Sports Illustrated has a teen issue, and Mr. Hudson is on the cover of the current issue.

This summer has been filled with library programs, summer camps, and community events. For the past three summers, I have had the pleasure of teaching at several local camps. One of the best camps in the area is the Lake Arbor Summer Enrichment Camp. I mention this because I think children need to be given as many opportunities as possible to practice using their ability to think. Lake Arbor requires and expects that from the children they feel responsible for.

On June 20th, Prince George’s County held its second Juneteenth celebration. Though it rained until after 12 pm, the sun finally came out and we had a pretty good crowd. The turnout included people who were chess players and others who wanted to learn about the game. I am always glad when EAGLE Chess Academy is invited to participate in community events.

In bringing this column to a close, I would like to ask you to help promote chess. If you don’t know how to play, learn and encourage people you know (particularly young people) to learn to play. If you know students or teachers, encourage them to start chess clubs or support existing clubs.

The more people are aware of the fun and benefits gained from playing chess, the more young people will want to play. The younger children are when they learn, the better. A child who learns to play in first grade and enjoys it to the extent they are as excited about practicing and getting better as some kids are about basketball, could be a master level player by 12th grade. That could mean a college scholarship!

Greetings everyone. This is our second newsletter and, unfortunately, one of the first things I have to tell you is that we are not going to have the scholastic tournament this month. I would like to say that it is because of the Juneteenth celebration to be held at Watkins Glen Park on June 20th. However, the real reason is that I could not do all of the things that need to be done to make it the kind of success that I want it to be. Therefore, we will have the Scholastic Tournament next school year. Now for the good news: on July 18th, we are going to have a tournament just for ladies of all ages at the Upper Marlboro Library located at 14730 Main Street, Upper Marlboro, MD.

For the last several years, we have been discussing the impact of having top basketball players talk about the fact that they play chess and how it would encourage young people to want to play chess. Imagine my absolute delight to see on national televesion a basketball ad featuring chess—Kobe Bryant was sitting across a chess board from LeBron James. It is worth watching. You can find it on YouTube under NBAChess. The video runs a little over 2 minutes.

EAGLE Chess Academy is interested in having a facility of its own. Having our own place would allow us to have a first-class chess club with space to conduct a range of chess-based learning and mentoring programs. Any ideas, thoughts or assistance in meeting this goal will be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the EAGLE Chess Academy’s first newsletter. My name is Ted Fagan and I hope that when you finish reading this, you will feel more informed than you were when you started.

Our focus is on helping children think more effectively and, as a result, make better decision in chess and in life. Too many children don’t think consciously enough. It’s not so much that theycan’t, it’s just that they don’t consciously think in ways that help them make better decisions.

I encourage parents to sit in on our classes. They are often surprised at what they see. One of the benefits of using chess as a tool to teach thinking is that you can see what the student sees, and how they use that information to make good or bad decisions.

In future issues of this newsletter, I will let you know more about what I see in children and what I think may be helpful.

The full version of the May 2009 issue of the EAGLE Chess Academy Newsletter can be found here.