OCA - what does it actually do?

[John Coleman]

I live far from the centre of the universe, and I don't exactly expect any service from OCA, or the CFC, for that matter. However, what does the OCA do, or claim to do, for anyone (apart from name the CFC governors, now that's useful :p).

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

We help organize the Ontario championship events, and provide logistical and financial support to the four leagues.

And yes, the cash is (slowly but surely) moving once again, I'm happy to announce.

[John Coleman]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

Oh no, not more words. What else did I expect, a cheque in the mail??

So, let's take 2007... you say the OCA helped organise the Ontario championship events. Exactly WHAT did you do? Did you design the event, rent the site, make the website, sent out advertising, take registrations? What?

If I was brave (or foolish) enough to try and organise an "Ontario Championship event" in this city, how would you help? It would be hard to imagine any real help being provided by people who live hundreds of klicks away, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Also, providing "logistical and financial support to the leagues". I gather that the money is collected from local players, the CFC gives it to the OCA, the OCA gives it to the leagues, and the leagues give the money back to the chess players. (Or flush it down the toilet, whichever seems like a better idea.) Here's a thought ... just don't bother collecting it in the first place. Or, get rid of the OCA, just have the CFC give the money to the leagues.

The SWOCL is supposed to be our league, but doesn't seem to have anything to do with chess in Windsor, Sarnia, Chatham, London. Can you tell me how much the SWOCL spent in this part of the province?

[Christopher Mallon]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

You asked a question and I responded. I didn't realise you didn't want the answer in words!

We support the Ontario championship events by providing some funding and providing free equipment. Typically an OCA Executive has also been on the organizing or directing team. Which is exactly the sort of support we would provide should you chose to run such an event in Windsor. We're looking into making "standard" pages for our main events on chessontario.com as well, we'll see how that goes.

London runs SWOCL events by the way, and I know Michael wants to expand the Grand Prix further West. It can't happen without willing local support, however. You yourself told me it wouldn't be worth it to run a CFC event in Windsor; given your apparent unwillingness, it seems odd that you'd blame me, SWOCL or the OCA (or even the CFC) for the lack of events in Windsor.

It is, as you say, difficult to manage an event in another city hundreds of km away, so the OCA can't simply "create" an event in Windsor. However, if you chose to run an event and asked for support, I think you'd find it forthcoming...

[Gary Ruben]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

We help organize the Ontario championship events, and provide logistical and financial support to the four leagues.

And yes, the cash is (slowly but surely) moving once again, I'm happy to announce.

Would you define "logistical" support?

What's the OCA doing to promote chess in Ontario? Is the NOCL back in the fold?

Has the OCA provided the CFC with governors who can sell CFC memberships?

[John Coleman]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

More words, Chris. Can't you write in hieroglyphics, or pictograms, or something! :p

There are few CFC members in this area, which makes it inappropriate to run an OCA championship event here, as I told you in an email a few weeks ago. However, if I chose to run a CFC event, and some locals joined the CFC, to what advantage is it to local players if the OCA siphons off $7 per player? The OCA fee has the effect of making local events less likely. If, on the other hand, someone PAID me $7 per player to organise an event, then we might be getting somethere!

I am unwilling to run CFC events as the organisation now stands. I'm not blaming anyone for the lack of local events, but the CFC and OCA both have their hands out, wanting money, and that's surely gonna deter any potential organiser.

SWOCL is useless, the OCA appears to be useless, and the CFC... well, that's a whole 'nother story.

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P.S. Could you arrange to have the links at the http://www.chessontario.com/ website open in a bigger window... having to view everything through a keyhole is a real nuisance.

[Zeljko Kitich]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

Hi Chris, I think what John seems to want to see is the numbers, the financials of the OCA to show how all the $7 per member was spent. At least that's my guess.

[Garland Best]

Activity versus passiveness

Actually, my impression is that John is wondering what the OCA does to ACTIVELY promote chess. Ditto for the SWOCL and the CFC.

