Bridge has recently been attracting some media interest in relation to mindsport education and gender. BBC Radio Scotland interviewed Professor Samantha Punch from Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) on 26 February. You can listen to the five minute radio interview here.
BAMSA’s research on gender and bridge has attracted media attention regarding why men outperform women at mindsports. The Conversation is an academic online newspaper which has published this piece and so far has had over 25,000 views. It discusses the extent to which women-only events are beneficial for a mindsport like bridge or chess because of the gendered inequalities and neurosexism present in the game.
BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour is also interested in doing a follow-up interview on neurosexism and mindsport. Whilst this might not be the most positive news about bridge, we believe that all publicity is good for the game. Bridge so rarely reaches mainstream media so it is beneficial for mindsport to be on people’s radar.
The UK national newspaper, The Times, published an article about Scotland having three 15 year old girls for the first time in the same U21 team for a UK junior event. The University of Stirling also released the same story about the girls from the High School of Glasgow.
These news stories mention BAMSA’s new bridge, youth and schools project which is currently recruiting a post-doctoral researcher. Once a successful candidate takes up the role, the four-year international project will officially start.
Follow BAMSA on social media @bridgemindsport and help bridge to reach wider audiences beyond our community by sharing the news pieces. Please support this work by playing in the online BAMSA BAM on 27 April – a two session board-a-match online event to raise money for the youth and schools project. The aim is to encourage schools to take mindsport education seriously and to integrate bridge into the curriculum in many parts of the world.
You can register for the BAMSA BAM here.