March 2016 - 12

Superteacher

Patty Tucker named Honorary Member of the Year.
BY SUE MUNDAY
Photos by Carrie Clark | Sweeterthan Photography

most wonderful gift you can
give to anyone is bridge. When
one of my students finally gets
something - when they have
that 'Eureka!' moment - I feel
joyous. I teach for joy."

Learn Bridge in a Day?

W

ith her multiple identities
and many powers, she's like
a superhero: teacher, coach,
co-founder of Atlanta Junior Bridge,
architect of the Youth NABC, Emeraldgoing-on-Grand Life Master, creator
of Learn Bridge in a Day? and president of the American Bridge Teachers'
Association. Patty Tucker picked up a
new persona when the Board of Directors named her ACBL's 2016 Honorary
Member of the Year - an accolade reserved only for the finest ambassadors
of the game.
"The future of bridge and the ACBL
is primarily in the hands of those who
teach it, and one of our best teachers is
Patty Tucker," says District 14 Director
Sharon Anderson, who nominated the
well-regarded teacher and champion
of youth bridge on behalf of the ACBL
Educational Foundation.
When she regained her powers of
speech following the shock of learning
of the honor, Tucker summed up why
she does what she does: "I think the

12 Bridge Bulletin March 2016

Anderson's submission
salutes Learn Bridge in a Day?
(LBIAD) as "a model program
for introducing bridge to
those who have had no previous experience with it."
Tucker, who lives in Atlanta, describes this five-hour
dip into the shallow end of the
game as a seminar designed
for new players or for returning players
who want to refresh their understanding of bridge.
The idea for LBIAD originated with
her students, according to Tucker,
whose 35 years of teaching experience
runs the gamut from small groups
of adults in private homes to kids in
summer-camp settings.
"I had lots of my adult students telling me that they wanted their spouses
or college kids to learn, but that they
didn't have time. I said to myself, 'If I
can teach the kids bridge in eight hours
in a summer camp, why can't I teach
adults in a short time?'"
Tucker and Melissa Bernhardt
partnered to form Whirlwind Bridge,
the company that develops the student
workbook and presentation materials
and produces LBIAD seminars.
Since the 2013 Summer NABC in Atlanta, the LBIAD seminar has become
a tournament staple. The ACBL Educational Foundation helped fund 17
district-hosted workshops in 2014 and

2015. More than 1450 potential bridge
recruits attended these sessions.
Many units contract directly with
Whirlwind Bridge to bring this marketing and member-building opportunity
to their areas. Palo Alto Unit 503 set
a record when its 2015 program drew
172 students.
All told, nearly 4700 people of
all ages and walks of life have been
introduced or reintroduced to bridge
through LBIAD.

LBIAD spinoffs

The numbers through the door don't
tell the whole story, however. Retention matters. Maybe six months, a year
following an LBIAD seminar, Tucker
emails teachers in the vicinity of an
event she led and combs through unit
rosters looking for familiar names.
"My personal retention rate is in
the 75% range," she says. "Other areas
report anywhere in the 40-60% range.
It's all in the follow-up."
Tucker urges her students at the end
of class to stick with it. "You won't be
able to play well," I tell them, "but you'll
be able to play."
Tucker recounts how, at a Spring
NABC, she ran into a woman who
had taken LBIAD at the previous Fall
NABC.
"You told me I knew enough to play
at the end of the class," the former
student said. "So I just kept on playing.
I've got 20 points now!"
Tucker adds, "It was obvious she's
having a great time!"
In addition to funding, it takes considerable volunteer energy to stage a
successful LBIAD. Tucker encourages
clubs and districts staging an LBIAD
workshop to make the most of this
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2016
