British Championships Chess Coaching

[Matthew Turner]

Adam,
According to the thread she cleared it with David Welch. You have left David to make major decisions about the British, like who can play in the Championships, so I'm not clear how Sabrina was supposed to know she needed to clear it with you. Perhaps she naively thought you would support two other ECF managers?

If you read what I said, I didn't ask anyone to clear it with me. I knew that Sabrina was planning to do private coaching, but nothing about this organised coaching until Saturday - and asked her to clear it with David Welch, which seemed appropriate.

Haven't you overruled David's decision by saying that Sabrina (or anybody else) cannot use the Congress' facilities (eg. the analysis room) for private coaching?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

For goodness sake. Can't everyone in an official position posting to this thread (and some of those in unofficial positions as well) take Mike Truran's excellent advice?

"I don't quite understand why we have these extraordinary punch-ups in public which just make everyone look bad. Surely it would be better for [insert names here] to agree their position in private and then issue something jointly? All this sort of thing does is inflame the situation."

Sorting out problems like this is really not what this forum is for. Especially when you get parents weighing in trying to influence things. Let those responsible for this sort things out, and keep it professional.

[Carl Hibbard]

Since the "official" coaching has quite a considerable charge attached to it I really don't see a problem with Sabrina doing her own thing?

Good luck to her...

[Krishna Shiatis]

For goodness sake. Can't everyone in an official position posting to this thread (and some of those in unofficial positions as well) take Mike Truran's excellent advice?

...... Especially when you get parents weighing in trying to influence things. Let those responsible for this sort things out, and keep it professional.

Those pesky parents again. They really should just keep quiet and sit in a corner, what has it all got to do with them anyway? Just send them a survey to fill out every now and then and then ignore what they have to say. Sorted!

[Paul Dargan]

OK as someone with no official position whatsoever I think several people are missing or choosing to miss the point here...

- No-one has said anything to suggests that they doubt that Sabrina is trying to do something good, which will benefit many people.
- She and her team may also make (a modest amount of) money through the venture.
- It was unclear whether and to what extent the initiative was sanctioned/endorsed by the ECF.

The only issue seems to be within the third point - and I can understand why some officials could have concerns.

e.g.
if this is ECF sanctioned training, why has the ECF chosen to support this group of private coaches over others who may be working at Sheffield? Can they justify this decision if challenged?
Are these coaches CRB cleared? If not, what happens if there is any kind of incident and do the ECF have a potential liability?
If the group are not ECF accredited coaches - then what is the point of becoming accredited, if you can effectively bypass the system like this? (a quick check of the ECF website shows that none of the names appear on the accredited list - it may not be up-to-date, but...)
Allowing exceptions to established rules causes all sorts of nasty precedents, which those in charge are meant to worry about on our behalf.


As others have said the initiative should be applauded - but let's not get on the case of those tasked with setting standards and protecting the ECF - should, heaven forbid, anything go wrong, I'm sure the same commentators here would be only too happy to blame officers for allowing it to go ahead.

So a little understanding of each others' positions, the clarity which Adam has already asked for that this isn't officially ECF coaching and better co-ordination next time

Paul

[andrew martin]

Actually, talking to ALL the parents and not just the ones who post on here might well reveal what the real position is.

[Adam Raoof]

Adam,
According to the thread she cleared it with David Welch. You have left David to make major decisions about the British, like who can play in the Championships, so I'm not clear how Sabrina was supposed to know she needed to clear it with you. Perhaps she naively thought you would support two other ECF managers?

If you read what I said, I didn't ask anyone to clear it with me. I knew that Sabrina was planning to do private coaching, but nothing about this organised coaching until Saturday - and asked her to clear it with David Welch, which seemed appropriate.

Haven't you overruled David's decision by saying that Sabrina (or anybody else) cannot use the Congress' facilities (eg. the analysis room) for private coaching?

Not at all - the official answer will always be no.

[Mike Truran]

Those pesky parents again. They really should just keep quiet and sit in a corner, what has it all got to do with them anyway? Just send them a survey to fill out every now and then and then ignore what they have to say. Sorted!

My wife would have been delighted to sit in a corner at the Southern Gigafinal, but all the chairs had been taken.

[LozCooper]

For goodness sake. Can't everyone in an official position posting to this thread (and some of those in unofficial positions as well) take Mike Truran's excellent advice?

