Indiana State Chess Association Meetings (and things) in Review

When I first started playing chess, I never thought it would become such a big part of my life. I played scholastic tournaments during my junior and senior year of high school (Fall 2000-Spring 2002) and had no affiliation to my state's chess association. For the past several years, I have been an active member in the Indiana State Chess Association (ISCA). While I can't make it to a lot of tournaments that are ISCA events, I always try to make the Indiana State Championships. Incidentally, this takes place October 29-31, with 3 and 2-day playing schedules, in Wabash, IN.

At this state tournament, on Sunday afternoon, the members of ISCA gather to have their annual board meeting. This meeting is poorly planned, we never have enough time to get to everybody, and the officer elections are usually a joke. Several proposals came to the floor last time, but due to the general chaos of the assembly, we were not able to move forward with most of them.

This annual meeting is supposed to be about how we handle ISCA business and affairs. It is not supposed to be a time for everyone to just complain that ISCA is not doing enough around the state. ISCA has enough problems performing the functions that it has. If player from around the state want to improve the availability of tournaments, then player need to become Tournament Directors (TDs) and run them on their own. At the next ISCA annual meeting, we need to keep our composure, plan for enough time to get to everything, and remember that this is for business, not a complaint station.

The expansion of ISCA sanctioned events is also on members minds, but we need remember that things don't just happen. Sites, TDs, and advance notice to players need to be handled. The discussion of the tournament foramt is also a major issue that needs to be covered. However, ISCA wishes to remain stagnate without overwhelming support or outcry from the members. If the governing board does not push chess and the players wait for someone else to do everything, ISCA is then a failure. We Hoosier chess players can change this.