“On March 10, 2020, we were playing bridge. Little did we know it would take more than two years before we saw each other again. »
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Simon-Pierre Goulet talks to me while zigzagging between the folding tables arranged in the community room. He makes sure that everything is ready for the arrival of the players, in less than an hour.
The 44-year-old director is a big fan of bridge. I met him on the set of the show We’ll tell each other (ICI Télé), where he praised his favorite game to attract recruits. He then explained that the average age of the players is 67 years old and that it increases each year, for lack of relief.
Charmed by his passion, I wanted to know more. He invited me to a very special event: the Rainbow Bridge Club reunion last month.
Before the pandemic, dozens of fans gathered every Tuesday evening at the Center-Sud Sports and Community Association. However, COVID-19 forced the closure of the club where social interactions and vulnerable people mixed because of their age.
Besides, how did Simon-Pierre come to adopt an activity associated with retirees?
“My friend and I loved board games, but we were very competitive,” he replies. People didn’t want to play with us anymore! We ended up saying to ourselves: “We need a game where we are partners rather than adversaries”. »
Ten weeks later, they finished their bridge training…
“Thirty hours of lessons to learn how to play cards?
– It is not learned on the corner of the table! You have to make an act of faith and say to yourself: I continue, even if I don’t understand anything.
“And why would we do that, exactly?”
— When I discovered bridge, it was like “Oh my God, finally! “. It’s a mental sport, but a sport with everything that comes with it, just like a physical sport. Yesterday, my partner and I were training, reviewing our strategies. After the game, we’ll have a beer to chat like hockey players would after their game.
I never played a traditional team sport when I was a teenager. I would have liked to discover bridge earlier to experience this sporting culture through an activity that suited me better.
Simon Pierre Goulet
Without forgetting the cognitive virtues of bridge, which combines memorization, logic and communication. An activity of choice for aging well! Moreover, Simon-Pierre adds that he loves meeting people from other generations every week.
After all, it was thanks to a man he met here that he and his best friend discovered the pleasure of cruising…
People are starting to arrive. Their joy at being reunited is manifest; it flatters its back, it takes itself in the arms.
Jean-Pierre Bécotte, Simon-Pierre’s best friend, is talking with their cruising mentor.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jean-Pierre Bécotte, Maxence Elie and Simon-Pierre Goulet
Maxence Elie took them both under his wing a decade ago.
“A bridge club is a microcosm of society,” he reflects. We have the opportunity to share experiences with people who have experienced all kinds of things! And even if we only see them for 20 minutes, bonds are created, from one week to the next… We see each other in joy, but also in illness and breakups. »
Maxence stops and points to a man behind me.
“Besides, this gentleman has changed many lives with his passion and generosity. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Jean-Marc Picard founded Club Arc-en-ciel in 1999.
The man in question is Jean-Marc Picard. He founded Club Arc-en-ciel in 1999. More than 1000 players have been there since then.
“My greatest accomplishment is having bridge accepted as a sport at the Montreal Outgames in 2006. [qui réunissaient des athlètes des communautés LGBT de partout dans le monde]. It was fantastic to see 210 players from 13 countries compete! »
I don’t know anything as interesting as bridge because it’s intellectual and it’s based on friendship, like you have to play two…
Jean-Marc Picard
More than fifty people are now seated in the room. I notice a dozen men of my generation among the white heads. Speaking of friendship, I am introduced to Normand Houle, who has defended titles in Australia and France. With him, his partner of the last 40 years, Marc Boisvert.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Marc Boisvert and Normand Houle
“What makes a good bridge partner, Marc?”
— Attention because we constantly have to pass the buck! »
I am in the realm of good communication.
The first round begins. The looks present a mixture of joy and focus. Bursts of laughter pierce the murmurs. If teams finish a game before the others, they gather around the coffee machine to fill their styrofoam cup while chatting.
Near me, a man of about sixty guides his young adversary.
“You haven’t been playing long, have you?”
– No, I’m not the greatest of players!
“Can I give you some advice?” »
Despite the benevolence of their competitor, Antoine Julien (22) and his cousin Jean-Daniel Picard (35) lost the round. How do they feel during these intergenerational meetings?
“We are not in a CHSLD! replies the eldest. People are bright and alert, it’s fun to play against them. »
In an aging society that too often neglects its sages, these two have understood the richness of bridge. There are meeting spaces where everyone wins. Even the losers.
It reminds me of a confidence from Simon-Pierre Goulet: “I thought I liked bridge because of the competition, but I hated playing online during the pandemic! I missed people. My goal is to see more young people interested in clubs. I want to dust off the image we have of bridge. You know, you won’t see paparmanes here…”
I confirm: no paparmane, but a lot of brains on. Of all ages.