Overberg Learners Learn Moves For Life
Some 130 school learners from Overberg Schools recently participated in a Chess Tournament sponsored by The Caledon Casino, Hotel & Spa and arranged in partnership with Overberg Chess as part of Tsogo Sun’s SunCares initiative, Moves for Life.
Moves for Life uses the sport of chess as a catalyst for education in the crucial areas of maths, science and literacy. Over the next three years, Tsogo Sun will invest more than R10 million in the national school chess programme. Nationally, more than 400 teachers have been trained as facilitators in the programme and by the end of the year about 15 000 children will be on their way to grasping the wonders of chess.
The Overberg schools that are part of the Tsogo Sun Moves for Life MiniChess Programme include Grabouw High; Groenberg Secondary, Vyeboom Primary, de Villiersgraaf High; Overberg High; Swartberg Primary and Secondary; Bredasdorp High and Primary; Curro Private School; Swellendam High and Primary; Northcliff High, Kleinmond Primary; Gansbaai Primary; Hermanus High and Primary; de Bron Primary and Hawston Primary.
Overberg Chess, which is the official partner to the programme locally, will help coordinate the initiative. There will be a series of tournaments held during the course of the year, in addition to “coaching the coaches” sessions, the first of which happened in March.
Tsogo Sun’s Group CSI Manager, Shanda Paine says; “Chess is listed among the government’s top 16 priority sporting codes for inclusion at school level and the educational development through chess then aligns strongly with sport and education.
“Chess also has the well-earned reputation of contributing significantly to different skillsets within a child’s development. There is much research to back up claims that chess improves concentration; it develops logical thinking, analytical skills, visualisation skills, decision-making skills, abstract thinking, planning skills, and memory, among others. It also is fairly cost-effective to introduce into schools, which means we can go much further afield with our chess programme and reach a greater number of young people.”
Caption:
Learners from various Overberg schools recently participated in a Chess Tournament hosted at The Caledon Casino, Hotel & Spa as part of Tsogo Sun’s SunCares Moves For Life MiniChess Programme. This was the first in a series of tournaments and “coaching the coaches” sessions that will be hosted in collaboration with Overberg Chess in the coming months.
