This year's Young Player of the year award is given to Ben Paske.
2009 was only one of many fantastic years that Ben has had since starting to play bridge, and in true fashion he achieves his goals with a quiet modesty that is hard to match.
Ben was Alice Kaye's and James Paul's team-mate in the Punchbowl final, and he also had a great victory at the Northern Summer Festival of Bridge held in Scarborough, where he won the Pairs trophy from a field of 170 pairs as well as the great success in leading his team of junior players to the A final in the Brighton teams (where they came 5th), an amazing achievement for a team of all youngsters.
Ben has had other good results including the Premier League, the Brighton pairs, and international events.
However it is Ben's attitude both at and away from the table that makes this award particularly special.Wherever Ben goes you can rest assured that he will be the responsible one, looking out for his friends, making sure people are ok and always putting others before himself. As the eldest child from a family of 8 you can see where he gets his responsible attitude from and why he takes his job as being a squad member so seriously.
Michael Byrne
