Sedona, Arizona is a scenic vacation resort town in Northern Arizona. Full-time residents number around 25,000. In January 2009, the Sedona Bridge Center conducted a membership drive which was an outstanding success, a program that exceeded their wildest dreams. Marsha Helton, Club Manager and President of the Sedona Bridge Center, was named 2009 ACBL Goodwill Member of the Year, in part for leading this effort. Here is the story of Sedona’s success, in Marsha’s own words.
Our journey began two years ago when nine members of our bridge club took a oneweek Mexican Rivera cruise with famous bridge teacher, Audrey Grant. We had a great time, and became fond of her method of teaching bridge.
Our club membership had been declining at an alarming rate, and we knew we needed to do something different to attract and retain new members for our club. Although we offered intermediate bridge classes through Peter Wahl, we had not had a significant boost in new members for at least six years. It was then we decided to have a Bridge Festival and came up with a theme, ‘We Wanna Hold Your Hand’, based on the Beatles hit song.
We formed a volunteer committee at our club to participate in the new membership drive. We met and then developed a strategy for recruitment. The basis for our efforts was an article on “Attracting New Players and Potential Students” we found on ACBL’s website. The article detailed a Bridge Festival held in Detroit that attracted 230 non-duplicate members for a full-day session.
We developed flyers with the ‘We Wanna Hold Your Hand’ logo, which we gave to the local members who< then distributed them to friends, churches, grocery stores, and just about any media we could think of. We also ran ads in local newspapers, and were grateful to receive funding from ACBL’s Cooperative Advertising Program. We asked people to register for the Bridge Festival, which was free of charge and included a pot-luck luncheon provided by the club members. We called every attendee prior to the Festival, explaining our program and also answering their questions.
Upon reviewing the Detroit Bridge Workshop, we felt we would have a greater chance of retaining students who attended the festival if we offered bridge lessons immediately thereafter. We set up a plan to start weekly lessons on Tuesday afternoons and/or Saturday mornings.
With the poor economic conditions, we also decided to offer most of the lessons free of charge. After two months, our lessons would cost only $6, our normal club fee, as our committee decided it would work free of charge.
Peter Wahl, our prior teacher, had made a decision to move to Ohio. So we needed a teacher. I volunteered for the assignment, along with a very faithful staff of assistants: Mimi Asser, Patrice Dodd, Marcia Stearns, and of course, my husband, Darryl Helton.
Not having any teaching credentials or material, I was surfing the web and looked at the Audrey Grant website where I saw that she and the Better Bridge Staff were conducting a Teacher Accreditation Program in Palm Desert. I attended, and was impressed with the organization and materials that had been prepared for bridge teachers through the Audrey Grant system. I had been concerned that her methods did not advance a student to the Two- Over-One level of education, but was pleased to learn that a 2/1 Game Force book was being published with world champion Eric Rodwell.
The Better Bridge system is perfect for a new teacher and for students. The material is easy to understand, and textbook questions and resource materials are well-planned. Several times, I decided to deviate from the textbooks and manuals, only to find that I would have been better off to follow the script.
We launched our program last February 7th with the Bridge Festival. We started with over 120 participants. Some had previously played social bridge; quite a few played in college —too many years ago to count; and at least half were raw beginners. We continue to get referrals or visitors to Sedona who visit our classes and decide to join our program.
I originally thought we could teach the game of bridge in six months. Well, it’s been a year, and we are still having four sessions a week—two lessons, one practice playing session, and one extra lesson for beginners. We continue to concentrate on basics. We’ve found that the students enjoy the classes as much as they do playing.
Our students have all worked hard. Most have been coming to sessions once or twice a week for over a year. We must also thank our regular club members who have been so supportive, volunteering to help with the classes, and playing with our newcomers.
When we started, one benefit we stated was that the new members would be introduced to a lot of new people. Our newcomers have found this to be true. Many have said they never anticipated the friendships they have found through bridge.
