[hallway]

The Beginner Intermediate Lounge (BIL) would like to hear from those interested in joining the BIL's Mentoring Team.

- offering one on one or small group mentoring to learner players

Send your expression of interest to admin@bilbridge.com for our information pack.

[gszes]

I have part of this program for eons (give or take an eon or so) and will freely admit I sometimes have a lot more FUN showing new players HOW to begin bidding and watching them progress than I do playing. This is a great game and giving new players a start of the basics is a good way to "give back". Maureen has been doing a great job coordinating the program so those that can I urge you to join in and volunteer to teach for maybe 2 hours a week.

Note that the 3 posts by HALLWAY have around 300 looks so there is a LOT of interest out there.

[hallway]

gszes, on 2015-March-09, 17:46, said:

I have part of this program for eons (give or take an eon or so) and will freely admit I sometimes have a lot more FUN showing new players HOW to begin bidding and watching them progress than I do playing. This is a great game and giving new players a start of the basics is a good way to "give back". Maureen has been doing a great job coordinating the program so those that can I urge you to join in and volunteer to teach for maybe 2 hours a week.

Note that the 3 posts by HALLWAY have around 300 looks so there is a LOT of interest out there.

But so far George no volunteers

Click Here to read what the BIL's Mentoring program entails ( even 1 hr a week - with time off now and then - would be appreciated )

[hallway]

Many may not realize George, that the BIL has been operating since 2003 and in that 11 + years many of the BIL players mentored in the early days through beginner > intermediate have gone on to advanced > expert levels and now play with credit in f2f Regional, NABC and international tournaments.

Others have taken up mentoring themselves to help a new generation of bridge players, (many tell me it is also good for their own bridge)

A growing number have found mentoring such a satisfying endeavor that they have gone further and become ACBL Accredited Teachers. I heard of another only yesterday.

Great kudos to those who mentored them back in the day when transfers were a mystery !

btw readers George's students have nothing but the highest praise for his teaching. He is a task master with a talent for getting the best from his students, instilling them with the desire to master the game.

[1eyedjack]

I did once look into joining BIL as a mentor, but the requirement to disclose my real name as a condition of application, rather than subsequent personal choice, put me off.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is an unreasonable request. Viewed from BIL's wider perspective it may well be optimal; only that it is incompatible with my own preferences, so we remain apart. I mentor several players, but not within the BIL lounge. Sometimes I think wistfully of the resources that would be available to me, but it is not enough to tip the balance (for me). To most of my mentees I release my identity, but that is my choice at the time and based on the relationship as it develops.

Incidentally, it cuts both ways: I am perfectly willing to mentor anonymous mentees. I may be a little eccentric in this preference. I doubt that I am unique. But then, opening the doors to anonymous players comes with other risks, hence my acknowledgement that the policy is not unreasonable. That said, if the lounge is chronically short of mentors, and if my views might be popularly shared, it is a policy that may be worth revisiting. Just a thought.

[shintaro]

1eyedjack, on 2015-March-12, 01:00, said:

I did once look into joining BIL as a mentor, but the requirement to disclose my real name as a condition of application, rather than subsequent personal choice, put me off.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is an unreasonable request. Viewed from BIL's wider perspective it may well be optimal; only that it is incompatible with my own preferences, so we remain apart. I mentor several players, but not within the BIL lounge. Sometimes I think wistfully of the resources that would be available to me, but it is not enough to tip the balance (for me). To most of my mentees I release my identity, but that is my choice at the time and based on the relationship as it develops.

Incidentally, it cuts both ways: I am perfectly willing to mentor anonymous mentees. I may be a little eccentric in this preference. I doubt that I am unique. But then, opening the doors to anonymous players comes with other risks, hence my acknowledgement that the policy is not unreasonable. That said, if the lounge is chronically short of mentors, and if my views might be popularly shared, it is a policy that may be worth revisiting. Just a thought.

Maureen

I must admit I am with 1eyed on this I mentor some and enjoy it but prefer anonimity

[mr1303]

I mentored a few players a few years ago and found it very rewarding, but the time commitment is not one that I could afford to make again.

[hallway]

shintaro, on 2015-March-12, 02:26, said:

Maureen

I must admit I am with 1eyed on this I mentor some and enjoy it but prefer anonymity

I will always require Mentors to give their Real Name. Must be a generational thing, being prepared to stand up and be counted. I am who I am - every BIL member has both my Name and my Home address. There's nothing to hide ! So I don't understand this IT anonymity.

