Getting the Team Ready!

 

Hello ChessKids, Parents, and Coaches!

This is Paul Swaney, or ThinkAhead on chesskid.com with my first article! I am very excited to share some coaching tips and strategies that I used to help my team from Northern Virginia prepare and win K-3, K-5, and co-champs in K-8, as well as K-5 blitz for their State Championship. 

This time of year for many schools across the country is an exciting time for chess. Many states host their state championships where hundreds of students participate individually and as a team representing their schools. Here in the state of Virginia it is no different, and always proves to be an exciting time for my students, the families, and myself.

I have been very fortunate in my coaching to work with some wonderfully motivated students and their supportive families. These two factors cannot be underestimated in your teams success.

 

 

 

Do your best to keep the families involved with your programs, classes, and lessons. I believe it can help your students to stay motivated if your parents are reinforcing the lessons of the week between classes. 

I believe one key factor in the success of the chess team I coach was the work that they did independently between classes. This year I used several of the wonderful features here at chesskid.com to keep the students involved and motivated with chess, and encouraged them to work hard on their own between classes. The students were always excited to tell me what they worked on over the week, and would dicuss their chess activities with their friends.

For example; we had a running competition over the month of February based on who solved the most tactical puzzles on chesskid.com, as well as who had the highest rating. Several of my students did well over 1,000 puzzles, and there were even two students who did close to 2,500 puzzles! The highest rated goes to a 4th grade girl in my class who achieved a 2300 rating for puzzles! In the past, when I would suggest a book or assign worksheets it was a challenge to keep track of who was doing what, and if they were actually learning the material. On chesskid.com coaches can view a report card to see if their students are 1) Doing the assignments, and 2) Learning from the assignments.

Since I knew some of my students would struggle with the last round of tournaments, I encouraged them to watch Mike Klein's (aka FunMasterMike's) videos on Crossing the Finish Line. It was easy to look at the report card and see if the students actually watched the videos, were solving tactical puzzles, and reading the assigned articles.

Another way I used chesskid.com was to send articles to the parents to read with their children. I really enjoyed the articles by Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl). The one article she wrote about How to Get Your Rating Over 1000 in One Simple Step really hit home with several of my students who were continuously dropping pieces during their games.

I also focused on behavior, attitude, and sportsmanship as much as the chess practice. Claudia Munoz (aka chesscampeona) wrote an article titled Leave Everything on the Board which really helped those students who would fall into a downward spiral after a tough loss. I reminded them to stay positve not only for themselves, but also for the team.

Lastly, in preparing for this event I made sure as a coach that I went to as many of the local tournaments before the State Championship as I could to be there for my students. This way I could get a clear sense on how they handled the tournament environment, and also to show them that I am there to support them win or lose. 

Here is a nice game that one of the students played this weekend at the Virginia State Championships. Aasa Dommalapati works extremely hard at chess, and has been chosen two years in a row to represent the United States at the World Youth Championships. She is currently in 4th grade and rated 1692 going into this event.

There really is so much more! In part 2 of Getting the Team Ready, I will share some other training ideas I used, as well as showcasing a couple of my students games. I'll also include a video of me analyzing live with one of my students!

Stay Tuned!

 

---