19-09-2011, 11:46 AM
In reply to David Congalton's post last night about Junior teams in the SNCL, I haven't consulted Glynis or Andy but I think I can safely say the National League would be very happy to accept such teams - we wouldn't let the technicality that teams are supposed to represent clubs get in the way.
There are, however, a couple of points that need to be made.
First, teams in the SNCL consist of 5 players, not 4 as David assumes. That is to say, they equate to a car load, including the driver. This has implications for teams consisting entirely of juniors - getting 5 children to the league venue requires two standard cars or one larger vehicle; not insurmountable, but it adds to the cost of participation. And obviously because not every player will be available for every match day a pool of six or seven players will be needed for each team.
Second, it is the fixed policy of the SNCL that all new teams must enter in the lowest division and fight their way up to their "proper" level. We won't break that rule for a club, no matter how strong, so we can't break it for junior squads whose membership (and therefore, potentially, strength) may differ substantially from one season to the next. We would love to help our juniors to develop, but we also have responsibilities to our existing teams - we cannot relegate a team or deny a team promotion just so that we can slot a favoured new team into the league above them.
On the subject of training days for juniors, that has to be separate from the SNCL. I would like (in my new role as Chess Scotland's Junior Home Director) to revive the semi-regular training days for juniors that stopped about four years ago, but whether the Saturdays immediately preceding SNCL fixtures are the right days on which to hold training events is open to question - one of the attractions of the SNCL is that for most of the people involved it takes up only one day of each of the four weekends when it is held, leaving the Saturdays free for non-chess activity. I would prefer to hold training days during weekends where there is no other chess activity.
But returning to the main point, I would love to see a Girls' team and a Boys' team kicking the adults aside as they battle for the SNCL Fourth Division championship this season, and then for the Third Division championship next season. The kids we've got could do that.
There are, however, a couple of points that need to be made.
First, teams in the SNCL consist of 5 players, not 4 as David assumes. That is to say, they equate to a car load, including the driver. This has implications for teams consisting entirely of juniors - getting 5 children to the league venue requires two standard cars or one larger vehicle; not insurmountable, but it adds to the cost of participation. And obviously because not every player will be available for every match day a pool of six or seven players will be needed for each team.
Second, it is the fixed policy of the SNCL that all new teams must enter in the lowest division and fight their way up to their "proper" level. We won't break that rule for a club, no matter how strong, so we can't break it for junior squads whose membership (and therefore, potentially, strength) may differ substantially from one season to the next. We would love to help our juniors to develop, but we also have responsibilities to our existing teams - we cannot relegate a team or deny a team promotion just so that we can slot a favoured new team into the league above them.
On the subject of training days for juniors, that has to be separate from the SNCL. I would like (in my new role as Chess Scotland's Junior Home Director) to revive the semi-regular training days for juniors that stopped about four years ago, but whether the Saturdays immediately preceding SNCL fixtures are the right days on which to hold training events is open to question - one of the attractions of the SNCL is that for most of the people involved it takes up only one day of each of the four weekends when it is held, leaving the Saturdays free for non-chess activity. I would prefer to hold training days during weekends where there is no other chess activity.
But returning to the main point, I would love to see a Girls' team and a Boys' team kicking the adults aside as they battle for the SNCL Fourth Division championship this season, and then for the Third Division championship next season. The kids we've got could do that.