I have tossed around the idea of starting a Scholastic club at my son’s elementary/middle school in Parker, Colorado. I got a call from the Principal today, and the administration seems pretty interested. Yikes!! It’s getting real enough to make me nervous.
Some questions for the masses (I think there are 30 registered users ) It’s a good thing, so I’m sure it will grow.
I am planning to hold the club in the morning 7:00 to 7:50 a.m. Is it common for scholastic groups to meet before school? Is 50 minutes enough? I’d like to do G/30, but I think starting at 6:45 a.m. might be too early. I am also debating whether to meet weekly or every other week. Your thoughts?
My son is in first grade, so I am thinking of opening it up to K-8. I am a little concerned about K-3 though. I hope they are not too young…
Usually, the chess clubs in school are after school but morning clubs are okay and are actually good if there is enough time. Lunch programs are good if there is enough time. It all depends if the kids have enough time on their recess. One school I was in gave the kids a choice to either go out for recess or play chess. Get this, 200 kids chose chess!
Just wanted to tell Maniac thanks for the .pdf link to starting a club, it was really helpful. I work in the public schools and for the past 4 years have created chess teams within the schools and have trained and competed successfully. This weekend begins my fresh start as to running a club on my own and even though i am a member of USCF for almost 10 years now, your link still gave a refreshing look at things.
Hi,
We started a chess club at our school this year. Our meetings are once a week right after school. Each meeting lasts an hour. I think right before or right after school are both good ideas.
Want lots of information and resources about starting a scholastic chess program? Want to see how others have done it? Then check out the following link: geocities.com/thechessmatrix … ogram.html
Thanks so much for the supportive feedback. I started my club, and we have had three very fun meetings so far. I have 18 kids that have joined. They are all enthusiastic and eager to learn. The level of play is not very high, so I have a lot that I can help them with.
If anyone is contemplating starting a club but gets cold feed, I would suggest you dive in! My experience so far has been incredibly rewarding.
I have started a chess club at a charter school that my wife and I run together. It starts at 4pm & ends at 5:30. It just got started and I have been looking for different ways to keep it fun and different ways for the kids to learn. I am looking into purchasing kids videos on chess etc. to help them learn and also see other kids playing. Right now most of the kids are 1 thru 3rd grade and the one thing I do not have to do is motivate them because they are all interested in game. Any ideas that have been working for others please let me know. Sidenote: I am currently renovating a building that will be used for chess only and will be available for teaching kids chess. It will also have an adult night program but , the details are not worked out yet, will keep you posted.
Well, I used to have my students, USCF members or no, get a free online account at uschesslive so we could play our unrated sections over the net (we didn’t have enough tournament sets and clocks starting out 3 years ago). This was convenient as we met in my classroom which is really a computer lab with 25 PCs (I teach computer science at Baldwin High School). We now have enough tournament sets and clocks to run a rated quad or octo. So, as the free accounts have recently been deleted at uschesslive, we’ve been restricted to 2 quads or one octo each week. This works out though, as we have about 20 active members but only 10-12 show up at any given meeting. Of those students, I only have 3-4 USCF members at any given time through out the year. So if 3 of those show up, I’m the 4th in a rated quad.
Even so, I still use my lab to good effect as far as teaching them some new chess concepts. We could not afford a demo board, so what I do is use a chess recording program (in Linux its xboard) to set up a position and analyze it on my projector screen for all to see. We do this before a tournament, after a tournament or between rounds. I just found a book that has a lot of good positions to study for the level of my students. The book is called “How to Beat Your Dad at Chess!” I started with this book, but I find the second book in the series even better suited to their level. I forget the title of the second book but its hard to miss at the book store. Look in the chess section for small hardcovers with colorful covers like a Dr. Seuss book. I think its by GM Maurice Chandler. Very nice!
For US Chess Live, USCF members can still receive some rated games. I believe the number is 20 or so per day. For non-USCF members, they can still be on there, but they can’t play rated games unless he or she is royal.
Really, then why can’t my students use their free accounts on uschesslive anymore? I can use my USCF account (cistheta) I made with my magazine pin some years ago and a free one (bhsmrg) I made some time ago. However, my non-USCF members cannot (ie: callypag).
When i last logged on USCL about 3 days ago, it said that their trial membership is now over and you if your not a USCF member or already purchased a royal or noble membership from USCL you cna no longer play rated games.
You are so lucky to be able to use your computer lab!! Our chess club is run by the PTA and the school will only let us use the cafeteria, so there is no internet connection. We had used mostly cheapie donated sets that mostly have the king’s cross broken off so you confuse it with the queen, but now we are replacing them with “tournamet specials”…
I have 70 kids in grades 1 through 6. I excluded kindergartners, and actually the 1st graders need a much greater ratio of volunteer instructors, at least 1 to 4. I had some very devoted dads working with the beginners.
As far as Chess-live goes, I heard today from USCF that it is no longer a free benefit of USCF. My kids are interested in it, though. I also need to know if that is a good way to get at least some of them rated… unfortunately, not during chess club.
We meet after school from 2:30 to 4:00 once a week. It is a big commitment from parent volunteers who work at jobs some distance from the school. Continuity is a problem – I need more people who can be there all the time rather than once or twice a semester. We have no faculty involvement at all.
Check you’re state association, during the Winter term would be the most active part of scholastic events. Find parents willing to use a car pool or use the school van or bus, would be a way to transport the students to the tournament.
There is a different way, only a few ‘scholastic coaches’ ever use the idea. Having a closed scholastic event, only the team from the school would be in the event. It is not common for the team being paired up against each other in a rated event. Then again, it would still give them some rated games even if the event was only with team members.
For my personal reason why scholastic players leave ‘scholastic events’, as the scholastic season is so short. Not that many parents are willing to send their child to a event without age limit. If you could get around six scholastic events in a year, would have a better chance to keep them around for years to come.
We generally play other schools but they are also not rated. There are about 5 other schools we play. If we could get some “seed” kids and have sections that would get rated, we could do it within our normal schedule rather than driving someplace farther.
I think most scholastic events are closer to Richmond for some reason, which is why we have not joined the state association… probably should, anyway, I guess.
Have you thought of being a certified club tournament director? Since you have 70 students, around half of the population would join the federation after a few events.
When that day happens, will let you use the affiliate of the Greater Grand Rapids Chess Club. It will be my way, of supporting scholastic events in your area.
) It’s a good thing, so I’m sure it will grow.
Hope it helps