WE NEED HELP SATURDAY! CalChess/USChess AllGirls/AllBoys Championship in SanJose/Milpitas

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Be a chess tournament volunteer this weekend with Bay Area Chess, one of the foremost chess organizations in the world. We are holding the annual CalChess/USCF (US Chess) All Girls and All Boys Rating Level Scholastic State Championships in Milpitas (near the Great Mall and Great America/Levi Stadium) on Saturday, October 19th, 2024 from 8 AM to 8 PM. We need volunteers for day and afternoon shifts or possibly partial shifts.

Please note: signing up on VolunteerMatch.org does not automatically reserve you a volunteer slot for this event. Doing so simply alerts us of your interest. We will contact you to follow up to initiate the process. Please do not show up to the venue expecting to volunteer until you have completed the process and reserved a spot using our volunteer shift reservation system on TrackItForward (not Volunteer Match). There are a limited number of spaces for this event. Thank you very much for your understanding.

CHESS IS BACK! Bay Area Chess is hosting the Annual USCF/CalChess Scholastic All-Girls/All-Boys State Championship on the third Saturday of October 2024 at the Sonesta San Jose Hotel. As a 501c3 non-profit organization, we rely on volunteers to make memorable events happen. You can make a difference in the life of a student this weekend.

Be a chess tournament volunteer!

About us:
Transforming lives through chess. BayAreaChess is one of the most successful chess organizations in the US & the foremost 501(c)(3) non-profit chess organization on the West Coast. Named 2018 Chess Club of the Year by the US Chess Federation, BayAreaChess has been the #1 USCF affiliate west of Texas for more than 15 years running (2008-2023).

The event:
Bay Area Chess is proud to have been chosen to organize the Annual US Chess Federation/CalChess Scholastic 2024 All-Girls and All-Boys Rating Level State Championship Tournament. The tournament is being held at the Sonesta San Jose Hotel near the intersection of I-880 and SR-237 on Saturday, October 19th, 2024. We will need the assistance of dedicated volunteers to pull it off. This opportunity is ideal for a teen or a small group of teens (13-19 yo).

Location:
Sonesta San Jose-Milpitas Hotel (SR-237 @I-880, near the border with Fremont)
777 Bellew Ln
Milpitas, CA 95035
There is free parking on-site.
Please do not confuse the Sonesta San Jose Hotel (12-story building) with the 3-story Sonesta Silicon Valley (which is also in Milpitas off I-880 @Montague Expy but near the border with San Jose,) or with the nearby Sonesta San Jose Airport locations (2 & 4-story buildings).

Times:
We will need your help sometime during the 8 AM to 8 PM duration of the tournament on the Saturday of the event (unless you make other arrangements or are asked and you agree to stay longer.) The 2024 Scholastic All-Girls/All-Boys State Championship is scheduled to run various events over Saturday from 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM. There may also be some events scheduled outside these hours.

We may be holding other events simultaneously. The Volunteer Coordinator will probably not be present, but you may be working directly with our Founder, our Director of Enrichment, and possibly other BAC staff as well as CalChess officials. (There may be other volunteers working those events as well, but we ask that you please not socialize until after the shifts are over.)

Responsibilities:
We may need your help setting up all the rooms, which could involve tables and chairs and chess boards and notices for the various events. (Yes, that's a whole lot of games. You'll be faster if you can set pieces with both hands at the same time, but it can be fun either way.) And we will need your help with other duties as assigned, which could include directing players and their families, answering basic questions (where's the bathroom? what time does the next round begin, where can I buy something to drink? etc.), moving, unpacking/unboxing, assembling, cleaning, sanitizing, sorting, organizing, packing/boxing, decorating, cleaning up, printing/making copies, posting, etc. as necessary. We may also need your help to organize/set up the Trophies. (The display is pretty awesome when completed.) This opportunity is ideal for a teen or a small group of teens (12-19 yo).

