There are a few ways to set up a junior chess club. Below are two possibilities, plus things you will need and the structure of a club.
- A junior club that is attached to an adult club. The general practice here is that the junior club takes place before the adult club. The juniors leave when the adult club starts. The more advanced and generally older children would be allowed to stay for the adult club.
- A junior-only club. These clubs are generally a couple of hours after school closing time and are open only to juniors and their parents.
Things you will need to run a separate junior club
- Public liability insurance. Most if not all organisations who work with the public will have this insurance. Some venues and schools will not allow you to run a club unless they have seen this document. You can get this insurance from most of the main banks. Lloyds have a complete contractor scheme that would cover this. Generally, you will need a £5 million package as a minimum package. It is very unlikely that you will ever use the policy.
- Corporation tax. If you run a club you are officially due to pay corporation tax. Most clubs are non-profit making and the costs equal the revenues. In effect there is no liability for corporation tax.
- Chess sets, boards and clocks, board numbers. This is a given. Clocks are especially required if you are going to grade the games in your club with the English Chess Federation.
- Scoresheets. There will be different levels in your chess club. It is good practice for the players to be writing their moves down on scoresheets, for a number of reasons, including slowing them down and allowing a club coach to analyse the game afterwards.
- Pairing boards and pairing cards, or computer pairing programs. It is good practice to grade your games. Both the children and the parents keep track of their grades. In order to grade your games, you will need pairing cards and a pairing board and/or a computer with a computer pairing program.
- Registration and cash box. At the start of every session, you will need to sign each child into your club and will need a cash box with change to accept payment. If you have the option to make a termly payment, my advice would be to set up online registration using PayPal or Nochex. This will need a small amount of IT skill but it is very useful for removing errors and speeding up your admission process.
Structure for a junior club
There are many possible ways you can structure your club. Below is an example from the largest junior club in the country: Barnet Knights. This junior club has over 250 members, of which around 100 children attend on a weekly basis. The club runs from 5.30- 7.30pm and around 14 coaches are present.
- Arrival at 5.30pm Before the club opens, the coaches arrive to set up the sets, boards, clocks and board numbers. As the club opens, a person will sign in all the children. If children have paid for the term, they sign in on a separate sheet. All other children will have to queue and pay the weekly fee when they register.
- 5.30-6.00pm The children are paired with players of roughly the same strength to play friendly games. The coaches are supervising behaviour, and match children with other opponents when they finish a game, as well as offering instruction.
- 6.00-6.30pm Designated training in ability groups. In Barnet Knights there is an over-130 group, an over-100 group, two 60-100 groups, one up-to-60 group, combined with around 5 below-60 smaller groups.
- 6.30-7.20pm The children have a small snack of a biscuit plus a glass of water. While they are doing this, the pairing boards are put up. The children play one game that is graded, at a time control of 25 minutes each. We do not use the swiss pairing method at the club, as this leads to mismatches in the early rounds. The children are paired with other children who are a maximum of 10 points higher or lower than themselves, so that each week the game is relevant. The coaches will be watching these games to offer advice after they have finished.
- 6.45-7.30pm Some games have finished early. The coaches will then analyse the games for those who have written down their moves, and offer comments. After this, the parents can take their children home early – as is often the case with the younger children – or the children can remain until the end playing further friendlies.