I think that this is actually a fundamental concern with regards to the various organizations. They all tend to be PASSIVE. They concentrate just on a certain minimal set of activities, all based on what was done in the past (Maintain the ratings, provide $XXX to an organizer to run the Ontario Open etc.). In essence they tend to run on inertia. Unfortunately things that run on inertia eventually slow down and come to a halt, as friction takes its toll.

The individual leagues are organized groups of tournament organizers, while the OCA is an umbrella association, created to handle inter-league activities, like the Ontario Open. As such, its mandate seems rather limited, as the leagues do all the heavy lifting. However, there are things that it can contribute. Some examples would include:

1) Establish an outreach program. Send flyers to the various schools, libraries and community centers to bring attention to the various clubs and tournaments in Ontario. Find people who are interested in playing chess and running tournaments, and enable them to contact one another and others.

2) Help people who want to run a tournament. Get a mentor system going, where experienced tournament organizers can assist people who have never run a tournament before, so that they have the necessary tools and guide to create and run a successful turnament.

3) Promote chess at local events. Have a canopy, chess sets (normal and giant), and promotional materials that people could borrow or rent to run chess exhibitions.

These are a few ideas that I think would generate value for our contributions. Obviously the various organizations overlap on these matters, so there has to be better definition of each other's roles in this. By and large though, the various groups are run by tournament organizers or club executives, so we all should understand what the goals are. Of course that's a big assumption on my part.

As an outsider, it sounds like the Trillium funding was originally intended to acheive goals like these. Unfortunately the mismangement of the project resulted in its failure. Now that the dust has settled, it seems to me that the OCA now needs to step back and think again about how it can acheive its mandate to PROMOTE chess in Ontario.

[Erik Malmsten]

Re: Activity versus passiveness

Hi Garland,

Thanks for your list, and I think it can be applied to all chess organizations. I had promotion as my intention in getting involved in the GTCL but have failed to put much time into it. I have helped Ted Winick of the Chess Institute with chess displays at community fairs. There were 4 community fairs this past weekend, all without chess. There's enough chess players in Toronto to have chess at all community/neighbourhood/park/street fairs. The volunteers could come from an organization, but also ordinary players can contact the fairs and organize it themselves. Also, our website is found by the public who look for chess clubs near them.

The OCA has chess sets and clocks which they loan to local organizers.

The orginal OCA (1880s or 1940 rebirth) was about getting players together from various cities for a championship as well as inter-city matches. There has been a tradition of a rotating Ontario Open for 60 years. The Ontario Closed (and Women/Junior Closed) haven't been as successful, perhaps due to the majority of strong players being from Toronto. The 'passive' role is to screen bidders so that there's not duplicate events on the same weekend, and that hasn't always worked.

It seems organizations in our country have local/provincial/federal organizations. I think the provincial level is the one with the least amount of responsibilities.

[John Brown]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

Great udeas Garland. Have you got the time to do all those things?
If we contacted some Ontario Masters and asked them to do some simuls around Ontario to help promote chess we would even get more exposure. But will the OCA pay to transport the Masters around? Maybe our $7 could be used to pay some of the master's expenses and promote chess at a higher level.

[Garland Best]

Re: OCA - what does it actually do?

John, in May of this year I took on the roles of President of the RA Chess Club and Vice President of the EOCA. In the past 4 months I've done the following:

1) Organized a chess course for adults, being held Sundays at the RA Center.
2) Arranged a chess simul, given by David Gordon at the Super EX (Ottawa's version of the CNE) to promote the club.
3) Volunteered at the Westfest Chess display (kudos again for Tim Bouma's excellent work here).

Not to mention the regular duties these roles includes.

I also should mention that it helps being in a area with a core of tireless contributors. Aris has done stellar work towards revitalizing the EOCA Grand Prix, moving towards larger tournaments with bigger prize funds. Dave Gordon cheerfully gave the simul at the Super Ex, and is teaching the course. Tim seems to singlehandedly organize and run the Chess exhibit at Westfest each year.

And yes, this all takes time and effort. I personally believe that if your are volunteering to take a leadership role in any group, then you have to be prepared to contribute at least 10 hours per week of your time on it. Nothing happens without effort.