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

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