16-09-2012, 10:09 PM
Jim Webster Wrote:Just out of interest how much time and effort, as well as money, is put into the "non international" junior contingent? It seems to me that if there was a balance somewhere then clubs across the country would be reaping the benefits as well and yet such evidence is hard to find, if not non existant.
All I seem to see is pleas and seeking funds for internationalist juniors. Its the grass roots that need the development - they are the ones that will expand clubs and the future chess scotland membership. It is great to see our juniors doing so well in representing scotland and your efforts and success deserve to be highly praised. But....... 20 or so juniors arent going to swell the rank and file membership.
Jim, I will update with my knowledge & apologise in advance to anyone or group I miss out & I might be slightly out of date as I am no longer involved in Junior chess other than being a parent.
First of all the IJD remit is solely for Internationals & therefore the IJD budget is purely for them. Home Director Junior & Schools development budgets are the ones involved in the grass roots & home junior championship events. However the majority of the grass roots work to my knowledge over recent years has been by SJC, NEJCA, Lothians & chess in schools work done by Aberdeen Chess Academy (until the funding was pulled by their council), Ayrshire Schools (until the funding was pulled by their council) & Michael Hanley in many Lanarkshire schools. (obviously, there are other individuals acting as coaches in individual schools, trying to promote chess).
I know SJC is self sufficient in what they do & assume NEJCA & Lothians are the same. I personally think grass roots is catered for although not by Chess Scotland.
Chess in schools is the key & many Primary schools have clubs but one thing we have not been able to conquer is the peer pressure the juniors get when they move up to high school & the lack of clubs in Secondary schools. This is the area where more work needs to be done to retain the junior players. I for one don’t have any answers how but chess needs to be seen as cool & not just for geeks as it is currently perceived by many teenagers. With a great team I was able to run a one off Secondary/Student residential chess training & activity weekend to try & push things in the right direction. Apart from the chess & activities it was very much a team building exercise. A lot of players stay in the game because of their ‘chess’ friends. This is the area (secondary) I would like to see money invested as it will benefit the International squads, Clubs & Congresses if the numbers can be retained.
I am aware that Chess Scotland are hoping to get more involved in the International Chess in Schools Project but when that will come to fruition is unknown. In the meantime if club members can not only give support & help to Scotland Junior Internationals to constantly help them achieve their potential to enable them to get the results they deserve when representing their country but also to beginners. Another thing clubs should take note of is, it is not uncommon to get new adult members through the juniors as the parent very often gets involved too. The problem I see with having a junior section at a chess club is that the same people are expected to run it week in & week out & eventually they burn out. What would be ideal is if a number of members could run a rota & maybe only run the junior club in blocks or fortnightly if there isn’t enough volunteers. This is where you will increase the club membership.