starting a club -- finding local USCF members

Chess Clubs
1

I’m thinking of starting a chess club in my town (Bowie, MD). Nothing fancy at the beginning–we’ll see how things develop.

I’d love to know how many USCF members live within, say, 10 miles. That would give me a sense of how many interested people there might be. (I do realize that people don’t have to belong to the USCF to come to a club–it’s just a way to gauge possible interest.)

Any ideas on how I can get this information?

Thanks!

MG

2

Based on comparisons to the ZIP code for Bowie MD (20715), there are about 180 current members within 10 miles. If I expand that to 15 miles, the number goes up to over 500.

USCF affiliates can purchase mailing lists of members within a specified radius, though not all current members may appear on that list if they have opted out.

3

Nolan,
Thanks for the quick response!
MG

4

Hi, Nolan.

So did you do that search by zip code as an admin or is that something a regular member can do? I too am interested in finding local USCF players.

Jonathan

5

I started by using a tool the office has and then did some custom SQL queries when that didn’t give me the level of detail (ie 10/15 mile radius) that I thought provided the most useful answer.

We have considered making some kind of geographic member demographics search capability (ie, totals but no individual member names) available to affiliates through TD/A, but there are both privacy and response time issues to deal with (as well as a lot of other good ideas for things we should have on the website.) Some searches with the aforementioned tool can take 10-15 minutes to generate a response, so I’d have to take out some of the more complex (and useful) capabilities it has.

6

That sounds like an awsome idea. I would love that kind of search capability. That will really help with the new club I am trying to start at my university.