However, I don't ask Members or Mentors for their home addresses. But if it is good enough for them to know who I am, then I maintain it is good enough for me to at least know their name.

I believe that I have a duty of care to my members (yes, I know an antiquated view). For mentor/mentee lessons to be arranged it is necessary for me to give the Mentor their Mentee's name and email address. I am simply not prepared to do that if the Mentor wishes to hide their identity. To me that begs the question - why?

Sorry,1eyedjack but that's the way it is - so it is not a BIL policy that will ever be changed. If you are right that your views are 'popularly shared' and that is why the BIL 'is chronically short of mentors' then I guess it is only a matter of time before I shall have to close the program down.

I am way past my 'used by date' anyway - it's time I sought a less stressful Volunteer Service to give my time to. Bridge in the backyard for those over 70 on sunny afternoons might be fun - the minds will be kept active and the bridge, well - creative!. We'll know who we are, even if we cant remember each others names

[mycroft]

My name is available to anyone who chooses to look - or, by preference, to those who ask.

If *I* choose to give it.

You may have a different opinion, but you don't have several people who have in the past (okay, distant past, but these kinds of things haunt) threatened to kill you or to spread vile rumours to your employer.

You don't work for an employer who routinely searches for out-of-work opinions and considers anything they think unreasonable a firing offence. (I don't either, but I have in the past).

You don't work in an industry that google-checks you pre-interview, and expects to see your "hobby life" to be the same as your work life (oddly enough, for me it isn't - coding goes out the window, unless I need it for something, when I leave the building, thanks). And yes, that is a concern for me, given that employment - even long-term employment - is a fitful thing.

You may not (and you may) have a name that is unique on your continent. That is, in fact, a big difference on the internet.

You may be comfortable with your name - there are many who aren't, and are known more by their handle than their legal name (or by their "life name" or their deed poll name or whatever they wish to be called, but haven't got around/enough money to changing it legally yet). And what if they then do?

Frankly, at least online, my reputation is entirely defined by mycroft(w). You want to know what I think? Don't look up my legal name, it really won't help. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Your choice for you, and your choice for BIL. Your choice means that I will not be a mentor, even were I to have the time.

My name is mycroft (or Mycroft W.) My name is me.

[1eyedjack]

hallway, on 2015-March-12, 14:57, said:

I will always require Mentors to give their Real Name. Must be a generational thing, being prepared to stand up and be counted. I am who I am - every BIL member has both my Name and my Home address. There's nothing to hide ! So I don't understand this IT anonymity.

However, I don't ask Members or Mentors for their home addresses. But if it is good enough for them to know who I am, then I maintain it is good enough for me to at least know their name.

I believe that I have a duty of care to my members (yes, I know an antiquated view). For mentor/mentee lessons to be arranged it is necessary for me to give the Mentor their Mentee's name and email address. I am simply not prepared to do that if the Mentor wishes to hide their identity. To me that begs the question - why?

Sorry,1eyedjack but that's the way it is - so it is not a BIL policy that will ever be changed. If you are right that your views are 'popularly shared' and that is why the BIL 'is chronically short of mentors' then I guess it is only a matter of time before I shall have to close the program down.

I am way past my 'used by date' anyway - it's time I sought a less stressful Volunteer Service to give my time to. Bridge in the backyard for those over 70 on sunny afternoons might be fun - the minds will be kept active and the bridge, well - creative!. We'll know who we are, even if we cant remember each others names

As I had hoped that I had made plain - I have a lot of sympathy for your policy. It is just not for me. I have immense respect for what you have achieved. I have no idea (nor particularly care) whether my views are popularly shared. I simply speculate that I am unlikely to be unique.

[Phil]

I have absolutely no problem with an unpaid mentor that wants to remain anonymous. Any more than I don't think a student should have to reveal their identity.

Maureen, why on earth would the BIL possibly care?

[1eyedjack]

I suppose that there is an outside chance that a mentor to whom there accrued a poor reputation, was aware of that, and despite that history had sufficient belief in self, and sufficient motivation, to wish to continue mentoring but with a repaired reputation, he might in an anonymous world be able to do this by re-registering under a fresh ID. That possibility, and the desire to prevent it, would be a justification for the adopted policy. But I cannot think of any other, and I am only guessing but that guess is that the proverbial tossed coin would land on its edge before that fear became a measurable issue.

