This is what I have done and I highly advocate this. I hope the USCF and other state organizations will consider my suggestion.
– Have separate prizes for homeschooled teams. Do not restrict them. Let them form any team they want. Encourage more to participate and compete. It is so inexpensive to add a few more trophies and it can help so many children.
The #1 philosophy of the Susan Polgar Foundation is: “The welfare of the children ALWAYS comes first!”
I also encourage organizers to have additional prizes such as top sibling teams and top family teams. So what if they are in different grades or different sections. The idea is to encourage more family involvement and more support for chess. We need to think outside of the box.
I have done what I suggested above in all events by the Susan Polgar Foundation and it is a big success. I hope you will consider it.
Good luck!
Susan Polgar
I agree with you. The problem is people like Mr. Schultz and the rest of the board are too old to understand modern problems. None of them understand scholastic issues. That is why I will vote for you and your team. We need new young blood which can understand and solve multiple issues.
Excellent ideas Susan!
Homeschooling is the new “black”.
It is becomming more and more common place ammoung secular families and isn’t just for the relgious right anymore. There is a very large market of homeschooled families and children that have been mostly ignored by mainstream media and institutions because most people feel that homeschooling is the exclusive province of the relgious zealot. Not so.
I am confident of Susan Polgar’s drive, determination, and ideas and know she will help move the USCF forward into the 21st century with new and solid ideas while pushing the 19th century provincialistic attitude that has stagnated the organization into the dustbin of history.
1. A common misconception is that the homeschooled kids were prevented from playing. They still could play in the state championship, just like any other individual not affiliated with a school team. However, they were told they couldn’t compete for team trophies. The same rules apply for nationals and other states (e.g. California).
2. I believe GM Polgar is advocating allowing club teams with a separate category of trophies. This issue comes up every year at coaches meetings at nationals and states. The USCF Scholastic Council refines the rules each year based on feedback.
3. School teams are easy to regulate, easy to define and, if necessary, easy to verify. Clubs are more nebulous. In my state, there has been much controversy regarding clubs adding players who did not intend to play for that club. Some clubs think attendance at a summer camp means you will play for them at states the next spring.
4. Everyone who criticizes the USCF Executive Board on this issue is mistaken. Most of the decisions are made by the USCF Scholastic Council. They hold workshops at all three nationals in the coming weeks. Attend them!
5. I teach three homeschooled kids, so I am sympathetic to their causes. None of them attend a chess club through their homeschool association. However, all three attend other chess clubs.
Michael Aigner
why not just scratch the ‘school’ notion and allow kids to form teams however they like?
If the net result of allowing arbitrary teams is that some people start creating elite teams by recruiting top players, what’s the harm in that! If that really becomes a problem, just have sections based on average rating of the teams like at the amateur team championships.
The ‘geographic’ restriction doesn’t necessarily make sense. After all, many parents commute their kids many miles to have their kids attend a top-notch private school.
Most schools don’t do enough to foster kids’ chess to deserve the recognition any way. In most instances, it’s a dedicating parent promoting an after-school club, or a determined local chess coach organizing a bunch of kids from a given school. It’s more likely that a local chess club where kids from various schools come to play does more to foster the kids’ chess development by having tournaments, lectures, etc.
Some state and local organizers allow homeschool teams to be formed along the same boundaries as the school districts. This seems like a reasonable compromise between excluding homeschool teams and allowing arbitrary teams to be formed by picking the best playes from across an entire state.
let the select club teams have their own section, but to compete against schools isn’t exactly fair. I ran with an elite invite only track team in high school and to put us against a high school team would have been a slaughter. Same concept here. You cannot mix and match school teams with all star teams from a large geographic area.
Unfortunately, Arizona did not follow your suggestion, Susan. This was in our Sunday edition of the Arizona Republic:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0325Chess0325.html
Headline: Homeschool Chess Team Not Allowed To Defend State Title
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0325Chess0325.html
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0325Chess0325.html
I’ll try one more time. The full link isn’t appearing for some reason.
articles/0325Chess0325.html
This is the last part of the link that isn’t appearing. Sorry.