“There’s Levoy and the one who doesn’t see him!” Behind his dark glasses, Jérôme Claessens does not lack humor. Victim of a degenerative disease of the retina which gradually made him blind, the native of Brussels (Belgium) could have chosen to feel sorry for himself. It’s not his type. At 36, he prefers to smile at his handicap. Especially since it does not deprive him of his great passion, bridge.
“I discovered this game with my father about ten years ago,” he rewinds. “I liked it right away and I wanted to go further, so I didn’t give up. It doesn’t matter that he no longer sees the cards. “I guessed them very small at first, so I was able to play with a normal game. But very quickly, I switched to large print, but it bothered everyone because you couldn’t see the symbols anymore. “To the point that the person concerned even” was excluded from a tournament “.
Since then, he has brought his cards in Braille, without it bothering anyone. “At the limit, we hardly see the difference. Some players just sometimes tell me they’re dirty! laughs Jérôme Claessens, who must however exercise his memory to continue playing.
memory work
Because even if the other players have the obligation to announce out loud the cards knocked down on the board, they do not repeat themselves afterwards. When they can see them, he must hold them back. As well as “the death”, or all the game of his partner when he is the one who won the auction… “It’s exhausting”, admits the bridge player, again without complaining. This world pleases him too much, he who sails from tournament to tournament, especially in France and Belgium.
Each time, a table slightly away from the others is assigned to him, so that the unusual noise of the announcements does not disturb the players. Often, Jérôme Claessens also travels with his young dog, “Esprit”. Not these last two weeks in Strasbourg, at the Transnational European Open. Where the Belgian has climbed very far, in pairs, not in teams.
“Bridge is fantastic,” he proclaims. It never stops and we progress all the time. No matter his disability.