From Winning to Whining

Remember our post "Complete Games: NCAA Chess Tournament 2012"? In it I shared the link where you can get a copy of the games courtesy of Bobby Ang.  In his article he said the following:

"College of St. Benilde-La Salle Greenhills was the favorite, but it failed badly and finished in 6th place. The La Salle aministration should seriously consider shaking up the team -- how can it be that they forfeited 15 games?

I was reminded of this post when I stumbled upon the blogs of NM Erwin Carag. Man that was a lot! Erwin was the coach of CSB-LSGH Junior Chess team when they won a championship. But a year after they won the NCAA crown, he left LSGH and rumor has it, t'was a bitter (and loud shouting match) parting.

Sad indeed!

The last time I saw and talked to Erwin was in 2010 at the 1st National Press Club Chess Tournament. Dubbed as "Massacre in November", I was fortunate enough to have played with fellow NPC members. When asked about the LSGH incident, he was man enough not to badmouth the institution that he helped to win a title.

Whatever happened to Erwin? I'm sure he still coaches players and teams and helping them achieve success in the field laden with 64 squares. I don't really know where he is now specifically.

But I'm sure the call of Bobby Ang to look into the line-up and probably the group behind each varsity team called alumni is a wake-up call. How can you forfeit 15 games on the NCAA level?

This is serious!

And for sure chess parents will only be happy to bring their precious chess children into the Green compound with scholarship and a supportive environment aimed at a truly wholistic education.

Instead of forfeiting games, why not work as a team including parents and alumni, with the players and coaches and get back to winning?

This ain't easy and this will take time. But its all worth it. I hope they get back to winning.

Shake it up or forget winning.