About
Swan Valley Chess
Hello and welcome to Swan Valley Chess. My name is Dylan Gough, I am a married father of two, qualified teacher (B.A.Ed Studies), avid chess player, coach and arbitor. I have been playing chess for nearly 40 years now and it has become a major part of my life. Infact in some ways, it has even started to resemble life. The life lessons I have learnt from this game have been immeasurable and for this reason I wish to pass these on to others who may have never benefited from these themselves.
It is with this in mind that I created a club in the Swan Valley, an area of the city currently untouched, to introduce this fantastic game to its people, both young and old in a social environment where we can learn together, play together and enjoy the social equality which this game instills.
Come and join us at Swan Valley Chess and see for yourself the wonders this game can produce.
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Regards,
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Dylan Gough B.A. (Ed Studies)
Club President
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Our Mission
Our Goal:
To cross the divide of difference amongst all people by bringing them together, emotionally, physically and socially, through the beauty and power of chess.
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Our Vision:
Here at Swan Valley Chess Club our vision is to bring chess to all people irrespective of age, gender or race and present it as the great leveller in all aspects of life for all people, all the time.
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Our Commitment:
Our commitment to you is clear. At Swan Valley Chess Club we guarantee a safe, non-judgmental learning environment where chess players of all skill levels can connect, be inspired and develop life skills, such as concentration, problem solving, tactics and strategies and dealing with changes as they occur, through the world's greatest game; chess.
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Our Philosophy
We lead with our hearts in the art of Chess.
We hope to inspire you. If we can help just one person feel better about life or themselves,
then our job is done.
Ever heard of the Starfish?
- The Starfish -
An old man walked the beach at dawn as he had done for fifty years or so, taking in the sights, the smells and the view. Every so often as he walked he would stoop over, the pain of his aging body making the task just that little bit harder, yet every time he bent down he would carefully pick up stranded starfish that had washed ashore overnight. After cleaning them, admiring them and praying for them, he would gently throw them back into the cool morning waters to revitalise them and give them a chance to survive once more.
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On this particular morning, the old man crossed paths with a young teenager playing in the sand being quite destructive and noisy, ruining the serenity the old man had sought that morning.
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As their paths crossed, the teen stopped and for a few moments stared at the strange behaviour the old man displayed - he couldn't understand why the old man was being methodical and careful in his actions. Plucking up the courage, more to be brash than curious, he walked over to the old man and scoffed, "You silly old fool, what on earth are you doing? Do you have so much time in your life left to walk the beach like this? You should be out spending what time you have left on yourself." The old man, with a gentle voice and even tone, explained "I am doing a service for the starfish, because if they are still here in the morning when the sun came up, they will shrivel up and die in the heat, so I am giving them a chance to live again".
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Looking up and down the beach in both directions the boy laughed. "Well you are truly a silly old fool, can you not see with your aging eyes that the beach goes on for miles in both directions and there are millions of starfish laying stranded on the sand, how can your small effort make any difference whatsoever?"
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With tears in his eyes at the young man's ignorance, the old man slowly picked up another starfish, dusted it off on the edge of his shirt, said a quiet prayer and tossed it gently back into the safety of the waves as he continued his slow methodical walk down the beach. "Well one thing I know," he said to the teen as he walked away, "I just made a difference to that one!"
Now the story can continue and there is more to be written...