After-school chess clubs have done a great job for promoting chess among young kids. Thanks to the efforts of parent volunteers and coaches, kids learn the moves, play games, and have fun with their friends. Because the environment is familiar, and they have their friends in the club, it's much easier for them to pick up chess. That's also the first place we suggest new chess parents to check out.
But most after-school chess clubs are just for fun. It's difficult for kids to have serious improvement in these clubs. There are several reasons for that.
First, the convenience of the clubs is good for attracting kids to play chess, but not good in selecting kids. Most clubs are considered as part of after-school care, basically their parents can't pick them up when school ends, so they are staying for after-school care. Parents just sign up some activities for them. They may not feel playing chess is fun. We have to admit that not everyone like to play competitive games. In such a club, it's difficult for serious kids to learn much.
Second, because it's like care, the main goal is to keep kids occupied. No serious homework will be assigned. No students or parents would take it seriously even if homework is assigned because it's not school work. Without doing work outside club (or chess lessons), it's difficult to see improvement.
Third, because the coaches or volunteers only come in to monitor the club once a week, it's difficult to enforce any discipline if the club has some unruly kids. The teaching will not be effective if the class is disrupted and kids are distracted.
The only effective after-school chess clubs are those which have in-house coaches, and meet at least two to three times a week. The club is actually considered as an official program at school. Joining the club is an honor not an entitlement. Such schools also send out school teams to nationals and state competitions. They are running like a varsity team, as all other sports.
But most after-school chess clubs are just for fun. It's difficult for kids to have serious improvement in these clubs. There are several reasons for that.
First, the convenience of the clubs is good for attracting kids to play chess, but not good in selecting kids. Most clubs are considered as part of after-school care, basically their parents can't pick them up when school ends, so they are staying for after-school care. Parents just sign up some activities for them. They may not feel playing chess is fun. We have to admit that not everyone like to play competitive games. In such a club, it's difficult for serious kids to learn much.
Second, because it's like care, the main goal is to keep kids occupied. No serious homework will be assigned. No students or parents would take it seriously even if homework is assigned because it's not school work. Without doing work outside club (or chess lessons), it's difficult to see improvement.
Third, because the coaches or volunteers only come in to monitor the club once a week, it's difficult to enforce any discipline if the club has some unruly kids. The teaching will not be effective if the class is disrupted and kids are distracted.
The only effective after-school chess clubs are those which have in-house coaches, and meet at least two to three times a week. The club is actually considered as an official program at school. Joining the club is an honor not an entitlement. Such schools also send out school teams to nationals and state competitions. They are running like a varsity team, as all other sports.
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