i was just wondering if the people that run chess clubs and torniments have to have blue cards because chilldren can be involved?

in queensland you have to have a blue card to work with chilldren ,it may be called some thing differant in other states but i would guess the rules apply.

i was just wondering if the people that run chess clubs and torniments have to have blue cards because chilldren can be involved?

in queensland you have to have a blue card to work with chilldren ,it may be called some thing differant in other states but i would guess the rules apply.

Chess is a very safe activity for children. Unlike sports where children are physically active and often hurt themselves, this does not occur with chess.

yes chess is safe but no all people are .

What is a blue card?

Blue cards are issued by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian once it has carried out the Working with Children Check to see if a person is eligible to work in the areas of child-related work covered by the Commission’s Act. If a person is eligible, they are issued a positive notice letter and a blue card.

I think there is also a fee payable.

Yes, there is a fee of around $35 and a background check as well.

The equivalent card in Vic is free when used for non-profit or voluntary use.
Costs about $100 if you are going to use it for paid employment.

Coach for free cost you nothing!
Coach for a living then you get to pay..

The equivalent card in Vic is free when used for non-profit or voluntary use.
Costs about $100 if you are going to use it for paid employment.

Coach for free cost you nothing!
Coach for a living then you get to pay..

That makes sense in one way, but in another way it doesn't make any sense at all. If the objective is child protection, then it should make no difference to the government what your reason for being close to children (ie. chess coach) is, and whether it is commercial or not.

cool , thanks ninja !




good thoughts zebra , the only answer is that gorverments want money and dont realy care for kids , the saying 'you cant get blood from a stone' comes to mind .

,anyway i didnt ask the question to insult anyone but to just remined the people incharge that they have big responsibilities.

as chess becomes more and more commercialised and a for money venture, the best interests of kids who get chess coached are going to become second to making money.

In an interesting example of where putting the money ahead of the interest of the kids seems to have backfired on a particular "commercial" chess coaching company, the chess club at my kids school has dropped from around 30 members down to only 5 or 6. All it took was the removal of the half decent coaches and their replacement with ones that seem to have no interest other than showing up to collect their pay. The fact that they don't seem to have played for years and only just managed to get their ratings into 4 figures when they did, might be an indication of their real interest in chess.

I might be being a bit harsh as the fault probably lays with their employer not only insisting that no chess experience is needed to coach "beginners" but also quite obviously not making any attempt to ensure that some sort of educational structure is maintained.

Any literate adult should be able to teach beginners the basics if they have a plan to follow and the brains to hand the kids off to someone else when they are ready to go further.

The sad part of the above is that there are now 20 odd kids who may have lost interest in chess for good simply because their parents paid good money for them to be bored by incompetent (so called) coaches whose employer put profit above staff selection and training.

The good part is that he is now above $250 a week worse off and one can only hope that at some point he wakes up.

It looks like the school will not have enough kids interested next year for the "commercial" provider to be interested however a couple of the parents have decided to run their own "school chess club" . With the help of a couple of the better students and and some basic lesson plans I think they will do a much better job than the previous "coaches" and if they decide to get outside coaches again they will now realise that they are not all equal and the flashiest website does not always result in the best coaching!

The most effective way to stop this sort of thing happening and to ensure more flow on from school chess to "club chess" is more involvement at the grass roots level by chess clubs and state chess associations.

There are a lot of chess clubs out there with plenty of retired or semi-retired members with time on their hands. Why not give a bit back to the community and offer the occasional free coaching session at your local primary school.

BTW The above suggestion should probably only be taken seriously by chess players that shower regularly as after writing it a couple came to mind who should probably not bother.

The sad part of the above is that there are now 20 odd kids who may have lost interest in chess for good simply because their parents paid good money for them to be bored by incompetent (so called) coaches whose employer put profit above staff selection and training.

I might be being a bit harsh as the fault probably lays with their employer not only insisting that no chess experience is needed to coach "beginners" but also quite obviously not making any attempt to ensure that some sort of educational structure is maintained.

Doesn't the fault lie with the parents who are paying for their kids to attend chess coaching? Kids don't care because they don't tend to be the one's paying for the lessons.