March 2025 - 13

Amber when she started a partnership with his daughter,
Emma, when they were teenagers. " Immediately I could
tell Amber is just amazing. Great bridge player, wonderful
human being and incredible worker, " said Kolesnik,
who took them to several tournaments, including a
memorable one in Omaha where they met Bill Gates and
Warren Buffett.
" Amber has done a lot to promote and encourage more
young women in the USBF Junior program. The number
of women in the program has really grown, " said Kolesnik.
Attendees at SiVY's 2024 Summer Camp
researched and presented a plan to our board for engaging
and supporting older youth bridge players. She was an
outstanding intern - inventive, assiduous and self-motivated.
I would have hired her on the spot were she available.
Alas, she was not ... or we would have snatched her
up immediately. "
Amber was introduced to bridge by her father, Howard
Lin, who continues to play and teach bridge in Edison NJ.
" We are all proud of her as always for her dedication and
effort to promote bridge, especially in young people, " he
said. " We hope more young people will follow suit and
enjoy and learn bridge. "
While the motivation to grow and teach bridge may
have started within Lin's family, there are many others
who inspire Lin. " The obvious answer for me is the
Rosenbergs, " said Lin. " They have invited me into their
family, and their love for the game and their history of
mentoring Juniors is very inspirational. People ask if we
play bridge together - the answer is no, never when we're
spending time together, but instead we do spend a lot of
time talking about bridge. Other models include people
who work so hard for bridge - Patty Tucker, Stephanie
Threlkeld, Jan Martel and many others in various different
organizations. "
Of all of Lin's accomplishments, her efforts with the
Under-26 Women's teams and SiVY have been most fulfilling.
" I'm very proud that we have 22 players in this
year's Junior U.S. Bridge Championships in Atlanta (a
slight increase), " said Lin. " They've been doing a lot of
bridge - multiple training sessions every week, going to
lots of in-person tournaments and running their college
bridge clubs. For SiVY, we've built a community for our
regulars (mostly ages 6 to 14) where they can enjoy an
in-person, non-screen activity every week. I have spent
a lot of time this year talking to parents, and the bridge
world is so hard to navigate, especially for the nonbridge-playing
parents. It's been so rewarding to see the
kids become good friends with one another, how much
they have grown in the past year, and are now going to
local and national tournaments. "
Kolesnik, who took over the USBF Online Junior
Training Program for Michael Rosenberg, got to know
" Her work with the Educational Foundation has made
a huge impact, helping to send more kids to the transnationals.
We had 22 kids go to Salsomaggiore, Italy, in
2022, which is the most we've ever sent to a transnational.
There's nobody that's more deserving of success than
Amber. "
Cecilia Ehrlichman is on a U26 Women's Team that
is co-mentored by Lin. " Amber fully restructured the
women's program and has done a good job making partnerships
and creating rigorous lessons that target specific
parts of play, especially defense, " said Ehrlichman. " She
points out every single card we play and tells us how to
use the inferences we have available, which is a much better
coaching strategy than I've received in the past. "
" Amber has been so nice and helpful, planning lots of
things to help the women's teams, " said Kyra Hembold,
who is on a U26 Women's team in the advanced training
program. " Especially the Sunday intensive coaching. She
asks us what we're thinking at key moments in the hand,
because sometimes we do the right thing but it's not clear
we did it for the right reasons. "
" Amber's passion and energy for bridge is incredible, "
said Max Schireson, a top player whose daughter,
Olivia, is a talented young player who was also a Queen
of Bridge. " She has done so much to help young players,
including - among so many - my daughter Olivia. Amber
is also a very thoughtful player, and one of the most
continued on page 31
Amber Lin teaching at the Junior training camp held prior to the
2024 Sam Amer Junior U.S. Bridge Championships
March 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
13
March 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2025