...... Especially when you get parents weighing in trying to influence things. Let those responsible for this sort things out, and keep it professional.

Those pesky parents again. They really should just keep quiet and sit in a corner, what has it all got to do with them anyway? Just send them a survey to fill out every now and then and then ignore what they have to say. Sorted!

Personally I've always found parents to be very helpful, especially on trips abroad when I've been trying to juggle coaching and being Head of Delegation.

[andrew martin]

I have always found most parents to be extremely helpful and competant; especially on long trips abroad. They know the ropes because their kids have been involved in chess for a long time and do their utmost to help.

[Sabrina Chevannes]

I think I may go mad. Seriously.

I will not repeat the fact that nowhere does this state that it is an ECF project - I don't ever use those three letters in a row (although the word police might go through the doc to find a word which rejects this comment) and I AM AN ECF ACCREDITED COACH AND HAVE BEEN FOR OVER 6 YEARS.

Anyway, is every coach that coaches ECF accredited? I think not.

I know for a fact that coaches they send to world and euro youth are not accredited - why are people not chasing this up if they are so annoyed at us? We are just there to support the children. Those are official ECF trips - surely they need to take ECF accredited coaches then - as you said: "what's the point in being accredited then?!".

I was asked by various parents and players (as I said, they are the important ones) to be there, so we are going to be there. The doc was on CCA letter headed paper and on the CCA site - not the ECF and didn't mention anything to do with them.


And Adam, cannot believe you are banning people from being in the analysis room. So you are banning our junior from receiving professional coaching and people who want the best for them. Really? Clearly that's exactly the aim of an ECF director. It's just amazing.

And again... I never stated I was to use any facilities. It would all have been done privately.

Next thing I know, I will be banned from watching the games.

I'm tired of all this nonsense... really is demoralising

[Matthew Turner]

David has asked me to clarify that although he gave permission for Sabrina to arrange coaching at the British Championships this should not be viewed as him endorsing the coaching.

Haven't you overruled David's decision by saying that Sabrina (or anybody else) cannot use the Congress' facilities (eg. the analysis room) for private coaching?

Not at all - the official answer will always be no.[/quote]

There seems to be some disagreement there

[LozCooper]

I think I may go mad. Seriously.

I will not repeat the fact that nowhere does this state that it is an ECF project - I don't ever use those three letters in a row (although the word police might go through the doc to find a word which rejects this comment) and I AM AN ECF ACCREDITED COACH AND HAVE BEEN FOR OVER 6 YEARS.

Anyway, is every coach that coaches ECF accredited? I think not.

I know for a fact that coaches they send to world and euro youth are not accredited - why are people not chasing this up if they are so annoyed at us? We are just there to support the children. Those are official ECF trips - surely they need to take ECF accredited coaches then - as you said: "what's the point in being accredited then?!".

I was asked by various parents and players (as I said, they are the important ones) to be there, so we are going to be there. The doc was on CCA letter headed paper and on the CCA site - not the ECF and didn't mention anything to do with them.


And Adam, cannot believe you are banning people from being in the analysis room. So you are banning our junior from receiving professional coaching and people who want the best for them. Really? Clearly that's exactly the aim of an ECF director. It's just amazing.

And again... I never stated I was to use any facilities. It would all have been done privately.

Next thing I know, I will be banned from watching the games.

I'm tired of all this nonsense... really is demoralising

The people that matter, the kids and the parents and your fellow coaches and players value what you are doing so keep doing it.

[Paul Bielby]

From the Sheffield Congress brochure "Coaching will be available free to juniors. Further details will be given in the programme. We are grateful to the John Robinson Trust for allowing us to provide this service."

This is presumably the coaching from Nick Nixon which was so much enjoyed last year. Can somebody in the know please confirm that he will be doing it again this year? Sabrina obviously has an enthusiastic following in some areas, but she is an unknown quantity to many of us. Nick Nixon we know to be an outstanding teacher and coach, capable of sharing his own joie de vivre and enthusiasm for the game with children of all ages.

Why can't they work together? As an old friend and former climbing companion of John Robinson, I'm sure he would have been delighted to have his fund support chess for young people in general and without the divisions that seem to implied in some of the contributions to this forum.

[andrew martin]

Well, it's totally clear :

All those with complaints and all those who stir up aggro unnecessarily for whatever reason will have the chance in October to make a real change when a new JD and team will drive English junior chess forward.

That is the prospect we face.