The CBAI each season seeks nominations for the President’s Merit Award, with the President selecting the winner. This award is designed to recognise the unsung heroes and heroines of Irish bridge – the people who do all the hard work behind the scenes without which bridge in Ireland could not function, but without ever seeking official status or other recognition for themselves.
We are delighted to announce that Karel de Raeymaeker, from Blanchardstown, Dublin, has been selected as this year’s winner of the President’s Merit Award on the basis of his long-standing and unstinting efforts on behalf of junior bridge in Ireland. Karel was nominated by several people, including some current junior players, a former Convenor of the CBAI Junior Committee, and several other well-known players with knowledge of his work.
Karel played himself as a junior in 1985, and that experience led him to understand how much of an impact the guidance of more experienced players could have on young bridge minds, so in 2007, he volunteered his services to the Junior Committee. Since then, he has worked without a break (and without being paid!) as coach, organiser, non-playing captain, and committee member. Other coaches, and other members of the Junior Committee, have come and gone, but Karel has been a constant presence. His style is helpful, challenging, and inspiring, and he is incredibly generous with his time and his expertise.
Three of the top “graduates” from the junior programme in that time, Conor Boland (now on the IBU Open Team), Wayne Somerville (on the NIBU Open Team), and Kelan O’Connor (international triallist), have benefitted enormously from Karel’s coaching, as have the current crop of talented junior players, including Luca Crone, Matthew O’Farrell, and Isabel Burke; in his nomination, Luca commented on Karel’s “unwavering commitment to teaching the future of the game”. Karel has also very selflessly played in big national events with junior players on many occasions, voluntarily forfeiting his opportunity to add to his already impressive tally of national titles in the interests of developing junior players. And as BJ O’Brien and Paul Porteous noted in their nomination, “Karel is also a tireless advocate for junior bridge, never missing the chance to engage with the general bridge-playing population to seek their support for our junior players. Irish junior bridge is very lucky to have him”.
CBAI President Catherine Byrne visited a junior bridge session last Saturday to make the surprise presentation of his award to Karel. Catherine said that until she took over the Presidency, she did not have any great concept of the work of the Junior Committee. But she has seen the juniors at many of the congresses she has attended, and she is “enormously impressed at the work that Karel, and other volunteers like Margaret Murphy from Kilkenny, and various parents, put in to making sure our junior players get the best experience we can offer them”. We hope to have the opportunity to acknowledge Karel’s achievement, and to allow him to make the case for junior bridge, in a more public forum next season.
There were, as ever, several deserving candidates nominated for the Award this year, but there can only be one winner. We’re sure you will join us in congratulating Karel, and acknowledging that his is exactly the kind of contribution that this award was designed to recognise. The behind the scenes work can be in teaching, in junior bridge, in work for clubs, or for regions. If there is someone you would like to nominate for next season’s award keep an eye on our website in November or December, when the 2026 award will be publicised.