Other than that remote (in my view) scenario, for all but a tiny section of the public, knowing my real name would provide no added confidence to a mentee shopping around (and most of those who know my real name are at least as good as I). If it did, and *I* thought it beneficial to providing an informed opinion, I might reveal who I am. But that would be my choice, whether on an individual or global basis.

But I didn't intend it to develop into a debate. Not that I don't enjoy the odd debate. It is entirely BIL's decision what policies it pursues, and we must respect that. We are not compelled to participate.

[eagles123]

Not being able to be anonymous is barking mad but at the same time you can just use a fake name its not like they're gonna check your passport or something!

[hallway]

eagles123, on 2015-March-13, 02:16, said:

Not being able to be anonymous is barking mad but at the same time you can just use a fake name its not like they're gonna check your passport or something!

Not their passport, but their bridge credentials

You are quite correct eagles I am indeed barking mad - no sane person would have done what I have been doing for the past 11+ years.

December 2004, the sane me knew it would be madness to continue. The sane me lost, I stepped across the divide, there was an 'are you sure' attached to the Remove Club button and the barking mad me clicked on the No. The remove club button no longer works so here I am a decade + later still trying to find help for those new to bridge who want to learn to play it well.

I freely acknowledge that it is a different world now - but that doesn't mean that I have to change my (the BIL's) values. Each to his own, no one has to join the BIL whether that be, to Help or to be Helped.

[gszes]

Diplomacy is NOT my strong suit (read my posts). There seems to be room here for negotiation however. Many potential mentors may have qualms about having potential clients know they give out free lessons (especially to complete strangers). They earn a significant living from the mastery and knowledge of this fine game of ours and do not wish to "delay" collecting fees from those that want to demand their early lessons be free of charge.
This puts the anonymity factor in a different light since there can be a direct impact on the livelihood of the potential mentor. I agree with Maureen that the BIL should be able to check credentials (this would mean some sort of verifiable ID) BUT I also see no reason why a potential mentor cannot make their desire for anonymity completely obvious such that the BIL will not use their real name in any way shape or form. It should not be a matter of any great difficulty for a mentor and mentee to get along famously without either knowing anything much about the other since the goal is primarily teaching/learning bridge.
It is super easy to get a free gmail account with a false name and address and phone number so anonymity should be quite simple if one wishes to accomplish it. If one has a voice so famous in the bridge world then maybe phone lessons are ill advised (I use Skype for all of my sessions it adds a special intonation to the infrequent use of ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK most of my mentees have heard at one time or another (for a particularly egregious error). Even if your sessions are relegated to the keyboard I am sure any future mentee would be more than pleased to receive a great foundational start to this great game of ours rather than casting about aimlessly trying to pursue knowledge they do not even know how to look for.

[1eyedjack]

It really is a non-issue. Maureen wants real names. Great. No problem. Maureen has no monopoly on providing mentoring facilities. Those to whom it is not an issue, join BIL, and I am sure that all would join me in wishing them a bright future. Those who would rather not disclose are in no way barred from providing these services; they just do it outside of the embrace of BIL. Problem solved.

[hallway]

I am completely in favour of teachers using a secondary BBOID/user/nick name when working with students be that at an Open Teaching Session, a closed Course or one on one mentoring
It prevents the lesson being interrupted by their friends sending them private messages or by the friends disrupting the lesson using the 'find a friend' and joining the table.

Without a would be Mentor's Real Name I have no way of ascertaining their credentials - As I am the one introducing the student to them, right or wrong, I do feel I have a responsibility to the BIL member. Whereas the student outside the BIL is entirely responsible for their own choices.

Hmmm that is a different view point. George, re the mentor not wanting people to know they give free lessons as that would affect their getting paying students. There have been disappointed Professional teachers who thought a couple of lessons in the BIL would have people queuing at the door - doesnt happen - takes time. Learner players have to learn to like the game sufficiently to want to become better than good.

