Is there a chess club that has an outline of a constitution for a university chess club level?
I want to compare what I have and what I could/should add.
students.washington.edu/chessuw/iccl/index.html
You can try talking to that university club or any of the ones they list. Or as I browse I find their list of documents – students.washington.edu/chessuw/documents.html
Sara
There are a few state affiliates that have posted their constitution (BI-laws) online. Think it was Alaska and West Virginia, but it has been some time. Recall looking at the Evansville Chess Clubs, as Terry Winchester did make a number of post with the club link. As I recall he has a online constitution.
If you have a small club, why not start with a simple constitution. There are colleges and universities wanting some type of constitution. Why not borrow some group constitution the college has approved, only change the name and the minor difference between the two groups. When you have a larger group of players, than build a better constitution.
Having a constitutional committee after the temporary constitution is in place, will get more feedback from all the players. It could be a good idea, as you can find the leaders within the group. Not all chess players are ideal leaders.
Thanks Sara and Douglas.
I’ve got a list of 80 people who want to be a part or at least know about the chess club. This means this chess club is going to be successful if done right because the man power is behind it. I haven’t made it known yet and I don’t want to yet. I want to prepare all the documents right the first time around.
I also have opportunities to reach out to the community through a program called HBS(squared) which would allow me to teach high schoolers and elementary school kids. They have a chess club… the university doesn’t. I see this as an issue and possibly a problem… but a problem no more.
A quick question… what’s the various ways to get the vinyl mats and the plastic pieces and the average clocks? I want to order it through a local gaming store run by students even if it might cost a little bit more. Any help?
Thanks Friends.
Well, ordering chess sets for that many people could be a problem for the local store. Most local stores that have chess sets are not standard, as they are two small or they are novelty. Your best bet would be to order from the USCF. If you do have the 80 players, you could in time get it around 100. At the club I run, I get around 1/3 of the total membership that comes to a meeting. If you want to order set, board, clocks: they should be able to last for a few years.
If you do want club equipment, having a set of ten would be a nice start. That would be able to take care of twenty people at one meeting. If you are going to order club equipment, do not get all the equipment all at once. Unless you have the budget from the college to do so. It would not be a wise idea to run off and get so much equipment before the first meeting.
Chess players will bring their own equipment. Not all chess players will have the same equipment. If you do want to get chess equipment, find out what the students have as standard equipment. Check the members with analog clocks and digital clocks. If you are going to order equipment you will be ordering clocks. If the members have more digital clocks than analog: get Digital’s. If the members have more analog clocks than digital: get analogs. The other point with the clocks, if you are going to use the clocks for the tournaments, than get the digital period.
If I get it, you are or have in mind being the club president. The job does have a lot of work, but it is a lot of fun. First off do not force the players into the ideals you want, if they are looking for leadership, than you can mold them but let them breath too.
Before going on much longer, were you want to see this club be in the next two years?
Actually you DON’T need a university chess club in order to be able to teach elementary and HS kids. All you need to do is to reach out to the leaders of the HS and elem. chess groups. They would be happy to have you, particularly if you are volunteering. The main issue with teaching groups of children/youth is that you always want to have at least one other parent or adults leader present.
My favorite places to order bulk equipment are (in order of preference) cajunchess.com and wholesalechess.com. I guess if you want your student store to get a piece of your action, let them order from one of these vendors and mark it up and sell it to you. Or, they might bundle your order with a larger order of their own, take advantage of a quantity discount, and sell the sets to you at the same price you would have paid given your smaller order size.
We don’t bother with ordering the bags; we put our pieces in 1-gallon zip lock bags.
IMHO, DMforsythe is making things a bit complicated. The chess sets are pretty cheap; it’s the clocks that are the killer. I just bought 11 sets for around $65, multiply that by 4 for your group of 80, and you’ve only got $250, which could easily be covered by a $5 dues charge or a $1 a night admission charge. It’s so much nicer to have standardized sets at a club.
But about as cheap as it gets for a clock is $30 a piece. However, the expectation at many tournaments and chess programs around here is that the sets are supplied, but you bring your own clock. Gets a club around the battery issue, too.
Have fun!
Here is a club constitution that we wrote a few years ago: students.washington.edu/chessuw/ … tution.doc
I consulted with several organizational experts to come up with the idea of a Co-President system to help increase organizational leadership in what was previously a fragile club.
Good luck to your club. I might post a few things in the CCL forum at tatiana.net/iccl/ to help different clubs when I get a chance.
Sara, you are amazing…
Gregory Alexander
If anyone is interested in a chess club in Saratoga, CA, please do no hesitate to contact me at SunChessClub@gmail.com