24-04-2016, 09:59 PM
As a team captain for a Richardson team, the greatest admin burden is trying to get 8 players tied down in time to commit to a weekend. If I have 2 or 3 out of our squad away on weekend tournaments, then the this task is a little harder to manage. I did have a little difficultly last year in arranging a match which coincided with my house move, but the opposition captain was first class in agreeing to move the match to the next weekend. You know who you are and thanks again for that.
I cannot understand the issue with weekends, since a lot of the players and potential players play in weekend tournaments which span Friday nights, most of Saturday and most of Sunday with the odd bye thrown in. The issue is more likely to be the sourcing of enough like minded individuals in the club to make this commitment on a given weekend/weekends. As for dates, they are published months in advance on the Chess Scotland website and I advise my pool of players up front of the various dates to keep free in their diary. This should rule out any "last minute" clashes, especially of a chess nature. Of the missing higher graded players, how can you find ways of encouraging them to play in this tournament?
As for venues, we played both matches this season in Dundee at Alison's Bar - easy to drive to, easy to park at, free hall hire, free food and free coffee. All they asked for is if you could buy the odd drink at the bar in return. Their hall could easily accommodate 2 matches and even the finals themselves. Perhaps more of these locations should be sourced in the central belt to ease the burden of finding a match venue.
As someone who drives 1 hour plus each way to play matches in the Edinburgh Premier League at night after a full days work, I fully appreciate Bon Accord's travel issue.
I cannot understand the issue with weekends, since a lot of the players and potential players play in weekend tournaments which span Friday nights, most of Saturday and most of Sunday with the odd bye thrown in. The issue is more likely to be the sourcing of enough like minded individuals in the club to make this commitment on a given weekend/weekends. As for dates, they are published months in advance on the Chess Scotland website and I advise my pool of players up front of the various dates to keep free in their diary. This should rule out any "last minute" clashes, especially of a chess nature. Of the missing higher graded players, how can you find ways of encouraging them to play in this tournament?
As for venues, we played both matches this season in Dundee at Alison's Bar - easy to drive to, easy to park at, free hall hire, free food and free coffee. All they asked for is if you could buy the odd drink at the bar in return. Their hall could easily accommodate 2 matches and even the finals themselves. Perhaps more of these locations should be sourced in the central belt to ease the burden of finding a match venue.
As someone who drives 1 hour plus each way to play matches in the Edinburgh Premier League at night after a full days work, I fully appreciate Bon Accord's travel issue.
John Watkins