Hello,
I am trying to start a chess club up in my area (Scottsboro, Alabama - in case anyone near there is reading this!). The closest club arround is like 40 minutes drive away (where I go now) and I know of a few chess players in Scottsboro other than myself, but none go to the other club, so I thought I would start one up here (I just moved into the area a year ago, and rumor has it that there was a club about 10 years ago). The main problems I face right now are:
A room to meet in (I managed to get one, but it is small, and the room is a mess - broken exercise machines and even switch boxes that are coming out of the walls! - the only alternative is the library where we could only fit like 3 boards)
But, most importantly, money to buy supplies with. I don’t think it is a good idea to invest my own money until I know for sure that there is a bit of interest, and even then, how would I raise the $100-$150 needed to buy 20 sets and a demo board? I could see if a business is willing to pay about $500-600 for 50 sets (with the business logo on the boards) but I’m not too sure how much success I’ll have with that. I could charge a $5-10 fee per year, but I really hate to charge for a chess club (I am now the highest rated highschooler in AL, but I learned my chess at a free club in Mexico - I wouldn’t have even considered going there if they charged)
Anyone have any suggestions/advice?
Thanks,
Nathan Saint
My suggestion is to get a free site somewhere: a library, restaurant, mall, etc. The area should be comforatable for about 10 players to start. If there was a club there before, as you suggest, there should still be interest.
Advertising is another issue. Maybe insert some promo flyers into the chess books at the local library (with their permission). Perhaps the library has a local website database of local clubs. Or maybe they can post ads for you, or maintain paper records of your existence.
It will take some time to get it going. After you have about 10 players who are interested in tournaments, think about running a USCF rated tournament advertised in Chess Life.
As to equipment, I wouldn’t even think about it. Let the players provide their own. At some point, you can charge membership dues to help pay expenses.
This is a rushed reply, so if you have further questions, please post them.
Thanks for the info. The library has a real small space as I said, and they aren’t open late at all (like 5 or 6 PM and that is when most people stop the activities/sports that they participate in already). I asked what other places might have something available and was told to go a couple blocks down the street to the rec center. They wanted to charge rent for each day we wanted a room (imagine that!). I convinced them that other rec centers in other cities loaned the room for free since I wasn’t charging for the service, and they realized I had a point so they found a room (like I said, nothing pretty). Someone aslo mentioned a cafeteria, but they are also real small. What we have now needs a bit of work, but I think could comfortably fit 20 people (it does have a chalk board that we should be able to use!) and has some chairs and half-decent tables we can use too. It is free, near the schools and all. I like the location (and maybe once we get a good bit of people they will give us a better room, lol) enough, but I will probably look for something else if I get the chance. Thanks for the suggestions.
As for advertising, I think we can just put posters all over towns (gas stations, other stores) but I hadn’t thought about putting papers in books, thanks for that idea!
As for a tournament, doesn’t that involve a lot of cost? I could probably arrange a small one for under $200 (considering rating fees, cheap prizes, and probably even paying a TD unless one of the ones I know is kind enough to do it free - plus, isn’t there a $40 yearly fee that USCF requires?) but not one that would attract a whole lot of people. Not to mention that I’ll somehow have to come up with that $200 (or risk my own pocket). Still, I’ll talk it over with the club I go to now, and maybe they could help me host one eventually (they run it, cover the costs, and take half the profits or something).
A good idea for organizing tournaments is to check tournament ads from Chess Life for tournaments in your area in order to get some ideas as to what type of prize fund you want to award. You can also check the rating supplements, which affiliates receive, to see what the turnout was for those events. USCF affiliation dues (which are required for you to host USCF rated tournaments) are $40/year. Membership dues are the way to go about paying for that. My club charges $15/year for adults, $8/year for youth. Of course, with 3 members, you have enough for annual dues. But you want to think about running tournaments only if you have a decent local base, so that you don’t have to run the risk of losing money by depending totally on travelers.
Right now, what you need to do is to just get a place where you can meet for about 3-6 months for free, do some advertising and see what kind of interest you get locally. Our club meets at a church, and we pay $25/month to help them defray utility costs. that may be an option. But you’ve got to first see what type of local interest you have before you start thinking about paying too much, or anything at all, for a site. You shouldn’t have any out of pocket expense. Maybe at first, you could, but as interest builds, and you start building a treasury, then you should pay yourself back. But again, I would say the KEY is FREE when it comes to a site. The other key ingredient is getting your people interested in playing in tournaments. when you decide you want to run tournaments, you will have another source of income to help pay local costs of the club, buy equipment, if you want, intruction materials, etc.
Take it slow, but steady and cheap for the first 3-6 months.
You could also try to meet at a local park. I know that in the summer our local club use to meet at a park. Another club in my city meets in the fellowship hall of a church. So try those possibilities.
I’m not sure what you need a demo board for unless you’re planning on holding relatively large lectures. 10 sets and boards may be more than enough equipment.
As to tournaments, while there don’t appear to be a lot of USCF members in Jackson County, there are around 200 USCF members in the Huntsville/Madison/Owens Crossroads area. You might even be able to draw players from Chattanooga, that’s only about 60 miles away. We get players from Omaha (55 miles from Lincoln) all the time and one organizer has been holding tournaments in Clarks and Central City NE, drawing fairly well from both Lincoln and Omaha, even though it’s a good 90 minute drive from either city.
Tournaments don’t HAVE to be expensive. You don’t need 2 foot tall trophies. Also, check out the ‘plus score’ threads over in the TD forum, it might give you some ideas for cash prize events that don’t have a lot of risk.
thanks everyone! Although chatanooga has a club or two already, and so does huntsville (in fact, I think huntsville claims to be the best in the state), but if I plan my tournaments properly, I should be able to attract players from both of those places for my tournaments!
Hey, I just want to thank everyone for their help! As I said in another thread, finally, after 4 months of nobody coming, I have a group of at least 8 high schoolers, and will be starting another group of about 10 elementary kids (who, at a parent’s suggestion, will pay $10 a month!)! Thanks again for all your kind advice! I think we are allowed to post club web sites, but I’m not sure. Anyway, if it is inappropraite, I guess someone can remove it, so check us out at http://www.geocities.com/scottsborochessclub if you live near Northeast Alabama and are interested in joining a local Chess club!
Thanks again everyone!
Now, if only the ACF (Alabama Chess Federation) can listen to its members so our better players can play in the team championship and the highest rated highschooler can play in the individual championship, but that is another story
Sounds like you’re getting some success in scholastic chess! Good, we need more people like you willing to help out.
I might add you should look to your local school district or community college and see if they offer adult education or summer school classes for the community. I’ve conducted several chess classes for beginners for these schools and gotten paid for it. All I needed was a demo board, which I think you said you were getting. Anyway, they let me set the hours and course description and I was free to shape it any way I wanted to.
Just contact the schools, or look for flyers or course booklets they may put out, and contact them. They are always looking for people to teach new courses.
And of course the money I was paid went to buying supplies for my scholastic chess clubs!
