The future - 2011 and beyond.

[andrew martin]

Peter Purland has indicated he will not go on as Junior Director past the next AGM. I don't see a queue of people waiting to take up this post as it is virtually a full-time unpaid job where the incumbent has to put up with a lot of demoralizing criticism and flak.

So what are the priorities for junior chess from next year onwards? What needs to change and how do we go about changing it?

I have stated before that I think the next director, whomever that may be, must form a committee and split the job up, say into Home, International, Coaching and Scouting, Education ( a part of the current brief which seems to be completely ignored) and so on. The Directorship itself has to change shape and form. The choice of talented people to fill these roles will insure against mistakes. One person operating alone can always make mistakes.


I think a substantial sum should be released from the John Robinson fund to generate some new projects, such as the formation of regional academies. Just leaving the money sitting gathering interest is far too conservative and only maintains the status quo. We need much more than that to rejuvenate the junior scene.


That's my limited opinion. What do others think?

[Steve Rooney]

Couple of suggestions as you've kicked off the thread.

Should 'coaching' be about more than juniors? I have seen a number of players in our local league join as adult novices in recent years and, if they are motivated and get some support from 'old hands' they can progress remarkably quickly. I'm clearly not talking abut potential internationals, but such players can develop into good club players, which is after all still the bedrock of the game in this, and probably every other country.

On a similar vein with juniors, there could be a better balance between support for the elite and the rest. Clearly a good system of identifying talented youngsters and arranging appropriate support is vital as we all enjoy celebrating their success at international level. But support for those who may 'only' progress to be club/county standard is also important, particularly in the teenage years when they can improve rapidly.

Finally, what about a concerted effort on 'training the trainers'? I am sure there also lots of volunteer coaches like myself who would benefit from a structured approach to coaching. In my opinion this is one area that could benefit from more of a top-down approach. Perhaps giving higher priority to the accredited coaching route and incorporating mandatory attendance at training and some guidance on methodologies to raise the overall quality of coaching. Being properly trained for a role, even as a volunteer, can really increase the 'job satisfaction'.

I think your suggestion of a team approach to the role is a good one, although it still needs a strong, inspiration leader/facilitator.

[Neill Cooper]

I agree with Andrew that the job is too big for one person, and having different responsibilities would therefore be important. Recently the focus has seen to me to be mainly been on international, and I think there should be more concern about home junior chess. As Steve mentions all players need support and encouragement, coaching and opportunities to play, not just the elite.

The present juniors are the adult players of the future, but there are barely a hundred 17 year olds on the published grading list who have experience of playing against adults. Without more encouragement of teenagers of all abilities to play chess, against each other and against adults, the amount of chess played in this country later this century will be greatly diminished.

[andrew martin]

Come on Neill, why make sensible suggestions about the future when you can waffle on about 10 yr old local junior politics on another thread ? Let's get our priorities right....

To be serious, I think the state of home junior chess is a definite issue. Threads like the one described above reveal that the overall morale of the junior scene is also an issue which needs to be tackled.

Thats why I think the formation of regional academies is a good idea. But they need a cash injection to kick-start them; money which would go towards coaching, tournaments, encouraging girls chess and even bursaries for the most talented who cannot afford entry fees/coaching/travel etc. I would start with projects in the NW, NE, Midlands, E Anglia, London, SE ( Kent, Sussex), Wessex, West Country etc. These academies would have to be expertly administered at excellent venues and we definitely have the skilled manpower to do it. Some money needs to be released from the JRT to make this happen and the sooner,the better.

But will the ECF have the vision to see it?

[Sean Hewitt]

I would start with projects in the NW, NE, Midlands, E Anglia, London, SE ( Kent, Sussex), Wessex, West Country etc. These academies would have to be expertly administered at excellent venues and we definitely have the skilled manpower to do it. Some money needs to be released from the JRT to make this happen and the sooner,the better.

Sounds like a good idea in principle. If I was considering such a proposal (which, as I'm not on the board I'm not!) I would want to know

a) How much are you going to need, and over what time scale
b) What other sources of funds (participant fees, sponsorship etc) do you envisage and at what level
c) How long will the project need to become self financing (assuming that you are not expecting the JRT to fund ad infinitum which, by definition, it would be unable to do)
d) How will you measure the success (or otherwise) of this venture

In other words, a costed business plan. I appreciate you've only just floated the idea so this might take some time to put together. But if sensible answers to the above were available I for one would support such a proposal at council with my handful of votes

[LozCooper]

I think that as Peter was only re-elected uncontested seven weeks ago it's too early for people to be declaring an interest to take over from him. I would imagine that in six/seven months time we will have a much better idea of which people will be standing in the 2011 elections.

