Trophy Day
Winchester Thurston has a very extablished , very successful competitive chess program. One of the reasons behind this is that they begin chess lessons as early as Kindergarten.
My nephew Crispian has always been fascinated with Chess (the game, not the musical, pd!). From the time he was only 3 or 4, he wanted to learn how to play it. Ten Thousand Villages opened up in Pittsburgh at Christmas time a few years ago and Crispian would sit with anyone who would indulge his compulsion to play chess. I think he was 4 at the time.
He was very excited to be able to take up Chess in one of the after school programs, or as they call them at WT, Extended Day.
Crispian is a pretty smart kid (understatement), and things come to him very quickly. He wasn't in chess too long before he was moppung up the table with me, making tournament moves that I have never even heard of (one I call du Maupassant, but that isn't right). As he advanced in skill, he was matched with older opponents.
Then only a few weeks ago, Crispian wasn't winning all the time, which was a little demotivating for him. He was even considering dropping out of chess, but the coach pepped him up, encouraging him to stick with it.
Trophy Day came. Crispian was awarded the First winchester Thurston Extra Effort Award in their Chess Olympiad. He is exceptionally proud of this trophy. He has been carrying it around non-stop since Wednesday.
Wednesday nights when we are in Pittsburgh, Myles and I usually go to our second weekly session of Baby Lap-Sit at the Library. Even when I am not babysitting, I invite Crispian to come with us. He likes the babies, but his usual stated reason is because I need his help. Crispian almost always goes with us, but this Wednesday, the same day he got his trophy, he stayed home. I really think it was to be with his trophy.
He carries it with him when he is home, and it sits next to his bed when he sleeps. He took it to school with him this mornging. We went to a Greek Food Festival at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Thursday Night. He clutched it the whole way over in the car, and then again the whole way back. It sits again on his nightstand as I write this.
That coach did a very good thing for him.
Not that we need a trophy to make us proud of him!!! But it reminds me how much we need tangible symbols, sometimes.
My nephew Crispian has always been fascinated with Chess (the game, not the musical, pd!). From the time he was only 3 or 4, he wanted to learn how to play it. Ten Thousand Villages opened up in Pittsburgh at Christmas time a few years ago and Crispian would sit with anyone who would indulge his compulsion to play chess. I think he was 4 at the time.
He was very excited to be able to take up Chess in one of the after school programs, or as they call them at WT, Extended Day.
Crispian is a pretty smart kid (understatement), and things come to him very quickly. He wasn't in chess too long before he was moppung up the table with me, making tournament moves that I have never even heard of (one I call du Maupassant, but that isn't right). As he advanced in skill, he was matched with older opponents.
Then only a few weeks ago, Crispian wasn't winning all the time, which was a little demotivating for him. He was even considering dropping out of chess, but the coach pepped him up, encouraging him to stick with it.
Trophy Day came. Crispian was awarded the First winchester Thurston Extra Effort Award in their Chess Olympiad. He is exceptionally proud of this trophy. He has been carrying it around non-stop since Wednesday.
Wednesday nights when we are in Pittsburgh, Myles and I usually go to our second weekly session of Baby Lap-Sit at the Library. Even when I am not babysitting, I invite Crispian to come with us. He likes the babies, but his usual stated reason is because I need his help. Crispian almost always goes with us, but this Wednesday, the same day he got his trophy, he stayed home. I really think it was to be with his trophy.
He carries it with him when he is home, and it sits next to his bed when he sleeps. He took it to school with him this mornging. We went to a Greek Food Festival at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Thursday Night. He clutched it the whole way over in the car, and then again the whole way back. It sits again on his nightstand as I write this.
That coach did a very good thing for him.
Not that we need a trophy to make us proud of him!!! But it reminds me how much we need tangible symbols, sometimes.
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