Please note:
- As a volunteer, you represent BAC. As such, your professionalism is very important. Remember the public does not distinguish between volunteers and the organizations (BAC or CalChess). We rely on you to be on time and always be focused on your assigned job. Please avoid being distracted by electronic devices or socializing with other volunteers/staff members during your shift.
- We will always do our best to accommodate as many volunteers as possible, but on rare occasions, we may have to make a change to your shift, even though you were able to sign up for it on the trackitforward.com reservations site. All volunteer assignments are tentative until approved/confirmed by us via email/text, not through the autoresponse emails generated from TrackItForward. We reserve the right to deny/modify your volunteer registration to match our needs. (Some of those needs may include: adjusting staffing to match registration numbers and venue limitations, requesting reassignment of volunteers with particular skills/experience/needs/situations to specific club/camp/tournament locations/days/times, providing other volunteers a more balanced opportunity to volunteer, etc.) BTW, this has almost never happened in the past because we understand how important it is to honor our commitments. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.
- You will have to be approved to volunteer at our clubs/camps/tournaments. As with all of our coaching staff, if you are age 18 or older, you may be required to be fingerprinted and have a background check completed prior to being assigned to volunteer at one of our events. We will contact you if necessary.
- If you are under 16 years old, we will need your parent's permission for you to volunteer.
- You, or your parent if appropriate, will need to submit any necessary agreement/release forms prior to your volunteer shift.
- All sites have rules that must be followed closely. Our policies are designed to work within those rules while providing a positive, safe experience for participants, volunteers, and staff.
- State and local government health regulations may change at any time. Unless otherwise instructed, you may need to wear a mask during clubs/camps/tournaments/etc. Please avoid physical contact with participants, other volunteers, or staff at all times.
- You will need to take a 30-minute break (for lunch) if you volunteer for more than 5 hours regardless of how long the listing said the shift would last. (Please do not plan a break during a busy time when your assistance will be needed.) If you have to travel between sites for any reason, please be sure there will be enough time to arrive on time. (We will try to accommodate you, so please don't feel rushed; the last thing we want is for volunteers or their families to have a bad outcome because they felt the need to rush.) A break could potentially be taken during transit between sites if there is sufficient time.
- Notify a coach/staff member IMMEDIATELY if any problem arises with you or any participant during an event.
- Please contact us right away if you have any questions about this opportunity. Thank you very much for your interest.

Thank you for considering taking valuable time out of your day to volunteer with us. We absolutely could not do what we do without our many dedicated volunteers. We know not everything will be perfect, but we hope you have a terrific time volunteering with us. In fact, we hope you'll spread the word far and wide. The best compliment you can give is to return for another opportunity and tell your friends to join us as well. If there's ever anything you wish to let us know, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you again for volunteering with us.

There are multiple shift times for this day: Saturday Day Shift 8 AM - 4 PM (7.5 hours plus 30 minute lunch) and Saturday Afternoon Shift 12 - 8 PM (7.5 hours plus 30 minute lunch). This may change depending on registrations and other staffing requirements. Please note: there may be more volunteer shifts for other events running simultaneously at various locations. If you are interested but cannot make a particular shift as published (e.g. can only volunteer for 4 hours), please let us know. We may still be able to accommodate your schedule.

If you arrive at the venue in the afternoon and cannot find an organizer/coach, and/or the building is locked, please check with the hotel and/or wait for someone to arrive. Depending on the circumstances, we may not have access to the room/building, or organizers/coaches may be unavailable until the stated start/end times. You will get credit for the full time of your shift regardless.

Please be sure to refrain from using your phone for the duration of your shift as well as socializing with other volunteers/staff during your shift. Thank you.

Tournament info at https:// bayareachess.co m/calchess

Saturday, 19 October 2024
8 AM - 12 PM Day Shift (7.5 hours plus 30 minute lunch) and Afternoon Shift 12 PM - 8 PM (7.5 hours plus lunch)