One of the objections many parents have, to USCF rated youth events, is that quite often,
because the cost of spent rented (or other required school costs - such as mandatory janitorial, security, etc), trophy costs, TD expenses, rating fees, organizers must charge
$ 20 +++ in order to ensure that the tournament meets its goal in at least breaking even,
if not creating an operation fund for the school year.
Another objection to chess tournament appearance I hear from parents is “it is too far”. There are many metropolitan areas of this nation I do not know the specific cartography
of as to cities and distances, so I would not expect forum readers to know DFW.
Parts of Plano, Frisco, Irving, Flower Mound, Coppell, Irving, Dallas, Richardson, etc, are
more than a 30 minute drive from each other. And a 30 minute drive to a chess tournament is considered a LONG drive by many chess parents, esp, the not yet passionate
player, or newbie.
A solution I have found to both problems is to run more local tournaments in private homes made available at no charge (usually allowing the hosts kids to play at no charge),
with nominal awards, usually not matching replated trophies, or medals, and a $ 10
EF to cover pizza, trophy expenses, USCF fees, and to have a small nest egg to cover the
next tournament I end up in the hole at the end of the day.
Naturally, these are invitational events for youths that I have met at other events that
have indicated to me that they understand proper decorum. I enjoy running tournaments,
especially youth, not in babysitting other people’s delinquent kids. But, these tournaments have created a heightened awareness in several communities where USCF is not commonly found.
Just an idea of a way to spread USCF.
Rob Jones