Lifestyle: Fun and Games

What does Sun City Anthem resident Fima Rolan have in common with Microsoft's Bill Gates, tennis champion Martina Navratilova, movie heartthrob Clint Eastwood, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens? A passion for the game of bridge.

On most Saturday nights, Rolan can be found playing with the age-qualified community's Duplicate Bridge Club at Del Webb Corp.'s Anthem Center in Henderson.

Rolan is one of the better players of the 62-member club, which meets twice a week at the community center, according to club president Jack Moss.

"Fima's probably our top-level player of our club. She probably wins more than she loses," he said.

Her winning ratio shouldn't be surprising. After all, the retired hospital pharmacist, who moved with her husband Leonard to the community in April 2000 from Palm Desert, Calif., is a bronze life master, a designation reserved for players who have earned at least 500 points through many, many years of playing and winning American Contract Bridge League events. In November, she competed in the North American Bridge Championships in Las Vegas.

"I started playing bridge in my early 30s. I had gotten a divorce and was just trying to find things to take up my time. I decided to take up horseback riding, bridge, golf and tennis. I guess bridge stuck the most, although I did play tennis for a number of years until I had an injury," Rolan said.

"For a while, I was playing bridge seven nights a week. At one time, I decided that I should do more than just play bridge, so I started ballroom dancing and then I would do that up to eight times per week."

Her first competitive experience more than 40 years ago with a partner to which she was assigned at a bridge club would have discouraged many beginning players. However, the experience fueled her desire to learn the game.

"I called a bridge club for a partner and went to the club to play. I only had 12 lessons, and my partner, a man, shouted at me the entire time we played. He was shouting so much that my knees were shaking under the table," Rolan said.

"So I went home and I'd lay out hands on the table, analyze them, and practice every single day. I played all four hands every day, one or two hours a day ... After about two months, I went back to the bridge club and they didn't shout at me again because I started to come in first."

Perhaps it is because of her first competitive experience that she encourages married couples to think twice before partnering with each other.

"I don't think that it is a good idea for a husband and wife to play as partners because you don't want to bring the game home. ... My husband has his partner and I have my partner," she said, noting that she met her husband on the dance floor, not at the card table.

Rolan has stuck with the game because it challenges the mind.

"To play bridge, you have to really concentrate and you have to remember how many cards have been played and the different strategies. I find it very enjoyable," she said.

"It is a very good game to learn when you're younger because your memory and ability might be better. But many older people can learn the game if they are motivated. If they practice and concentrate, they can become very good bridge players.

"I think that bridge is very good for older people because it makes them use their memory. ... Reading is OK, but it is passive. Bridge playing exercises your brain cells. They can atrophy like muscles that are not being used. I may forget a face or a name, but I don't forget what was played on the table. It's sort of a selective memory and you have to concentrate."

The game's challenge also piques fellow Sun City resident Jack Moss' interest.

"Bridge is an interesting card game and it requires a lot more thinking and skill than other card games ... I think the more skilled players play duplicate bridge," he said. "In duplicate bridge, you compete with each other with the same hands, so it takes a chunk of the element of luck out of it. With party bridge, it is just luck of the draw."

His wife, Carol, agrees.

"You can study bridge your whole life and never master it. It is the most difficult game that I've tackled," Carol Moss said. "... We've never had any arguments or any problems. It's not cutthroat and it's enjoyable. It has been a really nice club to join."

Resident Sharon Squire, who has acquired the life master designation, first played the game at age 16 at the insistence of a former boyfriend. She enjoys the social aspects of the club.

"I like the game because every hand is a new challenge. Every hand is different, and people bid in a different sequence. There are many options and conventions that people play so you never get bored," Squire said. "There are some good bridge players in the club and some great people at Sun City. You can play bridge here as much as you like."

Squire is also one of the 80 members of the community's Party Bridge Club.

"With duplicate bridge, even though the people are wonderful and you make wonderful friendships, it's not what I call social bridge. Party bridge is more social ... I've made some great friends and I've developed some foursomes with members of the Party Bridge Club. When people move here, many join party bridge and they make friends through the club."

Social functions also fill the duplicate group's calendar.

"We do have a few social functions besides just playing bridge," Carol Moss said. "... We've had potlucks and a mystery dinner theater. We've also had lunch at Trumpets restaurant in Anthem Center, and then had a meeting and spent the day playing bridge ... We're also planning a sleigh ride at Mount Charleston and another theater night, if we can get enough people to go."

The bridge clubs are just two of 25 clubs at the community. The emphasis on resident activities is evident at Anthem Center, which features rooms designed for such clubs as cards, billiards, arts and crafts, and computers. The community also has a golf course, dining facilities, a fitness center and pools.

Rolan said Sun City's facilities and activities influenced her decision to purchase the Lexington floor plan. The Rolans' home features two bedrooms, three baths, a den, built-in entertainment center and views of the valley. Their 2,400-square-foot home is decorated with pieces of furniture that she refurbished and handmade window coverings.

"We traveled as far as Hilton Head, S.C., to look for a place to move. When we saw Sun City Anthem we were sold. We were impressed with all of the different activities offered here," said Rolan, who is also a member of the computer and dance clubs and enjoys the fitness center.

"What I like most about our house is our beautiful view of the city. And in the evening with all of the lights it looks like a year-round Christmas tree."

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