03/10/2019
Due to changes in our family circumstances and season in life, it is with a heavy heart that we announce The Knights of the Square Table LLC competitive chess team will be closing its doors for the 2019-2020 year. In future, we hope we’ll be in a position to run a chess team again, but we will have to take this decision year by year. We will try to keep an ear to the ground in the chess community and continue to post new and exciting chess opportunities as we hear of them--including new kids’ chess clubs and chess tournaments. Feel free to contact us via our webpage, http://learningbydoingkon.wixsite.com/squaretableknights , or page with scholastic chess inquiries and we’ll do our best to connect you to others that can help.
This last chess season has, in many ways, been our best in spite of the fact that my (Leah Boudreau’s) own health problems have led to a decline in my ability to manage the team personally. Ryan and I are so grateful to all the volunteers and parents that really picked up the slack and stepped in where there was need. There are too many volunteers to mention them all individually; however, there are a few that deserve special thanks. In particular, I’d like to thank Josie Braddy who stepped up in a BIG WAY to help organize the team, coordinate with both parents and coaches… and even stepped in to help coach herself, at times! Thank you, a million times over, Josie; your help was invaluable! I’d also like to mention Jorge Aquino who helped with keeping the information updated on the team app weekly, documenting our team with high-quality photos and posting on our page. Jenny Clear, Betty Teubner and Jenny Brown, thank you so much for actively helping to manage the team during long days at tournaments and helping to make sure everyone got where they needed to be. We couldn’t have managed without your help! Lastly, I’d like to thank our coaches. Coach Jim Huang thank you for volunteering so many hours to spark chess interest in younger kids. Coach Joe Veal and Coach Ernest Maldonado, we’ve enjoyed working with you. Thank you so much for teaching the Knights with passion and an infectious love for the game of chess. I can’t thank each of you enough for how you’ve sacrificed and poured yourselves into this team (Please forgive me, if I’ve neglected to thank someone, I admit my brain fails me often, of late).
We’d also like to thank the scholastic chess community, and in particular Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization (OSCO) and their scholastic tournaments and Youth Chess League of Central Oklahoma. Whether individual or team, school team or club team, you’ve been welcoming, encouraging, and helpful as we muddled through setting up a competitive chess team over the last several years. We are so grateful for the comradery you foster among all young chess players and between teams; it is a blessing to find a place for children to compete that isn’t riddled with bitter rivalry or division and, instead, truly inclusive and non-threatening. We appreciate you and for your work with chess and kids, year after year.
