News

[Ian Thompson]

The EJCOA will of course control a lot of Direct Member Reps votes.

That will depend on the quality, and integrity, of the representatives. Will the representatives vote for the EJCOA proposals/candidates because they are members of the EJCOA, or will they consult the Direct Members they represent and vote as the direct members wish, even if that is to oppose the EJCOA proposals/candidates.

[Roger de Coverly]

The EJCOA will of course control a lot of Direct Member Reps votes.

At least in theory, those members supposedly represented could insist on their own views being expressed, even if these are sceptical of those of the EJCOA.

The same would apply to counties and leagues. although where the local representative isn't involved in junior training or gossip, the question as to why the EJCOA wants to overthrow the existing director remains on the table waiting for public disclosure.

Veterans have seen this before, there was the attempt by Martyn Regan and company to ditch Gerry Walsh and friends and the later attempts to get the representative to FIDE changed. The challengers usually gave their reasons for standing.

[Stephen Westmoreland]

Hello,
I have attended EJCOA team meetings, of which there have been two.
As with any new group with multiple people involved, various opinions have been aired and open discussions held. View points have made, with both agreement and disagreement. There is nothing wrong with this and it is to be expected (especially with chess players!).
Grievances have also been aired and also shut down (I shut down one myself).
I have not seen the cloak and dagger stuff alluded to in preceding comments. Meeting usually have problem statements in and solutions.
The main thrust of the meetings to date have been in regards to:
• A unified model for coaching
• Common courses and resource material for coaches (ECU 101)
• Training events
• Taking examples other sports to promote team spirit and funding (rugby union in particular)
• Sponsorship and community engagement
• The development of new clubs in the digital pandemic age
• Bringing in new adults
• Lots of admin related consideration
I have found the group friendly and useful, taking away learnings for developing junior and adult chess to apply in my clubs. If the Group was about power struggles within the ECF, I would personally not be attending.

[Roger de Coverly]

If the Group was about power struggles within the ECF, I would personally not be attending.

Which comes back to the as yet unanswered question as to why one of the publicly stated objectives of the new group is the replacement of the current Director of Junior Chess by its own nominee.

[Stephen Westmoreland]

If the Group was about power struggles within the ECF, I would personally not be attending.

Which comes back to the as yet unanswered question as to why one of the publicly stated objectives of the new group is the replacement of the current Director of Junior Chess by its own nominee.

I cannot recall anything personal in the statement. Just they are standing a candidate to implement a vision, which creates good debate and options come voting time. Especially as Alex is highly rated.

[Roger de Coverly]

I cannot recall anything personal in the statement. Just they are standing a candidate to implement a vision, which creates good debate and options come voting time.

A vision can be posted without needing a designated candidate to implement it. Just mandate the ECF Board to follow the given policy regardless of the job holder.

The way it comes across is that the current job holder is opposed to some or all of the proposals and thus needs to be replaced.

[Stephen Westmoreland]

I cannot recall anything personal in the statement. Just they are standing a candidate to implement a vision, which creates good debate and options come voting time.

A vision can be posted without needing a designated candidate to implement it. Just mandate the ECF Board to follow the given policy regardless of the job holder.

The way it comes across is that the current job holder is opposed to some or all of the proposals and thus needs to be replaced.

Thank you for pointing out and I will raise at the next meeting.

[Mick Norris]

• Taking examples other sports to promote team spirit and funding (rugby union in particular)

That's interesting, I was reading Matthew Syed the other day and wondering if there were lessons for chess

Gareth Southgate, the England head coach, has followed a different approach, opening himself up to new ideas from the outset.

One source of these ideas is the FA Technical Advisory Board, an eclectic group that has been advising on performance in regular meetings since 2016.

Members (all unpaid volunteers) include Sir Dave Brailsford, a cycling coach, Colonel Lucy Giles, a college commander at the Sandhurst Military Academy, the Olympic rower Kath Grainger, Manoj Badale, a tech entrepreneur, the rugby coach Stuart Lancaster and David Sheepshanks, mastermind behind the St George's Park national football centre.

At first, football insiders were horrified by this group, with negative articles appearing in the British press. We are not "footballing men". But this is why the group is capable of offering fresh insights on preparation, diet, data, mental fortitude and more. This is sometimes called "divergent" thinking to contrast it with the "convergence" of echo chambers.

"I like listening to people who know things that I don't," Southgate told me. "That's how you learn."

