creekland Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 For those of you following my boy's chess team and their saga about going to the state championship tournament in this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250451 THEY WON! They won their division!!! Our board 2 went undefeated which put him in 3rd overall throughout all the divisions (tied for 1st, but broken by tiebreakers based on opponents). I'm so happy for this kid as he comes from a non well-off family and doesn't have many of the things most of us take for granted. I could say more, but one never knows who's reading. He's such a nice kid and it's really great seeing him succeed. We also had the 2nd place individual in our division and 10th place individual in our division. Overall, the team won their division getting 15 1/2 points (out of a possible 20). 2nd place had 14 1/2 points and three schools tied for that. Not only that... we only ended up with 4 team members competing as the last guy couldn't make it today due to family issues. Four is the minimum number you need to compete - they take the top 4 scores. Some schools came with as many as 10 members (meaning they could drop their lowest 6 scores). We couldn't drop any. And they still won. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the lady (yes, a lady from what I understand) who financed the whole thing for the guys - even providing them with spending money for food. Thank you to the other coach in our league and various alumni who worked behind the scenes to make the sponsorship possible. Now, I hope the school will realize there can be more to sports than just he major ones. This is the only team (so far) from our school that has even made it to a state tournament this year. Then they win. ;) Three of the four students will be back next year, and we have more who couldn't make it last minute to this tournament (due to being told they wouldn't be funded by the school) who have done better than a couple who were there. I'm happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinaBreece Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I wish there was a "Like" button!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisperry Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Wow! :) Such an amazing story. You must be bursting at the seams :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrid Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 WOOO HOOO!! What a great story! Bravo! How proud you must be!! Revel in it, Mama! high fives, astrid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jld Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Congratulations to all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
posybuddy Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Congratulations!! I hope that your school sees the light and does better by the team next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraGB Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party::party::party: Can't wait to tell dd!! Congratulations to the whole team!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccabillington Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party: congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truscifi Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 That's awesome!! Congratulations!:hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Wow, how exciting! Congratulations!!! And thanks for sharing! ~Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 That's wonderful for everyone! Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamturner Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Wonderful!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katemary63 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 How exciting!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 That is so wonderful. Have you thought about contacting the local press? This is the sort of feel good story that they might want to put into the style section. Especially since it involves the club alumni coming forward to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Chess is a sport at our house!!!! So KUDOS to your team! :D:D:D Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HayesW Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 WOOHOO!! That is absolutely amazing and wonderful!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 That is so wonderful. Have you thought about contacting the local press? This is the sort of feel good story that they might want to put into the style section. Especially since it involves the club alumni coming forward to help. :iagree: (And it might encourage the school to foot the bill next year!!) WOOHOO & congratulations!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnitaMcC Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Way to go boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 That is so wonderful. Have you thought about contacting the local press? This is the sort of feel good story that they might want to put into the style section. Especially since it involves the club alumni coming forward to help. This would be very tempting, but I need to tread carefully as I work in this school part time (possibly going full time next year) and I need my job due to the economy. There are a fair number of things about this school that I don't agree with (usually concerning the level of education provided), but the only place I really vent is at home or on here. If I annoy the wrong people, I'm out of a job. The good thing is the school has said they will support them next year. Now we just have to make it that far next year, but the team is strong with just one graduating senior, so it looks good. Chess is variable though. I WAS hoping they'd put the news on the school website. It's not there yet and I don't know if it will be... I am going to try to get the school newspaper to write about it. I know students on that. These kids deserve some local recognition beyond the morning announcements. There are plenty of their peers that look down upon them for being on the chess team. It's not the "cool" team to belong to unfortunately. I don't know if it's because we live more rural or something else. But they won... ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babysparkler Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) :party::party::party: Congratulations to the team! How exciting! Which tourney was it? I WAS hoping they'd put the news on the school website. It's not there yet and I don't know if it will be... I am going to try to get the school newspaper to write about it. I know students on that. These kids deserve some local recognition beyond the morning announcements. Yes they do! We love to see the excitement on our chess teams faces when they find their name in the newspapers :) I think you should go ahead and write it up yourself and send in a photo too... for many papers it doesn't have to come from the school. That will guarantee it at least gets sent. We prefer to email the story for quicker response. ETA: PM me your email address if you would like a copy of the press release we use. Edited March 7, 2011 by babysparkler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2absh Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party: That is so cool! Congratulations! J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyful Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 :party: Congratulations! That's really great news! We were at the tournament this past weekend too! We might have walked past each other even. This was our first time at the state's and it was crazy packed with kids who love to play chess! Hope your son's team will get to go again next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 We were at the tournament this past weekend too! We might have walked past each other even. This was our first time at the state's and it was crazy packed with kids who love to play chess! Hope your son's team will get to go again next year! That's a neat thought, but hubby and I weren't there as we needed to pick up oldest who is now home from college on spring break. My two younger guys went with the team. They were telling us all about it last night. Did you have a competitor/individual or were you with a team? The boys said there were all ages and levels in different rooms - even some from Delaware since they apparently don't have a state competition, so join with PA. In any case, it's nice to know there are "others" out there. This time our school's team (high school) was in the Under 1000 group. Next year they might get a higher rating if they can do more sanctioned events instead of just our regional league (southern PA to northern VA). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakereese Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 That is AWESOME!!!! And how wonderful that your "alumni group" came through for you guys. I hope the school will keep this in mind for future teams. Yay!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyful Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 That's a neat thought, but hubby and I weren't there as we needed to pick up oldest who is now home from college on spring break. My two younger guys went with the team. They were telling us all about it last night. Did you have a competitor/individual or were you with a team? The boys said there were all ages and levels in different rooms - even some from Delaware since they apparently don't have a state competition, so join with PA. In any case, it's nice to know there are "others" out there. This time our school's team (high school) was in the Under 1000 group. Next year they might get a higher rating if they can do more sanctioned events instead of just our regional league (southern PA to northern VA). Yeah, I did see quite a number of the high school teams that came just with their coaches. My son was at his first statewide chess tournament in the K-3 section. He was the only one there from his chess club. But he didn't feel alone, since he hung out most of the time with a friend that he met from other events in our area. It was kind of cute how they looked for each other after each round of play. There were so many people there. It was neat how the kids would have their own games on the side. I think most of the public areas in the convention area were taken over by chess players. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 There were so many people there. It was neat how the kids would have their own games on the side. I think most of the public areas in the convention area were taken over by chess players. =) This always happens at any tournament or game that I know of. The kids love the game and it shows. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 For those of you following my boy's chess team and their saga about going to the state championship tournament in this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250451 THEY WON! They won their division!!! Our board 2 went undefeated which put him in 3rd overall throughout all the divisions (tied for 1st, but broken by tiebreakers based on opponents). I'm so happy for this kid as he comes from a non well-off family and doesn't have many of the things most of us take for granted. I could say more, but one never knows who's reading. He's such a nice kid and it's really great seeing him succeed. We also had the 2nd place individual in our division and 10th place individual in our division. Overall, the team won their division getting 15 1/2 points (out of a possible 20). 2nd place had 14 1/2 points and three schools tied for that. Not only that... we only ended up with 4 team members competing as the last guy couldn't make it today due to family issues. Four is the minimum number you need to compete - they take the top 4 scores. Some schools came with as many as 10 members (meaning they could drop their lowest 6 scores). We couldn't drop any. And they still won. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the lady (yes, a lady from what I understand) who financed the whole thing for the guys - even providing them with spending money for food. Thank you to the other coach in our league and various alumni who worked behind the scenes to make the sponsorship possible. Now, I hope the school will realize there can be more to sports than just he major ones. This is the only team (so far) from our school that has even made it to a state tournament this year. Then they win. ;) Three of the four students will be back next year, and we have more who couldn't make it last minute to this tournament (due to being told they wouldn't be funded by the school) who have done better than a couple who were there. I'm happy! So cool! The fact that she gave them spending money gets me a little teary-eyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elfgivas Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 :party: what good, good news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 So cool! The fact that she gave them spending money gets me a little teary-eyed. Me too. There really are nice people in this world. I know for a couple of kids who went, food money would have been a stretch on their family budget. I sent mine with a little extra to make sure they could "all eat," but even for us, it was welcome news to know we didn't have to worry about it as we only had extra due to our tax refund coming in. They celebrated at a Chinese buffet Sunday after the win. Buffets are good for teenaged guys. The win was priceless for them. This lady has likely never gotten such a good return on her money IMO, esp concerning one of our top finishers. (Not one of my boys this time. If I could relate the full story you'd all understand.) The whole team deserved this win and I'm so happy they got the chance to get there and win it. The school has assured us that next year they will fund it. Hopefully they've been duly chided. I know word has been around the school. My youngest told me yesterday he had people he didn't even know coming up to him and congratulating him. It's got to help the boys feel good about themselves and their accomplishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Wow!! That is so great. And isn't this the same son that has had a rough year.. What a confidence booster!!!! Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Wow!! That is so great. And isn't this the same son that has had a rough year.. What a confidence booster!!!! Christine Yes, both boys are on the team. My youngest is the one at school getting congratulated. He was the lowest finisher of the 4, but they couldn't have won without every single win he had. We've made sure he realizes that. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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