Chess academy on Detroit’s west side

Chess is a sport at powerhouse academy on Detroit’s west side
BY ROCHELLE RILEY • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • February 3, 2009

Seltman Hayes stands in the center of the room and counts:

“Zero noise 1!”
“Zero noise 2!”
“Zero noise 3!”

His voice is soft but authoritative, like the announcer at a tennis match.

Or a chess match.

And on his mark, the students at Bates Academy, a K-8 school of choice on Detroit’s west side, begin making their moves.

The Bates chess team, boasting four nationally rated players, spends two weekday afternoons practicing — because they love the game. And because at Bates, they know that chess is just as important as football or basketball.

While not recognized as such by the NCAA, chess at Bates is a sport, so designated by the school’s athletic booster club. That means at Bates, members of the chess team are honored at the annual sports banquet alongside the football, basketball, archery and dance team members, earning the same letters as tailbacks and point guards.

“I think it’s really pretty powerful,” said Jennifer Skidmore, vice president of the Michigan Chess Association, which oversees chess matches statewide. “I’m not aware of any athletic boosters who recognize chess.”

“It requires stamina, and it is hard work.”

Bates boosters president Wes Ganson, principal of Trix Elementary School in Detroit, said honoring chess was an effort to celebrate critical thinking and to gain more support for academic games.

Here is the full article.