Bridge Academy of West Houston

The mission of Bridge Academy of West Houston is to provide playing opportunities for members and guests as well as to promote educational opportunities that encourage players to enjoy the game of bridge. 

The Academy is an incorporated non-profit civic association located in Houston, Texas

 The Academy currently holds an invitational game on Thursdays, a 299er and an OPEN game on Wednesdays, and monthly Mentor/Mentee & Swiss Teams games at the Shriners facility on Harwin just east of Beltway 8.   Game times are 10:30 am, except the Swiss Team games.

Our goal for these games is to maintain a high level of friendliness so players in our area will want to play.  

After Westside Bridge Academy closed a group came together to explore forming a member-owned full-service bridge club. The founders believe that without a full-service club in west Houston, bridge will experience a decline due to the lack of face-to-face lessons, a variety of novice and novice/mentor games, team games, etc.

We discussed possible alternatives and ran economic models to see if it would be feasible to open a new club. It was clear from the early analysis that we would need fund raising and a base of support from the players. No one had any interest in owning a new club or profiting from it, so we formed a Texas non-profit organization to own all of the assets. Joe Quinn, Jack Lavigne, and Bill St. Clair were elected to serve as President, Vice President, and Treasurer. The other members of the group served as Advisory members.

The original group has changed over time and now consists of B Haznedar, David Henke, Lauri Laufman, Carol Jewett, Dan Morse, Gil Micheletti, Joyce Ryan, and Eddie Wold. We adopted bylaws which provide that players vote for board members and determine how the club is run. To make all donations tax deductible we have been approved with 501 (c)3 tax exempt status with the IRS.

It was clear we needed to determine the level of player support we could expect before making any long-term commitment for leasing space. Our initial “toe in the water” was the Wednesday game which is invitational to all except professional players and the top 30 master point holders in our Unit. We have placed a special emphasis on friendliness and hospitality, and the game has been a huge success.

We added a Thursday game open to all players but continuing our emphasis on friendliness and hospitality. More recently we added a 299'er game on Thursday along with the Open game. Plans are in the works to offer a monthly Mentor/Mentee game on Tuesday and a Team game on Sunday.

Later we hope to have a membership drive and an opportunity for members to vote for board and committee members. Our hope is to eventually open a full-time club at our own location in West Houston.

Our volunteers have put in quite a lot of time and money toward this endeavor, and we have been blessed with financial donations from some of our players. We offer free coffee, refreshments, and players generously bring snacks.

The most important thing we need now is player support. Please play on Wednesday and Thursday as much as you can and encourage others to do so. It is only with the support of the Houston bridge community that we will be able to expand our efforts to open a seven day a week, full-service bridge academy.