Past President's Report goes here.
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Past President's Report goes here.
First of all, I want to thank President Michael von Keitz for his tireless efforts. I just read his welcome address, and I must say he has indeed been busy. He hasn't slowed down after getting the FQE deal passed last summer, which is, IMHO, the most significant development this past year in Canadian Chess.
I am particularly happy to see the membership stats going all the way back to 1993. I don't mean I like to see the long term decline, but it is good to have the stats so that we may better answer the question: "Are we doing enough to sustain or increase our numbers?" This is the question I ask myself often. Comments?
Anyway, I will have more to say on this topic later, but for now, Happy New Year.
Well, they say, timing is everything. I wake up this morning with the latest issue of Toronto Chess News in my inbox. The lead off article is on the state of junior chess in Canada by Bob Armstrong. An upbeat article on how our collective efforts to teach chess to the kids today will pay dividends in future memberships. Thanks Bob, your article gave me the motivation to complete my thoughts from yesterday on the question of "are we doing enough to sustain or increase our numbers?" I was reviewing CFC memberships numbers from 1993 to present day, and getting, well, discouraged.
I too have faith our efforts will payoff eventually. But how do we measure our progress? How do we know what works, and what doesn't? A key piece of information missing is "what is happening at the clubs?". What I would like to do is start an unofficial annual census of chess club memberships in Canada. I am going to start with my clubs, Mississauga Hamilton and Burlington, and I invite all clubs to send me their data by email. We can start with the simple question: Number of club memberships as of Dec.31, 2012, 2011, and 2010.
If the goal is to increase playing ordinary CFC members, the big work should be done with the youth, i.e., improving them to a certain and higher level. imho, it is ~1700 and more. Stronger young player have more chances to come back later after university/college studies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Gillanders
Another not much developed area is a senior's involvement. More free time, willingness to travel.
I would like to thank the Scarborough Chess Club for being first to participate in my census. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Gillanders
I'd note for those interested, that SCC membership ( my local club ) for 2010, 2011, & 2012, has been consistenly around 100 members, slightly less than half those being junior members. And that is taking into account the new Annex CC that started a year or so ago in downtown Toronto, and has been quite successful in expanding over the first year and a half. The existence of two clubs seems to have increased the total pool of players, rather than the clubs competing over the same members.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Gillanders
Are there any other Canadian chess clubs, other than SCC and Mississauga CC ( the largest ) that had 100 or more members in 2012?
Bob A
The Montreal Chess Club has well over 100 members - but the annual "memberships" ($2) are collected at the weekly Wednesday and Friday night events. I don't believe there are any other "members" except for the participants in these tournaments. The "membership" money is put into a year-end Club Championship.
The Montreal Chess Club is well over 100, I believe. However, I can't find the exact number. Also, most of the members are adults (maybe 75%).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Armstrong
Near Montreal, there is also Longueuil (85 active members), Ahuntsic (60), McGill (130 Facebook members :rolleyes:), Sherbrooke (possibly over 100, I don't know the exact number). Some schools chess clubs are probably over 100 members too. Chess wasn't much popular in my high-school and still, we had about 50 people every week.
EDIT: Hugh was faster than me...