Posts: 2
Threads: 1
Joined: Sep 2012
Hi i am just wondering what support if any is given to Scottish chess juniors by the Scottish chess federation?
I am from England so it would be of interest to know if you guys support your juniors better than we do.Do you have training weekends for your players with a coach? or is help given towards coaching?
Hope you do not mind an English man joining the forum.My son is quite a good player some of you may know or have heard of him Peter A Williams.
Posts: 1,120
Threads: 70
Joined: Aug 2011
Peter,
I am the temporary acting International Junior Director for ChessScotland. The elected IJD Paul MacDonald had a stroke back in May and I am trying to hold the fort until Paul's health recovers. If you would like to send me an email I would be happy to discuss any basic details. My email address is robinmoore60 plus add @btinternet.com. I am literally just in the door having arrived back from the U16 Olympiad at Istanbul so give me a few days to reply,
Robin.
Posts: 2
Threads: 1
Joined: Sep 2012
Robin
I am sorry to hear that the elected JD has been ill I hope he gets well soon. I was just trying to find out if Scotland has a policy of support for juniors in chess.Do you hold regular training sessions provide coaching for juniors and if so are the parents expected to pay the full amount or does the Scottish chess federation help towards the cost? I assume the parents fund the full cost of any trips aboard when juniors are playing for Scotland.Is they a specific sum of money set aside for juniors?
Here in England we do hold some training sessions which the parents contribute to for invited players and we also have the John Roberson trust which i believe has helped some juniors.We do not as far as i know give regular help towards the cost of chess coaching.We do of course send GM and IM with the English juniors when playing for England and the English Chess Federation covers this cost the parents pay for the trips for they children with some players getting some funding but i have no idea how much is given!We have also recently allowed more the one player in each age group to play for England.Does Scotland allow more than one player in each age group to go say to the world juniors.
Any way i thought it would be interesting to hear people views on this subject.
Hope you had a good trip to Istanbul looking at the results Scotland did very well.
Posts: 1,120
Threads: 70
Joined: Aug 2011
Peter,
As I said earlier, if you send me an email I would be happy to clarify basic details,
Robin.
Posts: 117
Threads: 5
Joined: Aug 2011
Hi Peter
I can tell you about some of my experiences as a parent which may differ from others.
With regards to some of your questions…… at present there are no regular national training sessions for juniors. If they were to be arranged I would expect parents would meet the costs. Chess Scotland has organised online coaching which is paid for by parents. To date Chess Scotland has not contributed financially towards coaching for my children Andrew and Kirsty (and to be honest I wouldn’t expect this to be the case). However they have had a whole load of support from CS members such as Peter Woods, Phil Thomas, Michael Hanley, to name but a few =)
For international events, as appears to be the case in England too, unless a junior has a funded place, then travel and accommodation costs are met by parents. If a funded place is awarded then only travel costs have to be met by the parents. However when we were in Mureck in August parents had to pay the registration fees for the tournament too. CS usually send coaches to the international tournaments at no extra cost to parents though I believe most of the coaches costs are met by the tournament organisers. As far as I am aware we do not have anything like the John Robinson trust to help juniors which is a pity as travelling to play in chess tournaments can be a very pricey affair
Posts: 6
Threads: 1
Joined: Nov 2011
For my part, thanks to Linda for explaining a few points.
Quote:by robin moore » Sat Sep 08, 2012 1:14 pm
Peter,
As I said earlier, if you send me an email I would be happy to clarify basic details,
Robin.
Why can't the questions raised by this gentleman be answered here?
Posts: 1,929
Threads: 263
Joined: Aug 2011
Reputation:
5
TomHay Wrote:For my part, thanks to Linda for explaining a few points.
Quote:by robin moore » Sat Sep 08, 2012 1:14 pm
Peter,
As I said earlier, if you send me an email I would be happy to clarify basic details,
Robin.
Why can't the questions raised by this gentleman be answered here?
Tom
Not everyone feels comfortable discussing policy on the noticeboard, indeed my predecessor was totally against any director doing so. With the recent issue over debating a motion that was to change policy, I can fully understand if a director is cautious.
"How sad to see, what used to be, a model of decorum and tranquility become like any other sport, a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee"
Posts: 1,120
Threads: 70
Joined: Aug 2011
Tom,
Andy sums it up pretty well. A lot of persons that post here know that recently one particular topic became very nasty and was rightly withdrawn. I am trying to learn from that and although I am certain that this topic would not take the same path, I would prefer not to discuss exact (financial or other) details of International junior policy on an open forum but am more than happy to answer any basic questions in a private email. One thing I would like to say is that virtually no two tournaments are exactly the same and we try our best to support our players. ChessScotland relies greatly on ladies like Linda who give up a huge amount of time and money to support their children and are greatly appreciated.
Robin.
Posts: 278
Threads: 19
Joined: Aug 2011
It seems strange that policy can't be discussed on the forum. What particular elements of it can't be publicly disclosed to CS members? Is any of it a secret?
Sorry Andy and Robin, but the excuse that questions can't be answered just because one thread in the past went awry is not that great. Surely the moderators can prevent that happening again?
Given the AGM only takes place once a year and has a poor attendance, the forum should be the place where the CS directors should be able to explain policy to members.
if basic questions can be answered to a non-member by email then surely the same information can be posted on here so that members can see it as well?
This is more a general point of principle rather than referring to this specific thread, but in general I believe all CS directors should be explaining policy on here if asked.
Posts: 576
Threads: 14
Joined: Aug 2011
Peter D Williams Wrote:I was just trying to find out if Scotland has a policy of support for juniors in chess.Do you hold regular training sessions provide coaching for juniors and if so are the parents expected to pay the full amount or does the Scottish chess federation help towards the cost? I assume the parents fund the full cost of any trips aboard when juniors are playing for Scotland.Is they a specific sum of money set aside for juniors?
Here in England we do hold some training sessions which the parents contribute to for invited players and we also have the John Roberson trust which i believe has helped some juniors.We do not as far as i know give regular help towards the cost of chess coaching.We do of course send GM and IM with the English juniors when playing for England and the English Chess Federation covers this cost the parents pay for the trips for they children with some players getting some funding but i have no idea how much is given!We have also recently allowed more the one player in each age group to play for England.Does Scotland allow more than one player in each age group to go say to the world juniors.
Any way i thought it would be interesting to hear people views on this subject.
Peter,
I was the International Junior Director for Chess Scotland between 2008 and 2011. Whilst in post it was my policy to not disclose or discuss how the budget was spent. Two main reasons for this.
(a) Any discounts given for financial hardship remained private.
(b) It stopped coaches comparing and contrasting their fees.
For similar reasons (I believe) the International Director for Chess Scotland Adult teams will not reveal the fees paid to each Grandmaster in the Scottish Olympiad team or the fee agreed with the GM captain of the team.
If you what to know how many entries Scotland put into each age group at tournaments ... look on the tournament web site. You will find us under SCO
However, your main concern seems to be how England organise things. I suggest you take that matter up directly with officials of the ECF.
