Fu said she was looking forward to comparing the test scores for the bridge-playing students and believes bridge in school will catch on.

"The kids seem to be enjoying it," she said.