BCS Team Travels to Ireland
By Lanette C. Chan
Some call it the Emerald Isle because of its beautiful lush, green environment. Some say it has the warmest and most hospitable people in the world. Others point out that it is a relaxed place to be, that the hustle and bustle of the rest of the western countries has yet to catch up. For those 11 children and 4 parents who recently traveled to Ireland, they would agree that all of these things are true.
The eleven children are a part of the Berkeley Bishops Chess Team, the best players from throughout the many schools that participate in the Berkeley Chess School program. They stayed with the families of children who comprise the national championship school team from Straffan, Ireland, a small village in County Kildare, outside of Dublin. The following players were in Ireland from August 14 – 23: Sam Petty, 13, from Kensington; Daichi Siegrist, 10, from Orinda; Aaron Wilkowski, 11, from Oakland; Gabe Gordon, 10, from Corte Madera; Corey Chang, 9, from Redwood City; Ahmad Moghadam, 11, from El Cerrito; Ravi Verma, 14, from Emeryville; Charlie Sprague, 13, from Orinda; Nazee Moghadam, 12, from El Cerrito; Yuki Siegrist, 7, from Orinda and Mahnoosh Moghadam, 8, from El Cerrito. The parents who accompanied them were: Lanette Chan-Gordon, Delicia Moghadam, Lisa Chang and Mitsuko Siegrist.
It all began as an idea that had been lurking inside of Elizabeth Shaughnessy, president and founder of the Berkeley Chess School, for many years. When her Executive Director, Lanette Chan-Gordon heard about it, Lanette’s response was, “Let’s do it!” So began a unique and wonderful experience for all of the participants.
As the former Irish Women’s Chess Champion and recently selected member of the Irish Women’s Chess Olympiad Team, Elizabeth contacted a member of the Irish Chess Union, Herbert Scarry, who was also very excited by the idea. He acted as the liaison between Elizabeth and Jack Hennigan, headmaster and coach of the Straffan, Ireland Elementary School. Straffan School was selected to act as host because they have won numerous national chess competitions. Nine Irish families opened their homes to the American visitors. Each BCS child and adult was paired with an Irish child and family and lived with them for the entire trip.
Three match games were played over three different days. The first match resulted in the BCS team winning a stunning victory of 10 ½ games to ½! Because of this, the Straffan School added new members to the team to be more competitive. The second match saw the BCS winning 6 games to 5 and the third match the Straffan team winning 6 ½ to 3 ½.
Although chess was the link that brought these children together, chess was not the main focus of this trip. It was the shared hope of Elizabeth and Lanette that the American and Irish children would come together to share something much more. It was hoped that they would understand that even though they spoke differently because of their accents, even though they lived over 5,000 miles from each other and would have differences in what they ate or how they lived, that all of the differences would help these children to grow and know that they can cross whatever barriers that exist and come together as friends.
“This was a unique opportunity for these children to participate in such an exchange program,” says Elizabeth. “Usually, exchange students are in high school and often travel alone. In this case, the children are younger, traveled with friends and even though they stayed in different houses, saw each other everyday. They had the assurance of being with their friends and adults they already knew while they made new friends in a new culture and environment.”
“One of the highlights of the trip for me,” says Lanette, “was our stop at Trim Castle. It’s an old castle that was built around 1220. Surrounding the castle were ruins, remains of walls and other structures. Some of the Irish children came on this sightseeing excursion with us and the entire group of kids from ages 7 to 14 were running around the castle pretending that they were in a huge battle! They took sides and were taking prisoners and storming the strongholds of their opponents and having the greatest fun! It didn’t matter whether you were American or Irish. It was creative play at it’s best and brought the children closer together.”
In addition to being with the families, the BCS players were able to see sights in Ireland steeped in history. They visited a 6th century monastic site called Glendalough and a 5,000 year old tomb at Newgrange. They also saw beautiful horses at the internationally famous National Stud farm in County Kildare.
On the day of their departure, the BCS group had to catch a bus at 4:45 in the morning to take them to the Dublin Airport. All of the Irish families and the kids surrounded the bus and while everyone was waving good-bye, many of the BCS children could be heard saying that they didn’t want to leave because they had had such a wonderful time.
The experience is not yet over. The Irish children will be coming to stay with the Americans next July!