Project

Bridge: A MindSport for All

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Funded by Donors (UK) and Donors (O.S).

In February 2019 the University of Stirling and Professor Samantha Punch launched the global Keep Bridge Alive Crowdfund Campaign to publicise the benefits of bridge beyond the bridge world. Today, fewer people are playing bridge and the bridge community is collaborating with Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) to develop new approaches to recruit a fresh generation of players.

The Sociology of Mindsport is an emerging academic field exploring interactions within the mind-sport bridge including well-being, transferable life skills, mental health and social connection. Playing bridge encourages clear thinking, boosts self-esteem, facilitates partnerships, trust and cooperation and contributes to intergenerational community building.

Bridge: A MindSport for All includes a variety of research, policy and practice initiatives which promote bridge as a challenging mind-sport and fun leisure activity. The key goals of the BAMSA project are to work in partnership with bridge organisations to transform the image of bridge, to increase participation across all ages, and to enhance the sustainability of the mind-sport. See Bridge: A MindSport for All - Connects People, Challenges Minds (bridgemindsport.org).

BAMSA work includes a project on gender and inclusivity called Bridging Gender. This study analyses attitudes to gender among bridge players based on 151 email questionnaires and 52 interviews from the Bridging Minds study. It explores gender differences in the mindsport of bridge and the question of why, at the top of the game, men are more successful in terms of winning more prestigious events. See https://bridgemindsport.org/home/research/bridging-gender/

The BAMSA team have also conducted research into the short and longer term impacts of Covid-19 on the bridge community around the world, by analysing diary and documentary evidence from practitioners and players. For more on Bridging Covid, see https://bridgemindsport.org/home/research/bridging-covid/

Total award value £344,977.47

People (1)

Professor Samantha Punch

Professor Samantha Punch

Professor, Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology

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