Coach James Hudson was on hand at this year’s Harris County Precinct One Street Olympics, teaching kids to compete through the game of chess. With over 30 kids playing in each section, the competition was tough, but Sebastian Rodriguez and others didn’t waver in their belief that they could walk away a chess champion.
“We use chess as a hook to mentor and motivate today’s youth for success. We use a concept called taps (time, attention, patience and strategy for skills),” said Coach Hudson.
Players can take these skills learned through chess to be active, productive citizens in society.
“Chess also serves as a mentoring program to help elevate or assist in your math scores,” said Hudson. “We teach what’s called chess math. Each piece has a value. So, we take the first letter of each piece, add a mathematical symbol and now we have an equation because we are using letters and numbers, similar to algebra. We target elementary schools. That way, when they transition to middle school and high school, they will already be familiar with a letter and number concept.”
Hudson began his journey of learning how to play chess 30 years ago. While waiting to go home, Hudson was invited to play chess, but he refused the opportunity.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday. I sat down in the day room and they said, ‘School, you need to learn how to play chess.’ I said, ‘Nah, I’m ready to go home.’ But one day I eventually sat down and played. I began at one o’clock, and didn’t get up until four o’clock,” said Hudson.
After learning how to play, Hudson saw inspiration through the game.
“When I learned how to play, I received direction from God on what to do with chess: take it back to our community, and teach our young people how to make better decisions. I made an F in decision-making. Growing up, I learned by trial and error. Today, we don’t have to learn by trial and error. We can learn through wisdom,” said Hudson.
As Hudson began his journey of reaching out to the youth, he met an 11-year-old Gary Jackson, and began teaching him how to play. Shortly after learning, Jackson attended his first tournament and won a silver medal.
“Chess puts me in a situation where I excel,” said Jackson. “There’s a lot of subjects in school and there’s a lot of extracurricular activities. Not everyone can play sports at a high level. But when it comes to chess, because it’s such an uncommon sport that isn’t taught very often, it puts me in a situation where I can be the leader and guide everyone in the room,” said Jackson.
Jarrett Doss, a freshman at Worthing High School, was also on hand competing to be a chess champion. He began playing chess when he was nine years old.
“I thought it was a game for fun until I actually began to play and learn the fundamentals. That’s when I saw that chess is really a strategy game that could help you with life situations,” said Doss.
Sebastian Rodriguez, a sophomore at Lamar High School, began playing chess five years ago, and while at the Street Olympics, won first place in the advanced division.
“Chess is a good mind game. It keeps your competitive edge up. Every move you make, you’re trying to think how would your opponent react to it, and you’re trying to counter that,” said Rodriguez.
DeMeco Moses, a seventh grader at Thompson Intermediate, had one year of playing chess under his belt. It turns out, that was all he needed to win the youth division.
“Winning felt good,” said Moses. “I learned to play while in middle school. Then I learned more strategy by playing against my brother and my dad.”
Chess is one of those games that teaches life skills. Many competed during this year’s Harris County Precinct One Street Olympics, but only the best made it to the end to call themselves champions.