As Manager of Coaching are you able to put forward clear proposals including costings for regional academies along the lines of Sean's posting? You will obviously have the contacts and I suspect a better idea of costing than most of us. The ECF budget meeting takes place in April so there's plenty of time to draft something before then.

Obviously funding will always be a potential stumbling block but I agree that junior chess is vitally important to the future of chess in England so I would be interested in hearing about anything that can enhance the current set up.

[andrew martin]

I will have to think about it more carefully if people see it as a good idea. My initial feeling is that these academies would have to be self-financing right from the off, but a cash injection of something like £5,000 per location would get them going. Obviously, each academy would have a well-qualified committee who would decide how best to spend this money, which would in effect be a sponsored start.

The priorities would be:

1) To encourage and develop junior chess throughout the region. To give support to schools where necessary.

2) To run regular tournaments and coaching at a central location. Properly done, this should raise a lot of money.

3) To play against each other in a national academy league.

4) To give support to the Junior Director and his or her assistants wherever needed.

5) To actively seek sponsorship within the region concerned.


OK, this is a start off the top of my head.

[David Shepherd]

I think you also need to look at the existing structures in place and work out how they integrate with any new system. Look also at which counties are producing the best/most players and why.

[Steve Rooney]

I will have to think about it more carefully if people see it as a good idea. My initial feeling is that these academies would have to be self-financing right from the off, but a cash injection of something like £5,000 per location would get them going. Obviously, each academy would have a well-qualified committee who would decide how best to spend this money, which would in effect be a sponsored start.

The priorities would be:

1) To encourage and develop junior chess throughout the region. To give support to schools where necessary.

2) To run regular tournaments and coaching at a central location. Properly done, this should raise a lot of money.

3) To play against each other in a national academy league.

4) To give support to the Junior Director and his or her assistants wherever needed.

5) To actively seek sponsorship within the region concerned.


OK, this is a start off the top of my head.

I think point 2 has to take account of geography. In the heavily populated metropolitan regions a central venue might work but in much of the country, distances would be too long to be practical. That's why I suggested including a focus on training the trainers. If you use a regional centre to train say 30 coaches then they can all go out and support many more children in local clubs and schools than would attend a regional academy.

I do appreciate that there may be commercial concerns here amongst those who make some or all of their living from chess coaching, but unless we have more coaching going on all over the country the number of active chess players will fall as Neill said earlier. One of the major problems with the chess sets for schools fiasco was that it addressed the wrong issue; the problem wasn't pieces of plastic, it was having enough people on the ground, hopefully with a modicum of formal training.

[Adam Raoof]

The list of priorities below is already being addressed (if not by the Junior Director and the Manager of Coaching and the Junior 4NCL then by countless other Junior organisers), and the case for spending more money on them has not been made so far. As Sean says, you need more detail.

[andrew martin]

As far as coaching the coaches go, I can set up one weekend per month all over the country, but do you think there will be a real demand ? It will probably need 30 or so students per weekend to make it financially viable.

Please dont forget the Certificate of Merit here. One of the pillars of that scheme was that teachers who knew nothing about chess could learn from scratch using COM, keep several lessons ahead of the class and teach the kids as they went along.

Beyond the basics, I presume we then come to Steve's idea, up to and including high-level coaching.

If anyone is interested in such a weekend, just let me know and I will get on the case immediately. You will have to help to find a decent venue.

[Mick Norris]

Andrew

How do you see see your ideas working with existing Junior chess e.g. CSC, ESPCA, UKCC etc?

You will appreciate for those of us not involved in junior chess, we find it confusing, and there does seem to be chess politics involved (note, I'm not having a go at anyone)

[andrew martin]

I think the biggest job the new Director will have is inspiring everyone to work together and to moveaway from the culture of local rivalry and politics that so cripples progress.

Easy to say, but a very tough ask.

We have enormous talent in this country among organisers,players,coaches ,parents, a lot of which is going untapped.

[Steve Rooney]

Andrew, you're quite right of course, there needs to be sufficient demand for coach training events. I do hope that there will be some responses here, but it could start with just one or two events - say in the spring to allow plenty of publicity - and grow if demand required. I could of course be entirely wrong and no-one is interested!

Longer term, attending training could be linked to the accreditation of coaches, which is certainly something that some other sports and activities would require.

[andrew martin]

Well if you want to give it a try and sort out a venue I can promise you coaches who will help at all levels.

FIDE has produced a syllabus : http://trainers.fide.com/fide-trainers-system.html which can be used.

Whatever you think of FIDE, I believe more of our coaches should be aiming to join this system and obtaining international coaching titles.