I would like to set up a JTP tournament in my kids’ elementary school.
What do I need to do to make that happen?
I assume that the club has to be an affiliate. Once I do that, do I get the kids JTP memberships before running the tournament? How? Can I do that online?
Thanks.
Jack,
You can get the kids ID numbers by filling out the form under the TD/Affiliate page. As far as setting up an affiliate goes, the question is whether it is a K-3 tournament or not. If it is just K-3 then any affiliate can be used, otherwise you need to set up a school affiliate.
Alex Relyea
Also, if it is just a K-3 tournament then multiple schools can be involved. If it goes above third grade then all the players should be only from one school.
Help; I cannot locate a link to the USCF pages that describes this feature or how one sets up a school. Who in the USCF office is contact?
Google helped me find some info on the old website which explains the system; I trust the pre-numbered forms are still available from the USCF office.
If the page you found mentions pre-numbered forms then you googled the defunct program from the late '80s/early '90s. If you actually find any such forms, do NOT use them. Now you can set up a new JTP player in the TD/A without forms (it’s one of the membership types that can be selected).
You can renew an affiliate in TD/A. It’s been so long for me that I don’t remermber whether or not you can set up a new affiliate that way. You may need to call the office. IF you are going to submit the events on-line then you will also need to have the affiliate set up with a TD/A signon so that TDs can be authorized to do on-line submission for the affiliate.
You can set up players after a tournament. They must be done before the tournament can be rated. You will need the name (getting a middle initial can be helpful, particularly with a common last name like Smith or Johnson), address and birth date (grade and school are also good to have).
You can only renew your own USCF affiliate using TD/A, but both new affiliates and affiliate renewals can be processed through the USCF membership webstore.
Also, an affiliate must be current in order to log in to TD/A (or for a TD to submit memberships through that affiliate), so if the affiliate has lapsed the renewal must come from the membership webstore or through the office.
We recommend getting as much information as possible on a new member, including middle initial, plus of course birthdate and full address.
We have many duplicate or near-duplicate names in the USCF database. (Do an MSA check on ‘Michael Smith’, there are over 120 of them, there are 22 records under the name ‘Kevin Wang’.)
[quote="jwiewel If you actually find any such forms, do NOT use them. Now you can set up a new JTP player in the TD/A without forms (it’s one of the membership types that can be selected).
[/quote]
Mike and Jwiewel, I could not find a JTP membership type listed on the online store and only a bunch of “set up a batch” stuff that overtaxes my computer skills in my TD/Affliate access. I have successfully entered many tournaments for rating, but never done a new or renewal player registration online through my TD or Affliate access. Help.
That’s because they’re not for SALE to the general public, JTPs are something TDs can use at their eligible events. You can only enter them through the membership module in the TD/Affiliate Support Area or by sending them to the USCF office. The latter will slow things down by several days, of course.
Log in to your TD/A, click on memberships.
In Step 1A put in any name, perhapse JTP. Click Create/Edit Batch.
You will then get a form where you can enter names, address, grade, etc. There is a pull-down menu for membership type. Towards the end of the list is one for JTP registration ($0). Once you have entered one player, you can save it. It should bring up a new record that you can then do the same thing on. At the top, there will be a drop down with all of the members entered, plus an option to get a blank form.
Once you are done entering everyone, there is a button at the bottom that says “check batch for errors.”
In a couple of minutes, check back at the membership screen, down towards the bottom. There will be Step 2 - submit a batch for processing. If there are errors, you will need to go back to step 1A, and correct, save and check for errors again. If not, there will be a process memberships button that will be active. Click it. Since there is no payment due, the next step will be to click on the display membership card. You can then print these for the members.
This is usually the best place to process memberships, rather than the web store. That way, you get your affiliate discount/commission.
I am a big fan of the JTP. Nearly 60% of the JTPs I have set up have converted to regular memberships.
This is simply a fantastic way to convert kids K-3 over from non-rated to rated events. Quite
frequently, when this happens, the kids get hooked on seeing their ratings increase, and become
more interested in improving their chess ability. Then they venture out and start playing non
scholastic events which requires regular paid memberships–and they are hooked.
Robert Jones
Denton, Texas
The issue with not having clear information accessible to tournament organizers who
are not tournament directors, and are unfamiliar with USCF forums is that they may
be very hesitant, or outright resistant to the use of the JTP program, which could easily
deprive economically disadvantaged children, or those whose parents do not understand
chess or USCF, from playing rated games. For the tourament organizer may choose
to believe the programs are not really authorized by USCF, and are “back-door
loopholes”.
Truly, I understand why JTP is not on the membership page. M. Nolan has done
a quite excellent job in explaining this point. But perhaps the information should
be accessible in another area besides TD/Affiliate and forums.
Any ideas??
Rob Jones
Denton
This is a good time to mention the JTP-to-Member transition. If at all possible, parent/guardians should be directed to buy a membership as a Renewal in the webstore if their child has played as a JTP before. They enter the existing ID and click “lookup” and the program fills in all of the information the USCF has on that player. This minimizes the issue of duplicate IDs.
Since only USCF Affiliates can run rated events (and only scholastic USCF affiliates can run K-12 in-school JTP events, TD/A seems like one logical place for that information.
For security reasons, we cannot fill in most of the information we already have on members, notably their address and birthdate. Otherwise, the USCF membership webstore could be used by someone to ‘mine’ our member database.