RealBridge & BAMSA: Teacher and Coach Conference - Directory of speakers

Alongside a career in IT, managing some large, high profile and complex projects, Nicky has been playing, teaching, and organising bridge for over 50 years. She teaches every week online and face-to-face.

She runs a club with 120 members, providing enjoyable duplicate. The choice of system is a key part of the way each player plays the game. Equally the choice of system to teach must be made freely according to the teacher’s experience and the learners' needs.

Rob Barrington is a world renowned bridge teacher and professional player originally based out of New York City but now living in South Florida.  Rob's passion for bridge has made him one of the most popular "bridge influencers" in the game.  His YouTube channel has over 3 million views and he operates the popular bridgelesson.com website.

Gavin Wolpert was born in Toronto, Ontario to a bridge playing family. His mother Hazel, a bridge teacher, started to teach him bridge at the age of seven. Later he trained with the Canadian junior bridge team, and subsequently moved to Florida, USA. He is a bridge teacher, streamer and professional bridge player

He is married to Jenny Wolpert, formerly Jenny Ryman of Sweden, another professional player. They have three children.

With over 25 years of experience in Sales and Marketing, Tracey Bauer has honed her skills working with iconic brands like Chanel, RayBan, Bulgari, and Tiffany and Co. Tracey brings a wealth of knowledge in brand positioning, customer engagement, and market strategy.

Tracey has skills in digital marketing, particularly in the realm of social media. Her innovative approaches leverage Artificial Intelligence to identify and engage niche markets effectively. She believes that the same principles that have driven success in the fashion and luxury sectors can be applied to promote the mind sport of bridge.

An avid bridge player, Tracey is deeply involved in the bridge community. She is committed to using her marketing expertise to revitalize interest in the game, especially among newcomers. Her unique blend of traditional marketing wisdom and cutting-edge digital strategies makes her a thought leader in the field.

Michael Berkowitz tells his life story, through bridge, every month in the ACBL Bulletin. His funny, instructive columns show how he has often learned important lessons the hard way. He is passionate about bridge and has worked in the bridge world writing, directing, and teaching.

Michael learned from the very best: his parents, both of whom are world champions. Michael believed that they would wince every time he missed an overtrick (they deny this). As a result, he understands how difficult it can be to get to the next level of bridge play without getting discouraged.

His clear instruction allows students to make concrete steps forward without getting lost in pursuit of perfection. In addition to teaching for Bridge with Larry Cohen, Michael is the Program Chair for the ACBL Education Foundation, a non-profit working to promote bridge for all. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Emily, and dog Yeti.

Robert Todd is a professional bridge teacher and player whose hometown is Tallahassee, Florida, but you'll find him all over the country and world, teaching and playing bridge at every level from the local club to world championships.

He began playing bridge at a very young age in his parents' party bridge games and came to duplicate while starting his graduate degree in Mathematics. He spent a year in Helsinki, Finland, where he met and played with many fine European players. When he returned to the USA, he decided to become a bridge professional himself and never looked back!

Robert has degrees in Mathematics, Physics, and Political Science from Florida State University and Mathematics from the University of Helsinki. He's been a computer programmer as well as a university instructor.

One of the top teachers in North America, Robert is often a featured lecturer at Regional and National Tournaments. He hosts bridge events ranging from small private workshops to 150-200 player large seminars. He has co-hosted events with some of the all time best bridge teachers (Audrey Grant, Larry Cohen, etc... ) and they all say that Robert is "the next generation of great bridge instructor and entertainer!"

Robert is the President of the ACBL Educational Foundation, helping to develop ways to attract more people to bridge. He writes for the ACBL Bulletin, and has a large number of digital and physical publications - Books, Lessons, Practice Hands, Videos, Webinars, and more.

Morten is the founder of the Danish School Bridge Association, Chairman of the Danish Youth Committee, and works full-time bridge teaching at all levels.

He works on improving the image of the game, to make it more attractive to new players, and easier for "bridge ambassadors" to get friends to play.

Morten has played many times on the Danish Open Team, and is currently captaining the team.

He lives in Denmark with his wife and has 3 grown-up kids.

I studied mathematics and psychology and worked as a therapist. I have been working as a bridge teacher for over 30 years and play in the German national league.

In addition to articles in the DBV magazine, I have written two bridge books, "Leicht reizbar" (The basics of bidding) and "Corona Papers" (A reading book for bridge players).

Joan Butts has represented Australia in world championships. While she loves playing bridge, her real passion is teaching. She has introduced thousands of students to the game, has owned bridge clubs for thirty years and was the ABF National Teaching Coordinator for 12. She developed a comprehensive Accreditation Programme for teachers. She organised Celebrity Speakers events, and hosted many teaching  forums.  

The growth of Joan’s community of teachers and students led to the launch of her Online School of Bridge in 2017. The site is home to carefully curated lessons, games, videos and quizzes, and contains hundreds of interactive hands played against robots. In July 2023, the Online School of Bridge was updated and moved to a modern educational platform. It is probably a world first for an interactive online  bridge programme. Students “choose their own adventure”, move at their own pace, monitor their progress, and receive guidance along the way. Joan believes that online and real life bridge should flourish side by side. 

https://www.joanbuttsbridge.com

Meriem Daldoul Dorai born 1976, Tunis, Tunisia, of Tunisian and French nationality.