There have, however, been many professional teachers over the years who have used the BIL to help them to establish their pay for services. An hour or two a week of their time is very cheap advertising

a. they get a web page in the BIL Library with their contact details
b. they get a listing in the Private Tuition Available Directory
c. they hand out their contact details at each session, inviting the kibs to give them their email address so they can send them some notes - thereby building up their own, ever expanding up to date database through which they promote their pay for services direct to people they know want to learn. The BIL by its nature is a staging post - they join to learn, they learn or decide its not for them, they go.
d. I pay the rent, I pay the Mailing List Provider fees to introduce them to the membership as a whole, I pay for the Calendar upon which their open sessions are advertised, I pay for the bulletins to announce the Courses etc. etc. etc.
e. The BIL provides an Assistant to assist with 'housekeeping' issues at every Open Teaching Session, Course
f. in effect we supply an unpaid Secretarial service.

Sure, the mentoring program is different but the Mentor who does a good job helping their assigned student gets the best advertising there is - word of mouth. The Mentees have lots of online friends! Of course that applies whether one is mentoring through the BIL's program or 'at large'.

The BIL supplies an ever growing stream of paying players for the ACBL tournaments (we teach them how to behave in a tourney, we give them a taste for tournament play, but we cant give them the volume of Mpts they can pick up if they play in ACBL ones so off they go ).We also get those fairly new to bridge who think they want to learn, of which a reasonable % become addicted to the game and then they really want to learn. These are the ones who will want to pay Professional teachers to take them further - so we help the professional teacher who operates outside of the BIL too.

and we do it all for free - no grants, no subsidies and the professional teachers do not pay the BIL ! Oh there was the time one sent me $100 - it bounced ! and I had to pay the $25 reversal fee.

Yes, Eagles is right I am Barking Mad ! I like that term, sums me up nicely

[1eyedjack]

Quote

Without a would be Mentor's Real Name I have no way of ascertaining their credentials

Implicit in this statement is that provided with a Mentor's Real Name you do have a way of ascertaining their credentials, on which all of the remainder hinges.

I am just a little curious about that process. Don't feel obliged to satisfy that curiosity, but I speculate:

The first step to that must be to validate the name provided, to ensure that it is not just fictitious. How do you go about that? Or perhaps that has to be kept secret to retain its effectiveness?

The second step requires that the name, once validated, provides some confidence of their pedigree. Do you turn away would-be mentors who have no proven track record in face to face games, once you have confirmed their identity? Do they have to have a demonstrable master-point history? How otherwise does their name, assuming validated or honest, provide confidence of their credentials?

I am not saying that it couldn't work. Indeed it patently has worked for you. I do wonder whether the cure might be worse than the disease, in terms of rejecting a pool of potential mentors who could make a positive contribution, in the interests of keeping out the occasional damp squib. And a damp squib who, dare I suggest, will get exposed as such in no short order.

As for your taking on the burden of responsibility of protecting mentees, you can assume that mantle if you want, but I doubt that many mentees would require that you do so. They are not children. Well I guess that some of them might be. But caveat emptor, and all that. If they take on board an "anonymous" mentor, then they do so with open eyes. How much real damage is a mentee likely to suffer in the brief interlude between accepting an anonymous mentor and the latter being inevitably exposed as a charlatan?

What is more, it is possible to establish a positive reputation under an online handle alone. Take myself as an example. If I opened up a new ID purely for the purposes of providing mentoring services, and registered with BIL under that ID, and provided you with my real name, neither having any track record that you could easily prove, would either you or a prospective mentee be better informed in choosing me as a mentor than were I instead to register under a pseudonym 1eyedjack, with perhaps several other BBO members who could attest to my value as a mentor under that handle?

I am just a little unconvinced. Just about that aspect. Everything else that you post makes perfect sense, but much of it does not really have a bearing on this point.

[hallway]

The BIL is what it is - it is the best we can do and we think it works in spite of or maybe because of the criticism we receive.

I have an AMAZING TEAM of people who help. Always room for more.

In today's mail-

I would like to tell you, that Karen is an amazing teacher. The depth of her knowledge, kindness and patience are unbelievable. And the ability to make things exciting and to encourage are unique. If you look at the "chat" of the sessions, you will see what I mean.

An early BILie came up through the ranks, and on the recommendation of her mentor started mentoring starter players. Now she has branched out into taking her first group topic specific, level restricted ( beginners, improving beginners ) class. An 8 week course to introduce them to the art of finessing.

Kudos to both Karen and her Mentor !

So we will keep on keeping on the way we do As I was taught - "you can please some of the people some of the time , but you cannot no matter how hard you try , please all of the people all of the time."