chess camp

coy and arnaldo's chess camp was a HUGE success. the first of its kind in our entire district, we started out with 18 kids on the first day! attendance was surprisingly regular (given that this did take place over summer break) and we even extended the camp for two extra days. kids learned all the chess basics, including plenty of practice mastering the movement of each piece, and we even had some time for fun (if you don't consider deep concentration and strategizing fun).

here's a picture of the whole group after the tournament we held on the very last day of camp. thanks to coy's mom and my grandma, each participant went home with a little prize (pencils, sharpeners, erasers, play doh, etc).

one of the activities we did involved creating chess piece sculptures with a partner. here's my partner posing with ours.

kids concentrate to balance knights and bishops on pawns.


who knew kids would be so enthusiastic about chess? it's AWESOME!!!

as chess camp fell on my birthday this year, i decided it would be an appropriate time to learn the game. it's official, i am a convert and a huge proponent. perhaps my impressive chess skills sprang from the hearty birthday breakfast my wonderful husband whipped up for me?

coy is currently applying for a grant to fund the purchase of chess sets so that we can move forward with plans to start a chess club in the village. with one of the three schools in the village already involved, we hope to do mini camps at the other schools and eventually have students from all the schools playing together. peace and community cooperation through chess? i know, it sounds soooo peace corps!