She is married and mother of 2 children. She was a university lecturer in marketing disciplines for seven years. With her penchant for organizing different actions, she has experience in events.

Currently she is the manager of a company in international trade. She has a great passion next to song and dance which is bridge. She took her first lesson in this intellectual sport in 2003.

She has won several prizes and titles at the national level (in Tunisia) but also at the international level where she was twice vice-champion of Africa which allowed her to participate in the world bridge championships in China in Wuhan in 2019, and in Italy at Salsomaggiore in 2022.

She followed training for trainers for teaching bridge in September 2023, with French teachers: Mr. Patrick CHALARD and Mr. Vincent COMBEAU.

I am 45 years old, I am an engineer and I live in France, in Paris. I worked as a bridge teacher, author and coach for more than 15 years, and I continue this activity even today out of passion. I'm an elected board member of the FFB, the French Bridge Federation and I am in charge of development. 

I now work in an Artificial Intelligence start-up, and am elected to the board of my federation, in charge of development. 

At the same time, in recent years, I created the site www.bridge-training.com which allows a teacher, author or federation to have any educational board played for free. 

My goal: to remove all obstacles to introduce people to bridge and increase the playing time of learners!

https://www.ffbridge.fr/

contact@bridge-training.com

Deborah Drysdale, Co-founder: www.planet-bridge.org

Deborah lives in San Francisco, CA, USA and is a retired psychotherapist and social justice activist.  She taught bridge to kids in local schools before COVID, then pivoted to teaching online in 2020. She is co-founder of Planet Bridge, a non-profit program for new and rusty bridge players.  deborah@planet-bridge.org

Allison Evans

Allison Evans lives in Corvallis, OR, USA and teaches microbiology to college students.  She is a bridge enthusiast who enjoys introducing new people to the game. 

Linnea works as a team leader in IT Services.

She is the initiator of the MiniBridge-cup in Sweden, a concept where new players are instantly thrown into competetive bridge.

She was also one of the main forces in moving Swedish bridge online during the pandemic.

Besides playing bridge, Linnea enjoys playing pinball, going to punk concerts and creating music quizzes.

Lyn worked as a psychologist before retirement.  She comes from a family of New Zealand bridge-players.

She has had a successful career in bridge winning national titles, representing Great Britain in Europe, being the chair of Middlesex County. 

She now teaches bridge, plays the guitar, goes to the theatre and opera, and makes quilts.  

Ane Haaland is a Norwegian social scientist and international trainer on communication and emotional competence skills.

She is a bridge coach and mentor, and responsible for the training programme in her bridge club, which is Norway’s largest. She has worked in 30 countries and played bridge in many of them.

Ane’s passion is to make a bridge book for beginners which inspires them to read and learn, and to teach trainers and bridge learners to be more aware of their emotions – and use them consciously. 

Full time employed as project leader for “Norwegian school bridge”, a project whose aim is to introduce bridge to 10 000 6^th graders across the country and establish a leisure activity with bridge for kids in the extension of the school day.

Norwegian Bridge Federation
www.bridge.no

Matthias has considerable management experience and board-level experience in blue-chip corporations in the air transport, tourism, banking and telecoms sectors, and as an expert adviser to government ministers.

As Managing Director of the Icelandic Bridge Federation, Matthias is responsible both for day-to-day operations and for building a future strategy.

He is aiming high, and is determined to expand the popularity of bridge. In 1991 Iceland proved to the world that small can mean greatest, when they triumphed in the Bermuda Bowl, defeating Poland. Now the focus in Iceland is not to be the greatest again, but to build up membership, increase participation, develop youth operations, and build a strong image.

In the 18 months since he took on this role, bridge involvement in Iceland has already skyrocketed. The youth operation has gone from non-existent to blooming. There has been a large increase in people playing, and a 300% increase in people of all ages attending the bridge school.  Icelandic Bridge Federation  www.bridge.is

Bronia was born in France and lived in Montreal as a child before moving to California. A graduate of MIT, where she studied mechanical engineering, Jenkins is self-proclaimed lover of all games. She started playing bridge as a teenager in North Canton (OH) while there as an engineering intern at The Timken Company. Jenkins represented Canada as a Junior player, winning a silver medal, and has three NABC+ titles. She captained the USA2 Women’s team at the 2017 World Championships.

Jenkins previously worked in the finance industry as a financial services executive prior to taking a sabbatical to raise her two children. Becoming involved with their school, she eventually becoming a teacher there.

ACBL  https://acbl.org/

Dr Sam Knox is a young amateur bridge player with a flair for technology. Beginning his bridge journey pre-pandemic, Sam attended Manchester Bridge Club (MBC) where he became passionate about the sport/game. During the pandemic, Sam helped many players from MBC get online to play bridge. 

Sam will be presenting on how to use Instagram, WhatsApp Channels, YouTube, and Nextdoor to publicise your bridge club or teaching classes to a younger target audience, and engage with them.

