TRUMP POWERCARD GAME TRADITIONALLY PLAYED BY SENIORS HOPES TO ATTRACT MORE YOUNGSTERS.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: DOUG BLACKBURN Staff writer

Sara Kershaw may be the future of contract bridge. Or, possibly, Todd Wachsman represents hope for the card game the International Olympic Committee recently accepted on a trial basis.

If so, Kershaw, 11, and Wachsman, 14, have their work cut out for them.

They are competing this week in the District 3 Spring Regional Tournament at the Sheraton Hotel in Saratoga Springs. Younger players are the exception among the 800 or so bridge enthusiasts taking part in the five-day event. (It continues through Sunday.) With few exceptions, most of the players bid farewell to childhood more than a half-century ago.

Of the two youngsters, Kershaw, of Clifton Park, a fifth-grader at Loudonville Christian School, was more nervous. While she has played bridge at home for about two years, this is her first tournament.

``Everybody keeps coming up to me, telling me they're glad to see me here. It's really weird,'' …