PROGRESS REPORTS 2001

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We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the victims and families affected by the terrorist attacks.

Since the Scholastic Council met in MA in August during the US Open, I contacted several staff people in New Windsor to tell them that the Scholastic Council was more than ready to work closely with them to improve communications among scholastic chess leaders around the country.

l. Peter Kurzdorfer, editor of School Mates and Chess Life, indicated that he was more than willing to include a column from the Scholastic Council and/or scholastic coaches. He also indicated that he receives very little feedback from anyone on the content of School Mates. The deadline for articles for the next issue is September 10. I also asked Peter if the names and addresses of the Scholastic Council members could be listed in School Mates. At this time, I am not certain what the decision is on including that information at the beginning of the magazine.

2. I contacted the new marketing person at USCF, Anne Ashton, and indicated that the Scholastic Council was interested in finding sponsors for national scholastic events and told her that the Scholastic Council would like to work closely with her on marketing ideas to enhance scholastic chess in the US.

3. I also thanked Ralph Bowman for his master tournament checklist and asked him to email it to the office in New Windsor for wider distribution.

4. Finally, re: national scholastic networking, I emailed the other members of the Scholastic Council and Tom Brownscombe the names and email addresses of 13 more scholastic leaders in the Midwest. After Beatriz and Tom Brownscombe meet after his three-week vacation, I will be willing to do everything I can to broaden this list.

After arriving home from Framingham, I decided the Council needed a place to archive information and to communicate who we are and what we are trying to do. In an attempt to start the process, I developed a website currently hosted at www.chess.isgenius.com. On this site, you will find not only information about the projects that I am currently working on but also any project information forwarded to me by the other council members. The following is a partial list of information available on our site.

§ How do all of the above individuals work together to improve scholastic chess?

There are many additional links within the above pages that provide more information about current projects (e.g. Ralph Bowman's tournament checklist, chess books, scholar - chessplayer awards, etc.) and backgrround information (e.g. bios, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.) about committee members. Partly because of my lack of expertise in Web design, I have spent over 100 hours developing the site so far. Please visit these pages and communicate how we can better use this resource for the scholastic community.

P.S. Please go to projects to see what assignments were given to each council member. My focus was on coach certification and updating the scholar-chessplayer awards; however, I spent most of my time developing the preliminary website and contacting scholastic folks.

First let me say that I am honored to be a Scholastic Council member. To work with a wonderful group of people on the Scholastic Committee for a good cause - children -brings me great satisfaction. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

(2) Keeping abreast of upcoming scholastic national tournaments and communicating concerns to the office. I would like to compliment Beatriz Marinello and Sunil Weeramantry for the valuable attention and input they gave to this project.

(3) Contacting by phone or email several tournament organizers asking them for permission to include their personal information on our data base.

(4) Informing many people about our new website. I would like to thank Bob Ferguson for the outstanding job he has done in creating this website. Thank you, Bob, for donating space for this information.

(5) Composing and mailing letters inviting several people to become a Scholastic Committee member this year. Provided feedback to all. Welcome to our new members. Thank you for joining us!

(6) Composed and mailed letter asking for interest within the Scholastic Committee for someone to become the fifth Scholastic Council member. Joe Ippolito stepped forward to volunteer for that position. Welcome, Joe!

(7) Asking chess coaches to recommend chess books for the scholastic community. This information will be given to the office.

(8) Meeting with individuals who have experience in major fundraising to gain knowledge for use in future meetings with businesses. The goal is to have businesses commit to substantial donations to use for designated scholastic projects.

Dear Scholastic Committee Members:

First of all, I would like to express my sincere condolences to any of you, who may have lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks in the US.
The news that broke Tuesday morning has rocked all. So far, two of my students has been affected by this terrible situation.

In a positive note, I would like to submit a process report to all of you
concerning my role as a member of the Scholastic Council:

Since the Scholastic Council meeting in MA, the communication amount our self has been improving enormously. At the annual meeting, I expressed to our Scholastic Director, Tom Brownscombe and the Executive Director, George De Feis my concern and discomfort with the decision making process in relation to scholastic and youth issues. We, the Scholastic Council and the Scholastic Committee represent the voices of the scholastic community.
Therefore, our advise has to be taking into account before the USCF office make any decision about any scholastic issue. The Fact that Stephen Shutt is now representing us in the Executive Board, in my view, will facilitate this process.

My specific role within the Scholastic Council are as follows:

1. Being a member of the subcommittee that will work with the office in selecting future sites of the National Scholastic Championships. We will also work with the office in offering input in some of the logistical aspects relate to the organization of this events. This subcommittee is composed by the members: Sunil Weeramantry, Robert Tanner and Beatriz Marinello.

Our first task was to assist in the selection of the 2002 National K-12 Grade Championships. As you were all informed, the Scholastic Council endorsed the Atlanta site for this particular event.

We are currently, working on tuning the process of communication with the USCF office. We would like to support the efforts of the office in making the National Scholastic Championships a great experience for our children and their families. However, it's important to make clear the ultimately, we have very little control on the success of these events. Therefore, being able to work closely with the office is key to make our voices heard.

