2001-02-24 - 23:59:52

NYS Scholastic, Day One

Today was a very, very, VERY long day. I got to the tournament site at 9 AM and didn’t leave until almost midnight. I was utterly drained.

Oh, by the way, on the way to the tournament site I noticed that the Old Craig Hotel has finally been torn down. It's been a ramshackle eyesore for years and years. I hope something nice and cheery gets built on that haunted site.

Anyway, today was the first day that the tournament began in earnest, and it was exhausting.

The first round didn't start until 11 a.m., but there was plenty to do before then. I was one of the people standing guard at the registration table. There are lots of people who like to register at the last minute, and there are lots of people that like to cluster around the registration table and ask silly questions. My job was to answer the silly questions and direct people where to look for the answers.

Most of the kids were set up in two rooms: the younger kids were set up in the large ballroom, while the older kids were playing in the smaller ballroom. Nearly 500 fit in the large ballroom while about 150 were in the small one. In addition the top boards in the High School and Junior High sections were sequestered off in a separate room.

At first I was in the small ballroom with the older kids, but it quickly became apparent that the large ballroom was under-staffed, so I was moved there. In general the older kids need very little guidance, but the younger kids need quite a bit of overseeing.

Most of the questions they ask are pretty simple: "Is this checkmate?" "Can I go to the bathroom?" and so on. The answers are also pretty simple" 1) I can’t say whether it's checkmate or not - do you and your opponent think its checkmate? 2) Of course you can go to the bathroom, you don't have to ask me.

From some of my earlier entries, you might get the impression that I don’t like children. I don’t like badly-behaved, bratty children, but almost all of the kids at these events are perfect angels. They play their games, and then run off to go fool around. As long as you don't expect them to not be kids, there are very few problems.

However, the biggest behavior problems with scholastic events are not with the kids, but with the parents and coaches. With the Elementary school kids, the parents are utterly banned from the playing room. There's very good reason for this because many of the parents are so anxious for their kids that with them standing over them, it would be impossible for them to play. Unfortunately, many of the parents seem to think that the rules apply to everyone but them. Some of them are constantly trying to sneak into the tournament room after being repeatedly told not to. It makes me almost want to report them to THEIR parents!

While this is a championship event, and it should be taken seriously many of the parents are taking it TOO seriously. I saw one little boy packing up his pieces, with his father standing over him, upbraiding him for losing his game. The little boy was nearly in tears. Lighten up, asshole! It's not like your little nine-year-old is going to be a grandmaster or anything! Isn't the point of going to tournaments to have fun?

Well, even as an outsider I can see that maintaining the balance between fun and discipline is not an easy thing. All of which makes me glad that I'm not a parent. It's fun watching kids play, but I'm glad I don’t have the responsibility for any of them.

When the last game finished and I had finished with all the tasks I had been assigned, I was utterly drained. I can't remember being so tired, not even when I was driving for thirteen hours straight. It was after midnight when I got home, and I just crawled into bed. It wasn't easy knowing that I would have to get up the next day and do it all over again.