New actions for 2020: 1.Summer and Winter Parents and Students Party: Given relatively high time and cash cost, and the difficulty in coordinating the logistics of the party, the frequency of parent-student meeting will be kept to twice a year. Personally, it means a lot to me to let the students and parents to know and meet each other. I think little effort has been made in this area by schools and teachers, and this area is something I want to encourage. This would be what makes our relationship different.
2. Creating the inner whatsapp group for competitors: It is difficult to allow students to develop an interest without going into a competition, so "go big or go home" kind of applies here. Students should be allowed to join competitions that are more or less their level. Whether a student is prepared to join the competition or not is very personal, and therefore there is not a definite time. As long as you know the basic rules fairly well, then you can go and try out a competition (which to be fair, the first competition can be tough). If you are unsure whether you are suitable to participate, you can also ask.
By creating an inner group, hopefully we can reduce the trash messages sent to parties that might not find them useful. We will distribute more advanced notes and competition recommendations frequently there.
3. Quarterly semi-competition training:
Many students have mentioned that in tournaments, often parents and coaches are not allowed to observe the games, and therefore it is difficult to provide feedback. We will try to organise around 3-4 tournaments each time, that allow open space and video recording for parents and coaches to record and evaluate.
Initiative and prizes can be considered, but the purpose of a controlled training should be the center focus, and the division between the parties and focused training can be better defined.
Students from outside will be invited (Around 4th-8th places scorers) to allow more focused and better quality training
4. Committed voluntary work and social impact
Differentiating with other teachers, I would be committed to work on the field with non-governmental organisations. By supporting and working together with myself, you can be assured that part of your income will be used to help society.
Other than providing service directly to organisations such as ebenezer school, ronald mcdonald house, and currently in touch with rehabilitation for juvenile crime, I am also currently assisting student bodies to build up student-led and oragnised competitions, (5-7 rounds, each school take a turn to host, longer time control) which can fill up the gaps left currently by the Federation and Chess Schools (Commercial-led, 1-2 days only, lacking promotional channel)
Observations for December 8 (General Atmosphere for Chess as a sport)
1. Difficult competition conditions Many parents have raised the point that it is only at the last 20 minutes that students are given a chess clock to use, in the tournament organised by ActiveKids on December 8. Despite the claim that it is to make competition less stressful, it is worth remembering that children are playing for trophies and prizes. Not using a chess clock is creating unfair competition environment. Similar claims on etiquette on players have been mentioned, Thomas and Ayden have mentioned that some players are playing with their booger during competition.(Thomas said he lost concentration due to opponent's booger attack.) I think these kinds of situation will continue to come up: Kids kicking you in the foot under the table, tapping fingers, making weird noises, throwing boogers. As it is in life, you will have to protect yourself and think it is also a good time for parents to teach and help their children in this regard.
2. Professional young players and the great break-up A lot of young players under the age of 12 would a)Study in international school b)Have professional training in Mainland China c)Experience with overseas competition participation. Unlike the local students, they are having more free time, much more inclined to work harder, having professional/semi-professional connections in Shenzhen or Guangzhou. Some of them would participate in Hong Kong tournament, in order to be able to participate. For example in under 8 group ( http://chess-results.com/tnr496208.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=6 ), there are 7 ISF players (2 girls quit halfway), and ActiveKids runs classes estimated to be around 25-45 students, twice a week in the school as afterschool activity. Most of them will be leaving Hong Kong, playing more professionally outside Hong Kong, or develop other hobbies by 12. so it explains a lot when you see in under 12 player number drops dramatically. ( http://chess-results.com/tnr496212.aspx?lan=1&art=0 ) These kind of participation pattern will effectively discourage young local students who are not professionally trained to play on(Since it is hard for them to compete on the same intensity, and winning prizes to motivate them), and this is also not a healthy situation for chess development in Hong Kong, if it is to have a greater impact socially for the disabled and disadvantaged. 3. Fragmentation of competitions and schools, lacking a general vision The schools do not normally provide a lot of information between themselves, and the Chess Federation is doing little for the sports locally, most resources are focused on the elite and well-paid groups of students from international school. We can observe that by taking note of the very different group of players in different competitions.
Looking forward, the schools that have more resources due to their commercially operated model, or even the Federation should take a step forward to promote the sports and involve the local community. More publicity campaigns and visibility can be done to increase awareness and improve the sports as a whole by uniting different parties and their effort.