2. USCF Scholastic Network: De Knudson and I are committed to create and assist in the development of the National Scholastic Network. This is a task that requires your help, as well as the contribution of all scholastic organizers, teachers, coaches and families. I will be meeting with Tom Brownscombe on September 26 at the USCF office. The main purpose of the meeting is to find out the sources available to begin working on this task.

Please feel free to contribute with your input and time to develop the
National Scholastic Network. Once, we have a better understanding of the kind of support that we will receiving from the USCF office and what is our plan of action, I will write an e-mail to all of you, for further input and seeking for your expertise and connections.

Today, It's a very sad day for us in NY, but it's time to move on.

All the best,

Beatriz Marinello

WEBSITE: Throughout the past month, I have continued to update the website. I do not have the expertise required to automate online registrations. I need help from George John or someone who has more experience than I. My goal is to make the following registration pages:

As automated as possible. I would like the data entered online to be sent directly to a database or spreadsheet. We should also include an autoresponder, so they know that they have been included in our database. I believe this is a very important step to improve communications with scholastic folks. Please make suggestions as to the fields posted at the above links and wording. Thanks.

CERTIFICATION: No response or input received. I am disappointed with the apparent lack of interest in this project.

SCHOLAR-CHESSPLAYER AWARDS: We have tentatively agreed on how we will evaluate applicants, and I wrote and submitted an article for inclusion in Chess Life and School Mates.

Columns for coaches’ corner: I am working on a few columns. The first one deals with the use of skills’ checklists, which I have been using since the 1970s. I hope someone else is working on some articles for this worthwhile cause. Please note that I have posted a form online (COACHES CORNER FORM ) that you can use as an outline to get you started.

Contact coaches for suggestions of good chess books for different levels: I have contacted nearly 300 individuals through email and posted the response on our website.

Because of the terrorist attacks, I posted several items on our website, including a slide show.

I apologize for the tardy report--am hosting a huge city-wide open house for our new symphony conductor tomorrow afternoon and missed our deadline!

I am still spending many hours each week promoting scholastic chess. Ninety seven students from SD and surrounding states played in the Governor's Cup Scholastic Tournament in late September, and quite a few more played in the three-day event. Many new players became USCF members as a result of this tourney. At the same time I distributed lots of information about the national scholastic tournaments coming up in December and 2002. One of my many goals is to strengthen scholastic chess in ND and NE. We see almost no players from those states at our tournaments these days!

Also, I have helped start six new chess clubs in small towns in SD in conjunction with their after school programs. Our foundation provided those communities with boards, sets, scoresheets, chess books, and extra magazines.

Here in Sioux Falls we are strengthening our school programs when we can find enough volunteers to help us. Just yesterday the alternative high school contacted me and asked me to find a person to help them on a weekly basis. I started recruiting last night at a Community Concert.

Also, I have been updating the database of scholastic chess players in SD and neighboring states after the successful completion of the Sixth Annual Governor's Cup Chess Tournament.

Grandmasters visited about a dozen schools during that time to play simuls, etc.

Our city scholastic tourney is scheduled for October 27 so I will be busy marketing that event, and we have a scholastic tourney at the University of South Dakota today.

Finally, our league begins on October 18, and I am "firming up" teams for that, including a new Native American team.

November 2001

In accordance with the policy established in Framingham by the Scholastic Council, progress reports are to be submitted by each member of the Council on or before the 12th day of each month.

WEBSITE: Throughout the past month, I have continued to update the website. One of my pet projects, Coaches’ Corner, was the main thrust for this month. The URL for the Coach Page is http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/coaches_corner_home.html. I have tried to simplify the submission form. Please check out this page and send your ideas.

CERTIFICATION: No response or input received. I continue to be disappointed with the apparent lack of interest in this project.

SCHOLAR-CHESSPLAYER AWARDS: The article I wrote was published in the December Chess Life.

Contact coaches for suggestions of good chess books for different levels: I have contacted 355 individuals through email and posted the responses on our website.

December 2001

In accordance with the policy established in Framingham by the Scholastic Council, progress reports are to be submitted by each member of the Council on or before the 12th day of each month.

WEBSITE: Throughout the past month, I have continued to update the website. One of my pet projects, Coaches’ Corner, received a few more submissions to post and I have included them at our scholastic website, www.chess.isgenius.com. The URL for the Coach Page is http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/coaches_corner_home.html. Please check out this page and send your ideas for inclusion.

CERTIFICATION: Because of the lack of response, I decided to make this my main project for the month. I created a beta test for an “unapproved” level of the Coach Certification program. The subcommittee decided not to offer an official certification at this level; therefore, I decided we could do some online beta testing to work out some of the bugs dealing with online testing. Please visit http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/coach_login.html and test the tests. They are quite simple, but remember they are designed for an inexperienced entry level coach. Please give suggestions for improving these tests and ideas for higher levels.

