L to R: Non-playing Team Captain Bob Rosen, Charleston’s John Hurd, Joe Grue (20, Minneapolis, MN), Brad Campbell (17, Stone Mt., GA), Kent Mignocci (22, NY, NY), Joel Wooldridge (22, Buffalo, NY), John Kranyak (17, Cleveland, OH), and Coach Dennis McGarry.

Charleston native, geology major, and spring graduate of the College of Charleston, John Hurd, 22, led his team, "USA – I", to victory in the 8^th World Youth Bridge Team Championships in Mangaratiba, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From August 7, 2001 to August 17^th, 17 teams from around the world battled each other for bridge supremacy. Play began with the Round Robin stage in which each team played the other 16. This determined the Final Four teams that would play a knockout for the World Youth Championship.

Familiar bridge scores were converted to a maximum of twenty-five Victory Points, or VP’s, which were up for grabs in each match. After eight matches, Canada’s juniors led at the half, but Hurd and his five teammates won the dramatic encounter of the two top North America teams the next day as they went head to head against Canada and won all 25 VPs available. USA-I jumped in front of the field, and a demoralized Canada drifted out of the top group.

USA-I won the RR stage decisively. They led after the last RR match by a full match. The Final Four were USA-I (324 VPs), Thailand (290 VP’s), Denmark (282.5 VP’s), and Israel (282 VP’s). USA-II, a second team sponsored by the ACBL (American Contract Bridge League) finished 13^th. USA-I, in the opinion of professional observers, strongly out classed their opponents, and this domination continued into the knock-outs. They defeated Thailand by a lopsided 3-to-1 margin over 64 hands awhile Israel defeated Denmark. In the 96-hand final KO against Israel, USA-I jumped to a massive early lead and the issue was never in doubt. Denmark beat out Thailand for 3^rd place.

USA-I was one of the youngest teams (all competitors must be 25 or under on January 1^st of 2001 in order to compete) with an average age of less than 20. In contrast, the Israelis average age was 25. All the players on USA-I and II will be eligible for the next competition two years from now. Next summer, the ACBL will sponsor a Junior Team Trials, open to any who are age-eligible, and will help interested younger players form teams (acbl.org/juniors).

The ACBL and its co-sponsors have supported Hurd and his teammates by paying for travel and lodging at several major bridge championship tournaments (against adults) so they could compete as a team against the best American competition. In addition, Hurd was sent twice to the Netherlands to compete in international junior competition, and he competed in the world championships in 1999. In 2000, Hurd’s team competed in the USA International Team Trials in order to win the right to represent the USA in the world championship tournament for adults, but they were eliminated only after reaching the round of eight, an amazing result.

The ACBL’s sponsorship and support helped the players develop partnerships in the fire of competition, and as a result, America has won its first World Youth Team Championship in ten years.