[Stephen Westmoreland]

Hi Mick,
I really do think so and spoke at length (probably slightly incoherently after my COVID jab) on this.
My youngest plays Rugby Union and my wife is the U10s manager. Each year they do a tour, which involves an over night stay, watching a game, training and a match. Funds are raised throughout the year from raffles, making breakfasts and chasing sponsorship. The money from the Sponsors goes into the Tour and provided a match shirt that the kids wear. There are spots to advertise on the back, front and arms.
The kids wear the shirts at training the next year and socially; supporting the sponsors. I have a shirt myself (which I modelled during the meeting).
Replace this idea with a tour into a rapidplay for example, a stop over at some tree top nets (we did a Spy Centre one year) and we have a great way of raising funds and fostering team spirit. There is potential for bigger sponsorship depending on the event or the team (perhaps supporting play internationally).
It is also a great way to get parents involved in organising and fundraising, freeing time for the coaches to coach. Each week my wife sends out Teamers and Whatapps to the parent to see what children are coming and who is available for matches. It helps develop a community spirit around the team and parents (particularly the mums, who are fantastic for the u10s). The tours really bind the team together.

[Matthew Turner]

I think there are some great ideas here and I've had similar discussions myself (though not recently), but what I am not clear on is what the RFU does to facilitate teams going on these tours, or what the ECF could do to help clubs/schools/counties organise something similar.

[J T Melsom]

Its probably a discussion in itself, but I have wondered whether we have too many clubs acting independently, and with few exceptions lacking critical mass to adopt many worthy initiatives. Doesn't the RFU for instance require the Premier clubs to have local development plans for engagement with local rugby. if I wanted to be visionary about chess I would recognise the limitations of the current club system, and consider how one might build a structure over the top, both for competition and especially for development in the broadest sense. Or if that is too big , how about club planting, in similar manner to church planting? I realise that going big and going small may appear contradictory at first glance, but I'm really thinking about how best to utilise existing enthusiasm and bring others alongside through guidance and exhortation. I'm not looking at local organisers and seeing too many that would adapt to the Whats App mode of operation at present.

[Joseph Conlon]

On the subject of areas where (junior) chess can learn from other activities (in this case I am thinking specifically of the world of competitive dance)

There should be more trophies, and more opportunities for all children to get trophies, than there are at present. Children like bling and cheap plastic trophies and have no sense of shame in terms of how much they did to get it. A child who comes first in a competition of one is almost as happy with the trophy as one who came first in a competition of 15. Trophies are cheap and the model where a section of 30 (or 64 at a gigafinal....) has only one or two trophies which only a small number of kids are in realistic competition for should be binned. If you charge £20 a child to enter you can afford plenty of £7 trophies.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"There should be more trophies, and more opportunities for all children to get trophies, than there are at present. Children like bling and cheap plastic trophies and have no sense of shame in terms of how much they did to get it. A child who comes first in a competition of one is almost as happy with the trophy as one who came first in a competition of 15. Trophies are cheap and the model where a section of 30 (or 64 at a gigafinal....) has only one or two trophies which only a small number of kids are in realistic competition for should be binned. If you charge £20 a child to enter you can afford plenty of £7 trophies."

Not only juniors actually, at the "CS" (later "Westminster") rapidplays, one IM got a trophy and expressed his delight as he had never won one before!

[Mick Norris]

Hi Mick,
I really do think so and spoke at length (probably slightly incoherently after my COVID jab) on this.
My youngest plays Rugby Union and my wife is the U10s manager. Each year they do a tour, which involves an over night stay, watching a game, training and a match. Funds are raised throughout the year from raffles, making breakfasts and chasing sponsorship. The money from the Sponsors goes into the Tour and provided a match shirt that the kids wear. There are spots to advertise on the back, front and arms.
The kids wear the shirts at training the next year and socially; supporting the sponsors. I have a shirt myself (which I modelled during the meeting).
Replace this idea with a tour into a rapidplay for example, a stop over at some tree top nets (we did a Spy Centre one year) and we have a great way of raising funds and fostering team spirit. There is potential for bigger sponsorship depending on the event or the team (perhaps supporting play internationally).
It is also a great way to get parents involved in organising and fundraising, freeing time for the coaches to coach. Each week my wife sends out Teamers and Whatapps to the parent to see what children are coming and who is available for matches. It helps develop a community spirit around the team and parents (particularly the mums, who are fantastic for the u10s). The tours really bind the team together.

Thanks for the response Stephen, and interesting to hear about this

My own chess club meets in a Sports Club which also hosts rugby, cricket and squash, so there is a chance tangentially to learn from them (although I say meets, I should say met, as the venue hasn't been available to us for over a year now, but hopefully will be open again during the week soon)

There's definitely a case for packaging up chess, either nationally or locally, to get sponsorship, but it isn't easy to get agreement from the various stakeholders

[Wadih Khoury]

In my limited experience, the biggest hurdle in balancing the books of an event are the venue costs.
In some countries local councils, businesses, schools, etc... offer free venues, sometimes in prestigious locations.

Without venue costs, it would be very easy to organise events and have attractive prizes and trophies.

Cash sponsorship is only really needed at the top end to convince strong players to gamble their ratings and for titled players to earn something.