SCHOLAR-CHESSPLAYER AWARDS: I updated the form and explanation and posted it on the website.

*URLs for proposed 2002 form and explanation for scholar-chessplayer awards are as follows:

Contact coaches: I contacted 430+ individuals through email this month. Several folks responded and forwarded the URL for www.chess.isgenius.com to their colleagues. In turn, I am now receiving requests from folks who want to be added to the monthly Scholastic Update email. I was disappointed to note that some politicos asked to be removed from our mailing. They apparently prefer to remain ignorant of what is happening in scholastics. How sad.

PROGRESS REPORTS 2001-2002

By Bob Ferguson & Ralph Bowman

January 2002

In accordance with the policy established in Framingham by the Scholastic Council, progress reports are to be submitted by each member of the Council on or before the 12th day of each month.

§ Request ideas for questions for Coach Certification Tests and assist in sorting and selection of questions. Post information about proposal and comments on website.

§ Review scholastic-chessplayer awards criteria and process. Update and publicize increase in scholarships. COMPLETED

WEBSITE: Throughout the past month, I have continued to update the website. One of my pet projects, Coaches’ Certification, had nearly 20 different folks taking more than 30 tests online. Thanks to everyone who is helping in this project. Please visit Become a certified club level chess coach! at www.chess.isgenius.com to assist with this project. Please send your ideas for inclusion. I have also decided to post the monthly Scholastic Chess Update e-Newsletter online. You can go to http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/update.html to read the current issue.

CERTIFICATION: Ralph Bowman and I are working on a manual for coaches, and we NEED your help.

A manual designed for the entry-level coach. At Dallas we discussed having one person write one chapter. The Chess Trust is now examining the possibility of paying each person for writing a chapter. Probably the Chess Trust will not make their decision until August. I think it would be a good idea that if the Chess Trust pays the authors and the book is sold, that all profits should go to the Chess Trust. I suggest that we do not wait, but start on this manual immediately!

The following is the outline for this book as previously proposed:
Part I: Developing a Coaching Philosophy
     Chapter 1: Your Coaching Objectives
     Chapter 2: Your Coaching Style
Part II: Chess Psychology
     Chapter 3: Evaluating Your Communication Skills
     Chapter 4: Developing Your Communication Skills
     Chapter 5: Principles of Reinforcement
     Chapter 6: Understanding Motivation
Part III: Chess Pedagogy
     Chapter 7: Planning for Teaching
     Chapter 8: How Chess Players Learn
     Chapter 9: Teaching Skills
Part IV: Chess Physiology
     Chapter 10: Principles of Training
     Chapter 11: Fitness
     Chapter 12: Developing Your Training Program
     Chapter 13: Nutrition
Part V: Chess Management
     Chapter 14: Team Management
     Chapter 15: Risk Management
     Chapter 16: Self-Management

The above outline is a great starting point. I believe the procedure we need to follow from here is as a council we do the following in this order: 1) decide what, if any, additional chapters and or sections are needed, 2) provide a little more definition for each of the chapters as a guide to potential authors, and 3) contact Scholastic Committee members to see who desires to volunteer to write which chapter. I suggest as a timetable that we try to get through the three areas above before April, so we can ask at the Scholastic Meetings at the Spring Nationals if any of the coaches there would like to write any chapters not assigned by that time. If there is more than one coach who desires to write the same chapter, then I suggest that Robert Ferguson be the person who breaks that tie. I would also suggest that Robert Ferguson be the “Editor” of this book and be the final authority about what goes into the book; this is not something that is best handled as a group, but by one knowledgeable individual.

I suggest that the following sections be added:
Part V: Tournament Life
     Chapter 17: Tournament Organization
(This chapter would be about how tournaments are run, ratings, how to enter tournaments, how the Swiss system works, how pairings works, scorekeeping, etc.)
     Chapter 18: National Tournaments
(This chapter would be about the divisions, entries, which ratings are used, rating supplements, the need to bring clocks, etc.)
Part VI: Auxiliary Information
     Chapter 19: Recommended Chess Books
(I would suggest that the books be divided into the following three sections: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced and then each of those sections be sub-divided for Elementary, Junior High/Middle School, and High School.)
     Chapter 20: The Rules of Chess
(This should be written by a TD. It should explain in detail those rules with which most non-tournament players are not familiar. While many beginning coaches get a rule book, that does not mean they comprehend the wording therein, this needs to be worded in such a manner that a non-chess person can easily understand.)

If approved I would be especially interested in writing Chapter 17 and even Chapter 18.

September 2001	January 2002	May 2002
October 2001	February 2002	June 2002
November 2001	March 2002	July 2002
December 2001	April 2002	August 2002

SCHOLAR-CHESSPLAYER EXPLANATION 2002	http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/explanation_for_evaluation.pdf
SCHOLAR-CHESSPLAYER 2002	http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/scholar_chessplayer_02.pdf
SCHOLAR CHESSPLAYER AWARD DOUBLED!	http://www.geocities.com/chess_camp/scholar_chess.html