The Saint Lucia Bridge Association

General Information

The St. Lucia Bridge Association (SLUBA) was formed about fifty (50) years ago. The Bridge Associations all over the world are governed by the World Bridge Federation(WBF) and separated into zones. SLUBA is in zone 5 and is presently a member of both the WBF and the Central America and Caribbean Bridge Federation(CACBF). The CACBF Zonal Championship is the qualifying event to participate in the World Bridge Championships. Although SLUBA has never participated in the CACBF Zonal Championships, the Association takes part in the annual OECS Bridge Championships. SLUBA has participated in all 36 events over the years.

In the early years, the St. Lucia Bridge Association governed the Paragon Bridge Club of Castries and the Sulphur Aces Bridge Club from Soufriere. Although these clubs are currently not operational, SLUBA intends to revive the club structure. SLUBA members compete in a duplicate pairs event every Saturday (either face-to-face or online) and SLUBA holds two major annual tournaments, The Independence and National Day Bridge Tournaments in February and December, respectively. At those tournaments, members compete in team-of-four and duplicate pairs events.

Achievements

Host to OECS Bridge Championships

The OECS Bridge Champion Championship is an annual event held for all the members of the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States. Each member hosts in turn as an opportunity to earn revenue and keep the game of bridge alive. In recent years, the French territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe have been included in the competition. St. Lucia has hosted the OECS Championships eight times in the past; 1989, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2025.

Winners of the OECS Team-of-Four and Pairs

The two most prestigious events in the OECS Championships are the national team-of-four event and the duplicate pairs competition. St. Lucia has won the national team-of-four event four (4) times and the duplicate pairs event five (5) times.

Saint Lucia’s winners over the years have been:

OECS NATIONAL TEAM-OF-FOUR COMPETITION

OECS DUPLICATE PAIRS COMPETITION

Saint Lucia’s national team of Enrico Lewis, Naomi Smith, Irvin Smith and Dexter Theodore placed second in the recently held 2026 OECS National Team-of-Four competition.

Efforts to spread the game at home and in the sub-region

Work with the OECS Sports Desk

In the 1990s Dexter Theodore facilitated a Bridge Workshop in Grenada aimed at introducing players there to duplicate pairs and team-of-four play to encourage Grenada to participate in the OECS Bridge Championships, which they did for several years after receiving that training, Regrettably, however, Grenada has not participated of late, because their numbers have dwindled. This was an initiative of Reds Pereira when he was the Director of the OECS Sports Desk.

Work with the Ministry of Education

In the early 2000s a pilot “Bridge-in-Secondary Schools” programme was initiated with the blessings of the Ministry of Education which saw after-school bridge lessons being conducted by Dexter Theodore at St. Mary’s College. More recently, there has been further tutelage in bridge at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (Irvin Smith and Dexter Theodore), Corinth Secondary School (by Irvin Smith), Babonneau Secondary School (Ian Hippolyte) and The St. Lucia Sports Academy (Irvin Smith and Dermot Monrose).

In the past, many of our new and more importantly, young bridge players eventually joined SLUBA through the efforts of Dr. George Forde (past Principal of Sir Arthur Lewis Community College), Dexter Theodore (who offered lessons at the St. Lucia Red Cross Centre and who founded the Helen Online Bridge Institute on (www.bridgebaseonline.com) and Katherine Lawerence (who taught bridge at the St. Lucia Yacht Club).

SLUBA and NCF to implement a Program

SLUBA members continue their labour of love, playing and teaching the social and mentally stimulating game of bridge in St. Lucia. There are currently plans afoot to collaborate with the National Cultural Foundation to raise the profile of bridge in the country.

Future Plans

SLUBA intends to increase its presence on social media and the internet:

The biggest priorities for the St. Lucia Bridge Association are to expand the membership by teaching and educating St. Lucians about the game of bridge, establish at least three (3) bridge clubs on island and secure a relatively permanent place of operation for the Association to teach and play the game. SLUBA hopes to be able to establish a clubroom at the Human Services building in Gros Islet. If this is achieved, SLUBA is confident that this will redound to the benefit of the game on the island.