Player Profile
Player Profile
Anna Boivin
by Linda Patton
LP: Thank you for granting this interview, Anna. Can you tell me about your early childhood?
AB: I was born on a farm in St. Claude, Manitoba, to a Ukranian family. At the age of seven I was sent to a school in Winnipeg for six months to learn to speak English. I have no recollection of having learned the language, but I am told that I did learn it and in only three months. (My mother tongue is Ukranian and it wasn’t until I later moved to Montreal that I learned to speak French). I returned to the farm and subsequently graduated from high school in Winnipeg. From there I attended Winnipeg Business College and graduated in 1953 having learned shorthand and typing.
LP: What was your first job?
AB: I worked as the secretary for the booking agent at 20th Century Fox. I enjoyed that job very much because we were able to see all the movies. My first husband and I married and at this time I volunteered at the Winnipeg Home for Girls, where I taught crafts to the residents. I was also sewing my own clothes and those of friends; before I knew it, I was a couturičre with a blooming business. I was contracted by the Catholic Church to make vestments. Having no previous experience with these garments, I took up the challenge and concluded that my salary was 5 cents per hour for the initial garment, due to the ‘trial and error’ factor. I quickly improved!
LP: When did you move from Manitoba to Montreal?
AB: With my two children, I moved to Montreal in 1960, where I became a wedding consultant. I would meet with the bride, choose the fabric and create the wedding dress. This usually resulted in an invitation to the wedding as a friend of the bride’s, due to the amount of time spent together for fittings, shopping for material, etc.
LP: When was your introduction to bridge?
AB: In 1968 my neighbour suggested that we get together and learn bridge, which I found natural as I had played whist and canasta previously. This same neighbour remains a good friend today and she always reminds me that she was responsible for my subsequent success at the bridge table. In 1969 I attended my first duplicate game where we came in 3rd out of a 5-table Howell movement. The first year I did not play much, about once a week, and received ten master points in total. I decided that if I were every going to be a Life Master it would take me until age 95 at the rate I was going.
LP: You must have taken it more seriously at some point?
AB: Yes, I started playing in tournaments and when I had 50 master points, I decided I needed to learn more about the game. The rules were a puzzle to me. I took a directors’ course and became a director with 50 master points! It was after passing the course that I started running my own games on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
LP: Where did you hold these games?
AB: Oh, community centres, that type of venue, for $20 per afternoon. Those were the days of hand scoring–no computers were available until much later.
LP: When did you commence teaching?
AB: In 1975 I became a Life Master and in 1978 I remarried. I now had 700 master points and this was when I commenced teaching. Up until this time, I had only directed. At the request of the Montreal University Women’s Club, I taught twice a week. My youngest student was 78 years of age! Remember, these women were the retired university alumni, well educated and well heeled, but that didn’t stop some of them from falling asleep during class. My biggest challenge was keeping them awake and this is where I honed my teaching skills, learning to be animated. I discovered that I was a natural and by word of mouth my classes increased to 3 or 4 per week. This was in addition to directing 3 or 4 games per week and playing ‘professional games’. Shirley Silverman’s bridge manuals were my greatest teaching aide and I spent many hours cutting and pasting in preparation for lessons. Again, no computers–just photocopiers, scissors and paste! The professional dates were a success, in particular, with one seventy-year-old lady with whom I played every Monday for twelve years (she also played with two other pros twice a week). It is quite common in Montreal for the ‘affluent player’ to hire professionals to play with them once or twice per week.
LP: How did your connection with Florida come about?
AB: My husband and I owned a condo in Fort Lauderdale and we would go to Florida every winter. Coincidentally, the same lady that hired me every Monday in Montreal went to Florida each winter, and we would resume our regular Monday games there. I taught at the Fort Lauderdale Bridge Club but for the most part, I played professional dates. At this point my husband was also teaching and we would teach/direct on cruise ships – for free! Mostly, I taught, but he was very popular with the ladies, being very handsome, charming and knowledgeable about bridge.
LP: What made you decide to move from Montreal to Victoria?
AB: My husband had battled cancer for over 18 months, and in one particular bad stage where he had reconstruction surgery and really did not want visitors, except me, the bridge community came out in droves and sent him cards and letters of encouragement. We ran out of space on the window sills etc., so I brought in scotch tape and had the wall in front of his bed papered with these. One day a nurse came in and said to him, “Sir, I do not know who you are but, you must be a very important person to have all this mail.” Gilles, of course, just beamed. People are good.
When Gilles passed away the Montreal bridge community was very kind and supportive–literally carrying me over the two or three months following his death. When I resumed my bridge activities, it was clear that 60 hours a week was just too much (teaching, directing and pro dates). Provincial politics were becoming tiresome and illogical and I have always disliked the cold winters. I was ready for a complete change–I told no one, not even my best friend, that I was planning a move to Victoria. My daughter lived in Victoria and I had fallen in love with the City, particularly the James Bay area, during my previous visits with Catherine, two grandchildren and my son, Keith. I sold my homes in Fort Lauderdale and Montreal and bought a condo in Victoria in May of 1999. This was the beginning of my ‘new life’.
LP: Are there differences between Montreal and Victoria, with respect to bridge?
AB: Yes. We are very fortunate to have over 100 Life Masters in Unit 431 out of 438 members. In Montreal there are over 3000 players and only 10 percent are Life Masters. Good players in Victoria come out to the clubs, whereas in Montreal, good players very seldom frequent local clubs. They play IMP games at home or qualifying games for CNTC tournaments, for example, when necessary. The politics are much healthier in a small community, such as Victoria, and local unit members are quick to come to the aid of each other.
LP: What is your greatest accomplishment bridge-wise?
AB: Being high on the list of top Canadian players. This is important to me because while in Montreal, it was very difficult for any woman to become a member of a good team. The teams consisted mostly of older accomplished or young upcoming male players.
LP: What advice can you give players for improving their play?
AB: The biggest improvement is through partnerships. By that I mean, finding someone that is compatible, works hard, is available, willing to travel, and has similar skills and ability. Finding such a partner is more difficult than finding a soul mate for life!
LP: What do you like best about bridge?
AB: I enjoy the challenge of pitting myself against the opponents. I also enjoy the social aspect and have made a lot of friends through bridge. Teaching bridge was very rewarding and left me with a feeling of empowerment–knowing my students “got it” and their bridge would improve because of the advice and guidance I had given. I now teach voluntarily once a week at Sommerset Lodge, and three of my students (all in their eighties) will be attending an upcoming bridge “Land Cruise” in Mexico, which I will be directing. I have also enjoyed the challenge of being Recorder for Unit 431.
LP: Do you have any goals bridge-wise?
AB: Yes, I would like to reach the 10,000 master point level. I would also enjoy playing in one more World Olympiad tournament.
LP: Do you have any amusing bridge anecdotes to share?
AB: Yes, when I was bridge director of the Mirabel Tennis and Racket Club in Montreal, I and 24 players arrived one evening to discover there was no power in the building. None of us wanted to leave without playing (only a bridge player can relate to this), so I called my husband and asked him to arrange six card tables in the recreation room of our home. We drove to my home, eleven cars in convoy-style, carried supplies inside and commenced a wonderful evening of bridge.
On another occasion I was a member of a team that had just completed a tournament. The four of us spent the entire 100-mile trip home discussing one hand (25 miles per player)! These postmortems were great fun and very beneficial.
LP: What advice would you give bridge players?
AB: My advice would be for all players to be more respectful of each other, regardless of master points, and to be more understanding of the Directors’ position–give them the support they deserve.
Copyright:
ACBLUnit 431
James K. Foster,
January, 2006