5d. - Youth Coordinators Report

[Patrick McDonald]

I have been quite busy since the CYCC in July and after being elected as your new CFC Youth Coordinator.

With the new more inclusive rules, we have a few extra players beyond the players that qualified through the CYCC. That together with the enormous success that the CYCC this year was (Special Congratulations go to this year’s CYCC organizing committee) has put together a Canadian Youth Team going to this years WYCC in Brazil that may well break previous records for number of participants from Canada.

At time of writing, a few more confirmations have to be received, but we may well have a team of about 40 players!
> Update - We do in fact have just over 40 players and this year we have managed to swing a budget to include 3 - count them - 3 coaches! - Nikolay Noritsyn, Andrew Peredun and Mikhaill Egorov will be our very competent coaching team this year. They are already making plans on working with their own groups of youth players in advance of going to the WYCC!

I would also like to thank both Gary Gladstone and Andrew Giblon for the extra help they are already giving me in this organizational task.
> Update - Both Andrew Giblon and Gary Gladstone have been selected as our Head of Delegation and Assistant Head of Delegation respectively! With these two very competent organizers and our 3 Team coaches, we are looking much more professional this year, will have a team that is well looked after, and hope to see some great successes at this year's WYCC in Brazil in November!

More will be reported on the Youth team and the WYCC in the next report.

Interested has also been shown in the U-16 olympiad in Turkey in October. At this time, though, there appears to be very little info on the FIDE site about this tournament.
> update - we have information and are seeking interested U16 youth to be part of the team (as well as a Head of Delegation - although we may have a very competent one already)

Personally, I have also been invited to run a workshop on the Benefits of Chess in Education at the Grand Valley Mathematics Association conference at the beginning of November. (wish me luck)

Thank You,
ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ
Patrick S McDonald IA
Youth Coordinator – Chess Federation of Canada

[Patrick McDonald]

I would like to also open discussion on the Youth Committee.

There has been suggestions that perhaps an elected or appointed committee that can discuss youth related matters and make recommendations to the Youth Coordinator.

The alternative, is just an advisory discussion group of which the Youth Coordinator is a member. (this is sort of what the current status is).

I tend to lean towards the former. It makes the committee a more formal group and making actual formal recommendations that have already been discussed makes it much more likely that such matters will be more actively pursued or acted upon.

Please make your comments ... I would like to hear the Governors suggestions / recommendations in order to make a motion to be voted upon ...

Thanks,

[Bob Armstrong]

Hi Patrick:

I think you raise a good point.

I would prefer a formal Youth Committee, appointed by the Executive, which is chaired by the Youth Coordinator, but in which he can make submissions, but not vote ( a neutral chair ). They would make formal recommendations to the Youth Coordinator, who will have been neutral re voting, and who can then either accept, reject or modify any recommendations.

I see this as preferable somewhat to the loose " discussion group " model we now have. It seems to have been somewhat unwieldly, and it has taken a long time to make recommendations, due to the large number of members.

Bob A

[Valer Eugen Demian]

Hi Patrick:

I think you raise a good point.

I would prefer a formal Youth Committee, appointed by the Executive, which is chaired by the Youth Coordinator, but in which he can make submissions, but not vote ( a neutral chair ). They would make formal recommendations to the Youth Coordinator, who will have been neutral re voting, and who can then either accept, reject or modify any recommendations.

I see this as preferable somewhat to the loose " discussion group " model we now have. It seems to have been somewhat unwieldly, and it has taken a long time to make recommendations, due to the large number of members.

Bob A

I second this opinion!

[Ken Jensen]

I agree. A formal youth committee would be much more effective than the ad hoc committee we now have.

In an ideal CFC there would be a committee of Provincial Coordinators who would work with the Youth Coordinator to develop a national focus and direction. As the BC coordinator I should have been part of the Youth Committee from the get go, but I did not find out about it until 5 months after the Youth program "renovation" and rule changes were complete.
In provinces were there is no coordinator the most active organizer(s) should be sought out.

No disrespect to the current committee members intended but we have to be careful with a steering committee where interested parents outnumber program organizers. The resulting elite level bias is likely to produce a program favoring the top players at the expense of everything else.

I do not see the merits of silencing the Youth Coordinator whom the committee is intended to assist. The Youth Coordinator should know more about Youth Chess than anyone in the country. If he does not he shouldn't have the job. If we does why would we want to exclude hime from the decision making process?

Just one man's opinion

Ken Jensen

[Fred McKim]

I think the best idea is to have a formal Youth Committee of 5 elected at the AGM.

I also think that there could be an Youth Advisory Committee open to a wider group that could make input to the formal group.

[Christopher Field]

This sounds like a good idea.
Chris Field.

[Ken Jensen]

I think the best idea is to have a formal Youth Committee of 5 elected at the AGM.

One reason the CFC continues to score failing grades is that the majority of the CFC Governors know nothing about Youth Chess. Most could care less and some wish youth chess would just go away. I suspect that less than 10%of CFC governors are principal organizers of Junior events in 2011. That would make an interesting poll. Having that majority decide the fate of junior chess is like having the passengers on an airplane decide what the pilot should do. Imagine if only junior event organizers were permitted to make decisions about junior chess. You'd have a plane being flown by pilots.

The people that would really make are difference are not going to be at an AGM. Only 3 provinces embrace the CFC. The others have chess activity, but are turned off of the CFC for various reasons. If you really want to make the CFC Youth Program a national thing you need to connect with the provinces. I believe each provincal association should designate their own representative to the Youth Committee.

One of the first orders of business should be to identify the major organizers in the absent provinces and work with them to identify why they don't participate in the CFC, and what could the CFC do to become a value to them.

Just one man's opinion.

Ken Jensen

[Michael Barron]

One of the first orders of business should be to identify the major organizers in the absent provinces and work with them to identify why they don't participate in the CFC, and what could the CFC do to become a value to them.

Great idea, Ken!

Could you please do it?

[Lyle Craver]

Ken I don't think it's fair to say Governors generally don't care about junior chess since all of us were once juniors and if you did a poll I think you would find most of us played our first tournaments as juniors.

For instance in my junior years chess in Vancouver was dominated by players not all that much older than myself - Peter Biyiasas, Bob Zuk, Jonathan Berry and Bruce Harper.

Where I hear grumbling is the suggestion that junior issues are so dominant as this meeting's motions make plain.

I completely agree with you and Michael that more needs to be done to bring out representatives from the provinces not involved. (I trust you now see why I wanted you to run for Governor?)