Correct support for The Scotland Junior International Squad

[Jim Webster]

What we have lacked over quite a few years is any form of structure that players can engage in and which will develop them in a systematic manner that ensures that they have all the skills and not just raw talent.
Such structures exist in sports like cycling and swimming. Not sure what comes first - the money or the structure but I do suspect without such a structure it will be harder to attract investment.

Is this not something that that the junior board should address?

External investment is always going to be difficult with sponsors/investors getting something in return - many will not do or give anything without some form of return (advertising, publicity - something tangible no matter how small). Early posts hinted at producing some form of material that could be given to potential sponsors and that probably needs to come first. Simply saying that someone is investing in future talent is not enough, especially when you are only looking at 20/30 select players and not the whole spectrum of junior development.

Increase the membership as a whole, bringing in revenue in membership fees, and perhaps more money (even a little is better than none) can come from within.

We really need to get juniors into clubs - all juniors into all clubs across Scotland, and all playing strengths. Once in clubs they will gain competition experience and additional encouragement playing in club and league competitions - maybe even starting a junior league with a team being made up of juniors from different age categories.

To assist clubs, and schools for that matter, should there not be a national curriculum of chess teaching/development with certification as students progress. Clubs, trainers do the teaching and we have some national test bank that can be applied for when the need arises (and a small fee for the test) and taken under controlled conditions. Would obviously need some considerable amount of work, but there is more chance that this sort of thing could attract government funding than overseas trips for a select few.

[Angus McDonald]

On matters relating to 'Curriculum'

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_for_Excellence">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_for_Excellence</a><!-- m -->

We have a Curriculum for Excellence.

Does that mean we support the process of becoming excellent only or do we support those who become excellent?

[Andrew McHarg]

We have a Curriculum for Excellence.

Does that mean we support the process of becoming excellent only or do we support those who become excellent?

I think it's a bit of both Angus. The idea of the new curriculum is to bring out the best in kids by utilising the most modern teaching/learning techniques and research.

[Alan Tate]

SImply not true. There is this myth that somehow going to international events is a short cut to finding the key to unlock the potential in players. It is hard work, good coaching and plenty of competition that does it. A number undoubtly do improve solely from attendance but surly the same could be achieved at alot less cost else where?

What we have lacked over quite a few years is any form of structure that players can engage in and which will develop them in a systematic manner that ensures that they have all the skills and not just raw talent.

Such structures exist in sports like cycling and swimming. Not sure what comes first - the money or the structure but I do suspect without such a structure it will be harder to attract investment.

Further more these sports require the players to achieve certainly well defined targets to qualify for events - and not just the elite events. You don't get to go just because you happen to be the best in your age group or country: you have to be good enough.

This does require a long term view, dare I suggest a five year plan?

I have no doubt that our juniors past and future are capable of learning the game and playing it as well as the juniors abroad but what they need to learn first is that it is a game that requires hard work and study.

Nail. Head.

Watching the Olympics has really brought something home for me - these athletes train for many hours a day. Can you imagine any of these guys turning up without training hard? It is absolutely unthinkable.

About Jacqui's point: It is not clear what the reason for the improvement seen by those who play at internationals is - Is it a result of training or playing or what, but it's probably just to do with being saturated in chess for 10-12 days. For the record I think the bar should be high, with a strong emphasis on training (perhaps even teaching the juniors to train themselves?), as Jamie and Mike said. I also agree with a rating floor - places should be earned, not handed on a plate. Of course common sense would be applied, that is why we have human beings as selectors.

[robin moore]

Thank goodness for that, I am a human being again! Paul will hopefully be back in charge in the very near future (he leaves hospital on Monday). I am convinced we are making significant progress in building a larger, well coached Scotland squad. One thing that I have realised over the last few months while Paul has been ill is that the International Junior Director is a massive role, you simply have no comprehension of the time and work involved. Perhaps in the near future we should be looking at splitting responsibility for age groups with one person in overall charge. Two things we need to have a big focus on is trying to find juniors good enough to send to International events at U8 level plus finding some good girls below the age of eleven. If we don't we will have no young international junior team in the next few years,

Robin.

[HLang]

This article is well worth reading:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chesskids.com/fallacies.pdf">http://www.chesskids.com/fallacies.pdf</a><!-- m -->

[Hugh Brechin]

Thanks for that Heather, a really interesting read. Chimes in with a few concerns I've had - I coach in / run a couple of school chess clubs and some of the problems he identifies are very familiar to me. Never been at all sure how to cope with the 'ten-fifteen-twenty children of wildly varying ability for an hour a week' problem.

[Patrick McGovern]

For example if you are 16 and in the boys section, your grade should be say at least CS live grade 2100 level otherwise you are not going to achieve any success in the euro's or worlds

I agree with this.

Having played against and witnessed the collosal strength of Slovak juniors (a country with the same population as Scotland) i think we need to establish high standards in order to be competative in some way at tournaments. Playing against a 9 year old with a playing strength of 1800 is one example, i had an opponent aged 15, who was collecting IM norms, with a rating of 2300+. The Slovak system is a pyramid one. Promising juniors were identified and given weekly coaching from a club players of around 2000 strength. Those who developed were "promoted" to equivalent of county level and given monthly coaching from a player of around 2200. The juniors who progressed from there were given quarterly coaching from a state sponsored GM. This gave a clear, competative, established route for juniors and the results were there to see. The thing was the examples given above were not rare but the norm (unintentional pun) for Slovak juniors.
I appreciate that we are light years behind many countries and that it is easy to criticise but by having open debate we may identify a way where we can catch up with Slovakia.

[David Deary]

Moving the debate back to funding:

Slovakia is an interesting one. The Slovak Chess Federation receives in the region of 50,000 Eur pa from the government and chess is accepted as a sport. I wish it were the same in Scotland. :\

[Angus McDonald]

by Patrick McGovern » Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:23 pm



For example if you are 16 and in the boys section, your grade should be say at least CS live grade 2100 level otherwise you are not going to achieve any success in the euro's or worlds


I agree with this.