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This is something that I posted on the CFC discussion board in the membership drive thread and which probably should have a wider audience among the Canadian chess community.
One of the vision statements coming out of the face to face meeting of the long term planning committee which will probably make it into the final report was a ten year goal of 10,000 CFC members. Some of the naysayers will say that this is a ridiculously large number given the current realities but I believe that this is a conservative number relative to what is possible and achievable.
Windsor and area's share of this number would be about 100 members. I am fairly certain that if we keep doing what we are doing now we can comfortably exceed this number.
Every year Windsor [actually John Coleman with the help of an army of volunteers] holds a scholastic tournament over two days (once over three days) where 1400 children in grades 1 through 8 come together for a one day tournament (approximately 700 each day). If the same tournament were set up across Canada and achieved similar numbers based on population you would have 160,000 children participating in chess.
The key point about the Windsor tournament is that the numbers are throttled back to keep the event manageable. If you stopped throttling the accelerator the number could easily exceed 1600 children and would probably creep up year after year.
I think that the current approach of contacting lapsed members and calling them back is not the best use of volunteer time. I was a lapsed member for long periods of time at least twice in my life and there is little that could have been done to bring me back though I do look on those lost years in terms of chess with a touch of regret. I recall a chance meeting with John Coleman at Chapters in the mall during my hiatus where I asserted that I would probably never play chess again other than perhaps the odd recreational game. He reminds me of that meeting on a fairly regular basis.
Part of the reason for the hiatus was that I became involved in chess organizing and was simply burned out dealing with the people that you encounter as a chess organizer. It is a fairly low payoff to begin with and it doesn't take much to tip someone over into the giving up in disgust camp. John Coleman had similar experience when dealing with adults and retreated into the world of children's chess with occasional forays into adult tournaments which remind him again of the reason that he decided to focus on children's chess.
Children love to play chess. They are grateful for the chance to learn and play and actually thank you on a fairly regular basis for your efforts. There is also the payoff in watching them improve and grow. There is a huge hunger for chess and desire for chess improvement among children and their parents. It is not unusual for children and their parents to drive in from distant parts of the county to join a children's chess club. If you want to develop a thriving chess scene start some children's chess clubs, preferably under the tutelage of some experienced players. More than one is better. There are five in Windsor that I am aware of, spread across the city, not counting the ones in the schools and I am involved in three of them.
One of the vision statements coming out of the face to face meeting of the long term planning committee which will probably make it into the final report was a ten year goal of 10,000 CFC members. Some of the naysayers will say that this is a ridiculously large number given the current realities but I believe that this is a conservative number relative to what is possible and achievable.
Windsor and area's share of this number would be about 100 members. I am fairly certain that if we keep doing what we are doing now we can comfortably exceed this number.
Every year Windsor [actually John Coleman with the help of an army of volunteers] holds a scholastic tournament over two days (once over three days) where 1400 children in grades 1 through 8 come together for a one day tournament (approximately 700 each day). If the same tournament were set up across Canada and achieved similar numbers based on population you would have 160,000 children participating in chess.
The key point about the Windsor tournament is that the numbers are throttled back to keep the event manageable. If you stopped throttling the accelerator the number could easily exceed 1600 children and would probably creep up year after year.
I think that the current approach of contacting lapsed members and calling them back is not the best use of volunteer time. I was a lapsed member for long periods of time at least twice in my life and there is little that could have been done to bring me back though I do look on those lost years in terms of chess with a touch of regret. I recall a chance meeting with John Coleman at Chapters in the mall during my hiatus where I asserted that I would probably never play chess again other than perhaps the odd recreational game. He reminds me of that meeting on a fairly regular basis.
Part of the reason for the hiatus was that I became involved in chess organizing and was simply burned out dealing with the people that you encounter as a chess organizer. It is a fairly low payoff to begin with and it doesn't take much to tip someone over into the giving up in disgust camp. John Coleman had similar experience when dealing with adults and retreated into the world of children's chess with occasional forays into adult tournaments which remind him again of the reason that he decided to focus on children's chess.
Children love to play chess. They are grateful for the chance to learn and play and actually thank you on a fairly regular basis for your efforts. There is also the payoff in watching them improve and grow. There is a huge hunger for chess and desire for chess improvement among children and their parents. It is not unusual for children and their parents to drive in from distant parts of the county to join a children's chess club. If you want to develop a thriving chess scene start some children's chess clubs, preferably under the tutelage of some experienced players. More than one is better. There are five in Windsor that I am aware of, spread across the city, not counting the ones in the schools and I am involved in three of them.
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