What keeps students after the final bell? Chess

What keeps students after the final bell? Chess
Club • Bountiful grade school now has 70 students in its after-school chess program.
By Carol Lindsay

Special to The Tribune

Published: February 9, 2012 11:11AM
Updated: February 9, 2012 11:11AM

Carol Lindsay | Special to The Tribune Students at Valley View Elementary in Bountiful compete in an after-school chess club. The final bell rings.

Children gather their coats and backpacks and make a beeline for the door. But it’s not the door to go home they are running for. It’s the door to the gymnasium.

The students throw their coats and backpacks in a pile by a table and immediately grab a chess set and pair up. It’s time for chess club at Bountiful’s Valley View Elementary.

The chess club is a seven-year tradition at Valley View Elementary, with physician Ray Ward and his wife, Beverly, keeping the young chess players in check. The husband-and-wife duo came up with the club as a way to give back to the community.

During the club’s inaugural year, attendance surpassed expectations. Twenty two children showed up for the free after-school program. Since then, the club has grown every year. It now boasts a membership of about 70 children, who meet in the gym on Thursday afternoons. The club runs for 10 weeks, starting after the Christmas holiday.

“I do it because it’s fun,” Ward said. “Chess is a game where you can get some instruction. But what you need is a chance to play, which is sometimes hard to come by. The kids get opponents and the chance to play and that is what we are shooting for” he said.

The club is open to third- through sixth-graders. Approximately one third of participants are girls.

For the first few weeks, students are taught the fundamentals of chess and compete against whomever they please. But the club turns tournament-style during the final six weeks, in which students are paired up with players of comparable skill levels.

Ted Hallisey, who teaches physical education at the school, is a big fan of the club.

“It’s great what they are doing for the kids and the community,” he said. “It’s a super activity. They are doing physical activity and brain activity.”

Mary Memmott, a four-year principal of Valley View, said she was thrilled to learn that her school had a free chess program.

“It is outstanding that the kids get this kind of opportunity,” said Memmott, who credits her school’s high math scores to the club. “I think playing chess builds those nerve connections in the brain. It’s a strategy game where they have to learn to think ahead and develop their own strategies to beat their opponent.”

But the biggest proponents of the program are the players. They don’t have to be told to sit or pay attention. They just do it. They are there because they want to be there.

“The kids talk about chess club all year,” Beverly Ward said. “They can’t wait for it to begin.”

Third-grader Katie Leishman is in her first year in chess club. “I have a tiny bit of experience because we have a lot of chess boards at home,” she said. “It’s fun. I learn new things a lot. I learned where all the pieces can move. Before, I hardly knew. If my parents ever play me, I will beat them.”

Bountiful High junior Dietrich Geisler helps out with the club. He attended Valley View as a child and was in the chess club.

“I wanted to volunteer,” he said. “I am head of chess club at Bountiful High School and I love chess. Without the chess club at Valley View, I would have never gone into chess. I didn’t get good until 10th grade, actually. I was pretty dreadful, but it was fun.”

Marti Olsen-Mills is a scholastic chess instructor from Salt Lake City who prepares elementary children for chess championships. She considers chess as educational as the core classes taught in today’s schools.

“There have been a lot of studies that show the benefits [of chess],” Olsen-Mills said. “It improves math scores, reading scores and science scores. It fosters a higher level of critical thinking. Kids learn analytical thinking and reasoning and the consequences of their actions. It’s part of the regular curriculum in thirty countries. It’s no different than math or science.”

Although Ward does take a few kids to the annual chess tournament at the University of Utah, his goal is not to make great chess players. His goal is to introduce kids to the game and help them have a great time.

closeup@sltrib.com


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© 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune
What keeps students after the final bell? Chess
By CArol Lindsay

Special to The Tribune