I am assisting Single Marine Programs at the different Marine Corps installations in implementing their chess programs. One stumbling block that they have run across is finding Tournament Directors that can direct the tournaments. Each Single Marine Program is the organizer for the tournament providing the site, food, prizes, and advertising. But for the tournaments to be USCF Sanctioned tournaments that can be submitted for a USCF rating, they need an USCF Tournament Director for the other functions of running a tournament including submitting the tournament under the Marine Corps affiliate.
If you know of a Tournament Director that might be interested in connecting with a local military installation to assist in running the tournaments, please have them email me at walshsr at usmc dash mccs dot org or call at 910,451,0084 and I will connect them with the Marine Corps installation nearest them.
While volunteer TDs would be nice, most SMP programs should be willing to contract services due to the mandated nature of the program. We are attempting to grow our core of Marine chess players that can try out for the All-Marine Chess Team. To submit a resume the players need to be an USCF member and have participated in rated tournaments.
So also, if you know of Marines that play chess, have them get involved with the local Single Marine Program at their installation to make them aware that there are indeed players very interested in chess.
Thank you for your time and have a great thinking day!
I’m not sure where you’re looking, but under TD/Affiliate there is a way to look for nearby TDs. I’d suggest that TDs who have their email addresses or phone numbers listed might be worth a shot.
I did that today actually before I posted here. For each of the zip codes I did (keeping it within 150 miles), there were like 2 or 3 at most that listed a phone number or email contact. They were normally listed lower on the list. Rather than hunting down them all for each of the Marine Corps installations, I thought this might be easier. We shall see, then I will try other avenues - like building TDs within the core of chess players that we find.
IL has 104 TDs listed and 12 have contact information. That includes 8 of the 59 club TDs and 4 of the other 43 (1 of 6 NTDs).
NY has 114 TDs listed and 15 have contact information including 6 of the 46 club TDs (3 of 7 NTDs).
12 of the 73 NTDs have contact info (16.4%).
3 of 14 ANTDs (21.4%). 25 of 200 SrTDs (12.5%).
BTW, for those TDs and affiliates who don’t know, there is an item in the TD/Affiliate Support Area to list TDs by geographical area, and also a link to update your public contact information.
Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois is a bit far from me. But it’s got its own stop on the Metra UP North Line, making it an easy hop for anyone who lives in Rogers Park or on the North Shore.
I thought I’d save folks from having to list their state, so here’s a list of all the current certfied TDs (as of May 1st) by state and type, showing how many of them have provided the USCF with public contact information:
[code]State NTD Pub ANTD Pub Sr Pub Local Pub Club Pub
Interesting. A lot of funny things with the listing of TDs. I’ve only looked at the guys that I know from Northern California.
There are five NTDs, but only one is active and another runs 1-2 club tournaments each year. I had never even heard of two of the three inactive NTDs. One has no records at all in MSA: no ratings, no tournaments directed, nothing.
Out of four Senior TDs, all are active but two only direct at (the same) local club. That means there are three senior TDs or higher whom you might run into at a Bay Area chess tournaments. Contrast that to Illinois…
By far the most active TD/organizer in the Bay Area is not even listed as a Northern California TD. Ironically, his young son (who presumably lives at the same address) is properly listed as club TD. [S. Azhar]
None of the three TDs who run tournaments at the Mechanics’ Institute are listed. Strange. [J. Donaldson, A. Corrales, S. Brandwein]
All of the above TDs have public email addresses that are available on the major Bay Area websites. However, only one submitted his email to USCF. Sounds to me there’s a PR problem here.
Frankly, this page to search for a TD is of very limited use right now!
We have email addresses for most active TDs (since having one on file with us is pretty much necessary to use TD/A), but the USCF’s privacy policy prohibits us from giving those out, which is why we have a SEPARATE ‘public contact’ field, where the TD can provide us with the contact information he or she is willing to have us give out, such as a phone number, mailing address, email address or website URL. Some give us several of those.
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Interesting. A lot of funny things with the listing of TDs. I’ve only looked at the guys that I know from Northern California.
There are five NTDs, but only one is active and another runs 1-2 club tournaments each year. I had never even heard of two of the three inactive NTDs. One has no records at all in MSA: no ratings, no tournaments directed, nothing.
The one with no rating and no tournaments is Martin Morrison who was USCF Technical Director back in the 70s. He also wrote the first edition of the rule book. Any tournament he directed was way before MSA.
I’m thinking that there are many TD’s (like myself) who are TD’s to try and provide tournaments for their clubs and in their area, not because they want a second job. Being a TD can have it’s rewards, but it’s mostly a sacrifice of time and effort, and often, your own playing.
Any member can become a TD, it’s not rocket science, so why are they so scarce? I think maybe those that don’t already know, have tried it and figured it out… who wants to be the guy that everyone wants to argue with, criticize, and above all, take for granted.
I’ve found that the great bulk of the comments I receive are not arguments or criticism, but rather thanks or appreciation. It’s just that the negative comments are the easiest for most people to remember. I direct because I feel I’m good at it and it helps others be able to enjoy playing (I do a number of scholastic events that I wouldn’t be eligible to play in anyway).
I’d agree as far as a second job comment goes, being a TD is not a road to riches. My directing pay for 23 tournaments last year (four non-USCF rated and only 17 on weekends) grossed less than a month’s pay at my regular job (I did have to make sure there was enough saved for the tax bill at the end of the year because the organizers don’t deduct taxes during the year from such a contractor). Six of them were club tournaments (trophy only, entry fee covered by annual dues, I was a playing director) and one was at my son’s school, so I didn’t actually get paid for those seven.