NSCA Amatuer Championship – Membership Meeting

May 24, 2008

NSCA Board Members present:

Jim Walla – Treasurer

Mike Gooch – Omaha VP

Ben Ryan – Secretary

Old Business:

- Mike Gooch –

1) Need to decide where the High School Team Championship will be played in 2009. At Cornhusker State Games (CSG’s) will make a proposal that it is run separate from the other grades. Also, NSCA membership requirement has been an issue in the past and will need resolution

Jim Walla –

1) There continues to be a question of whether or not “the Gambit” should be maintained as a paper publication or should be moved fully electronic. We need to look at the costs and necessities of a hard publication again as “the Gambit” represents the largest annual expense to the NSCA.

New Business:

Jim Walla –

1) Request for attendance of members and any interested members at the CSG’s for the NSCA Officer elections. Offices up for election are President, Omaha VP & Secretary. Mike Gooch & Ben Ryan expressed intentions to re-run for their current offices.

Ben Ryan –

1) The current “Gambit” Editor has moved out of state so we are in need of a new person(s) to take over this position. Any interested parties are invited to contact any member of the NSCA board with their desires.

Membership #’s:

As of May 12^th, NSCA membership numbers include 120 members, with 91 receiving mailings of “the Gambit”

- 36 Regular Active

- 39 Jr Active

- 26 Family Active Jr

- 14 Family Active

- 4 Life

- 1 Unidentified type

Financials:

Jim Walla said that the current balance of the NSCA Pinnacle account is about $2100.00. He said there are about $400 in outstanding bills yet to be paid. This leaves approximately $1700 as a net balance." He said this reflects the balance that the NSCA has had during the last six years, since it was about $1100 when he became president 6 years ago.

After a brief mention of the current financials, there was some discussion concerning what could be done with the possible excess. Ideas mentioned included: funding a larger prize fund event, increased advertising made up of billboards, radio, or newspaper, and providing support for NSCA members to attend national events.

This also led to a general discussion of how chess events are advertised to prospective participants. Current methods include the various websites, e-mail distributions, hard mailings, Chess Life TLA’s, direct contact by players and organizers, and flyers being provided to other events and club meetings. It was agreed that we need to find a better way to “get the word out” to prospective players that are not already in the established chess circles.

Mention was also made about growing scholastic chess once again, which should increase membership and event attendance. The biggest constraint here is the availability and time of volunteers to organize and maintain these programs though.