okay so here's the story.
im a freshman at cameron university in Lawton, Oklahoma. I've searched and searched but the nearest club is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away and it meets on thursdays, a day i can't attend and so i want to start a club.
now the first problem is this. cameron university doesnt have a chess club so i could probably get one going through the college bringing in other college students.
or i could start the "Lawton Chess Club" which would open up the town itself to the world of chess(which is at a bad lack of). it would look a lot better on resumes im sure if i started it for the community, i would probably get more money from local businesses and it would give kids a chance, as well as older people, the opportunity to play other people here. a good thing about it for me is that i could probably be able to give lessons to some of the young beginners and make some extra money which i am in much need of. the main thing is i think it would be a longer process and prob need more money to get started than the Cameron Chess Club.
so my question is, which do you think sounds best for me? right now im leaning towards the "Lawton Chess Club"
Originally posted by StewartChessWhat ever you choose, make sure you contact your National Chess Association.
okay so here's the story.
im a freshman at cameron university in Lawton, Oklahoma. I've searched and searched but the nearest club is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away and it meets on thursdays, a day i can't attend and so i want to start a club.
now the first problem is this. cameron university doesnt have a chess club so i could probably get one ...[text shortened]... ich do you think sounds best for me? right now im leaning towards the "Lawton Chess Club"
For you it would be USCF. From what I know, all organization want to promote chess and supply you with cheap equipment and help you start up etc....
Originally posted by RahimKyeah i believe that's best for me. i think there was once a guy that started a club here but he didnt try very hard. just posted on a site that they have meetings on a certain date.
No problem.
I like the idea of opening up your own club instead of the university.
You would need to find a room though, but it sounds nicer and you would always be linked to it and the extra money of course 🙂
i plan on making it known that there will be a chess club here in Lawton. First I want to get the financial backing for it from some local businesses.
im going to the public library to talk to someone about setting up 2 days a week that i can use at least one of the rooms there.
then i plan on going to all the schools here in town and asking if i can post fliers about it. there are 3 high schools here with like 3000 people a piece. there are also many elementary schools and middle schools.
on top of those there's a military base here. the town has 100,000+ people i believe and it should have it's own club and im happy im gonna be the one to get it started.
hopefully ill be able to get some rated tournaments going at least once a month or somethin. i just sent an email through the USCF website and im also going to contact a guy in Corpus Christi i know who got Susan Polgar to help him out in starting a chess center. idk how serious i plan on getting yet but if i do this, i want to do it right.
Good luck on your club.
If you start having trouble getting people to join you might want to try meetup.com. I used that site to start a small group of players in Tampa. You do have to pay a monthly fee for the group, but I imagine that some of your members would be willing to contribute a couple bucks each. We met at Borders, and posted a flyer there as well.
Good luck.
Originally posted by IronPawnXthanks, im about to make up some fliers and then go talk to someone at the public library about using a room once or twice a week.
Good luck on your club.
If you start having trouble getting people to join you might want to try meetup.com. I used that site to start a small group of players in Tampa. You do have to pay a monthly fee for the group, but I imagine that some of your members would be willing to contribute a couple bucks each. We met at Borders, and posted a flyer there as well.
Good luck.
p.s.
if anyone has ANY suggestions then please let me know. im going off of basic knowledge and if there is something that i need please say something.
thanks
tim
OK so i just talked to the guy that tried starting a chess club here in Lawton before and he said the interest was lost in it. Him and some other guys meet up a few times a week though at coffee shops and the library every know and then to play and he invited me to come along. he's rated over 1800 and some of the other guys i believe are too. he has about 150 chess books and he asked me if i wanted to compete with them in some team tournaments soon so that sounds really great.
Originally posted by StewartChessThe most important thing (in my opinion) to get people to join your club is the website. Make it interactive. Post tournament dates, meeting dates, results, top 10 lists, maybe even articles, etc. so that people are interested in it. That's one mistake my local chess club has made. There website is really bad and because of that their attendance has been dwindling steadily(even though the number of people playing tournaments in our metro area isn't).
yeah i believe that's best for me. i think there was once a guy that started a club here but he didnt try very hard. just posted on a site that they have meetings on a certain date.
i plan on making it known that there will be a chess club here in Lawton. First I want to get the financial backing for it from some local businesses.
im going to th ...[text shortened]... chess center. idk how serious i plan on getting yet but if i do this, i want to do it right.
Years ago we had a chess club where I lived. One thing we found that people liked best was seeing their names (and games) in print, so we published a small magazine ever month that included members’ games, tournament results if they played in one, ratings, brief bios…that kind of thing. It was probably the best thing we did to retain membership. Today if you use a web site this is even better. People like photos, too. One thing we noticed was players often pair off so end up playing the same people over and over. Eventually they get bored and leave. Organized activity seemed to help. Another thing we did that people liked was club ratings. A lot of people didn’t have a USCF rating, so the club ratings gave them something to work for.