David Loeb is a teacher, director, coach, and expert player.  As a commentator for The Common Game , David shares advice with thousands of players each week.  David's lessons don't focus on memorization.  Agreements are presented in terms of the problem they solve and how they support a player's goals.

Website link:  LoebBridge.com 

Video lesson link:  LoebBridge.Locals.com

Kathie owned the very successful Bridge Studio in Halifax NS for over 20 years, when in 2018 she sold the Studio to a group of enthusiastic players. Kathie now dedicates herself to improving her own bridge game and teaching new and advanced players.  Kathie teaches on board ships and has been a member of Bridge at Sea since 2000 and does bridge cruises through her own company "Grand Slam Adventures". She started teaching in 1991 and has enjoyed it ever since, continually improving her skills. 

She became a Master Teacher in 2008 and is the current chair of the American Bridge Teachers Association (ABTA), Master Teacher committee. Kathie is keeping busy during her retirement by working for the Canadian Bridge Federation (CBF) as the current president and a member of various bridge-related committees.

https://cbf.ca

Milan is a professional coach and player. He works with kids at school, on a national level, and coaches youth teams at the championships.  He is the Czech Republic Chief Youth Coach, Member of EBL Youth and Small Federation committee.

Milan is one of the first YouTube streamers and develop new ways of teaching and playing bridge. He shares his knowledge on his website: milanbridge.com and on https://www.youtube.com/@MilanMacura

Paul is originally from New Zealand, but he has lived in Sydney since 1981. As a competitor he has won more than 50 national open titles, including 6 international pairs titles. He has won bronze in the world pairs and the Cavendish Pairs, twice won the Cavendish teams, and semi-final in the Bermuda Bowl. He is still very involved in bridge, but he stopped competing in 2007.

He is a full-time bridge teacher/writer and owner of the Grand Slam Bridge Centre. His books have sold more than 550,000 copies and he writes a weekly column in the Australian.

Paul has a passion for teaching beginners and his classes are popular. His last class in Double Bay had 138 students and since June 2020 he and Nevena Djurovic have taught more than 2,000 people online, and most of them are still playing.

bridgelounge.online/books

www.grandslambooks.com/index.html

Dermot O’Brien is the Chief Executive of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland (CBAI), the regulatory body in the Republic of Ireland.

He retired early from a career in financial services, and performed several voluntary roles for the CBAI before taking up his current position. He has also taught bridge at a variety of levels.

Aside from bridge, his interests include all kinds of music, sports, and travel.

https://www.cbai.ie/

https://www.cbai.ie/learn-to-play-and-teach/#become-teacher

Kelvin is the President of the Singapore Contract Bridge Association. He has been active in Zonal and International bridge for more than a decade, as a player, non-playing captain and coach. At the 18th World Youth Bridge Championship, held in Veldhoven,  2023, the Under 26 teams took a silver medal.

Samantha Punch is Professor of Sociology in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Stirling. As a bridge player representing Scotland since 2008, she is developing the sociology of mindsport as a new field of research and teaching. She leads the international project, Bridge: A MindSport for All (https://bridgemindsport.org). BAMSA research explores bridge and social interactions, emotions, motivations, training and development, bridge promotion, gender, youth and schools.

BAMSA website

Benedetta was born in Livorno, in1947, resident in Milan. Classical studies, architect, registered with the Journalists' association. Teacher 25 in middle school. Sailing instructor. Worked on production turnkey books. Author of Geography and Technology school books. Currently is a federal instructor and referee for the FIGB.

I am a passionate bridge player, and experienced teacher. With over 10 years of experience in playing and teaching bridge, I have helped countless students improve their game and achieve their goals. As a player, I have achieved numerous accolades, including winning at local levels. I have a deep understanding of the game, including advanced techniques and strategies, and I'm always eager to share my knowledge with others. As a teacher, I strive to create a welcoming and engaging learning environment for all of my students. 

I am the current England U16 Squad Leader and a former U21/U26 Coach and England junior international. Over 20 years working with the squads, I have coached almost 200 players to have played internationally, many of whom have won medals at Euro/World level.

I also developed the English national junior award scheme and curriculum for youth players.

Patty Tucker is from Atlanta, Georgia.  Having learned to play bridge at age eleven, Patty has extensive experience in playing and teaching bridge.  

Elected to the ACBL Hall of Fame in 2019,

Patty is a Grand Life Master, American Bridge Teacher Association Master Teacher and ACBL Best Practices Accredited Teacher/Trainer. 

She has been recognized by ACBL for her work with youth bridge and as a volunteer at the local and national level. She was named the ACBL Honorary Member in 2016 and the ACBL Goodwill Member of the Year in 2011.  

Her love for the game of bridge and the people she meets is apparent as she teaches this fascinating game.

Garry Yee is a GP living in Singapore. He is also a bridge teacher. This talk describes his route to gaining accreditation. How long it took, and why he believes that accreditation is important. 

In some countries without a formal accreditation program, it is possible and practical to seek accrediation from larger bridge federations.