Thursday, December 20, 2007

Servant-Leaders

Hi there!

It's been awhile ... after a disappointing visit I made last weekend in the recently held tournament here in the province, owing it to the failure of the groups leader to delegate and plan ahead, I believe it's important that he read this post that I am sharing to all of you.

Chess parents were complaining about the inadequacies and inefficiencies of the organizers but mostly everyone attribute it to the head of the problem, the groups' president (daw). Complains vary from lack of ground rules as to who can play and who cannot, lack of chaire (or there's none at all), no computer and printer for the pairing list per round. Hay naku! It was a toothache to watch and listen to.

Poor leadership has it's roots to poor managerial and personal attributes. Plus the fact that this guy keeps on telling the whole world about NCFP's misgivings on the chess development of the country. Man! Why don't you shut up and work... if you have the know-how. Definitely you're far from what you say you are.

Here, give yourself the chance to learn... Your members (as what you say, the legit ones) need your guidance....

What is Servant-Leadership?

Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment.

Robert Greenleaf, the man who coined the phrase, described servant-leadership in this way.

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve – after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

The difference manifest itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer , is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?”

Taken from the Servant As Leader published by Robert Greenleaf in 1970.

Read more about Robert K. Greenleaf

Larry Spears, the CEO of the Greenleaf Center, describes servant-leadership in this way.

“As we near the end of the twentieth century, we are beginning to see that traditional autocratic and hierarchical modes of leadership are slowly yielding to a newer model – one that attempts to simultaneously enhance the personal growth of workers and improve the quality and caring of our many institutions through a combination of teamwork and community, personal involvement in decision making, and ethical and caring behavior. This emerging approach to leadership and service is called servant-leadership."

Taken from the Introduction to Reflections on Leadership published by John Wiley in 1995.


Philippine Chess may be faltering but it will rise up again... as long as people work on their own roles and responsibilities.

Photo Updates

Hi there!

Here's the photo we collected from the Grand Finals of the Spelling Bee Contest we had last November, enjoy!









Friday, December 14, 2007

Sports Development in Cavite

Hi there!

I got a lenghty letter from a Chess Federation Officer just now and whew! It was, yes, long. Hahahah!

I believe the federation has a potential, has got what it takes to work on it's goals and plans. Let's just hope they won't be sucked in by the system that has plagued mankind since time began, POLITICS.

Today is the second day of the 1st Maes-Maes Festival being held at the Imus Pilot Elementary School. Sponsored by the Imus Sports Council and Imus Tourism Office, this is a three day event which has a cash prize of PhP 15,000.

I'd like to thank Mayor Manny Maliksi who has always worked for the sports development in Imus Cavite.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Correction

Hi there!

GM Wesley So is the 7th World's Youngest Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, one month and 28 days.

Check this out:

"the world’s youngest GMs in history are Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine (12 years old and seven month), Parimarjan Negi of India (13 years, three months and 22 days), Magnus Carlsen of Norway (13 years, three months and 27 days), Bu Xiangzhi of China (13 years, 10 months and 13 days), Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan (14 years and 14 days), and Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine (14 years, 17 days)... Officially, So also became the country’s eighth -- and youngest -- GM. He joins the elite list which also include Eugene Torre (1974), the late Rosendo Balinas (1976), Rogelio Antonio Jr. (1998) , Buenaventura “Bong “ Villamayor (2000), Nelson Mariano (2004), Mark Paragua (2005) and Laylo (2007)." (lifted from NCFP Homepage)

Grandmaster, 2 in 1

Hi there!

Whew! After intentionally unblogging myself over the weekend to make sure my post about Wesley capturing his 3rd and final GM norm on the 9th and last round of Pichay Cup would float around the net for awhile, I feel refreshed and ready to blog about chess, specifically, Philippine Chess, but not exclusively!

Well, everyone in the room that time were happy and you know it's Christmas time! Hahahahah! For us chess fans, players and freaks, I believe we have always wanted Wesley to nail that final GM norm. And he do he did it! Making Filipinos all around the world proud again of the brown race, the Malay race!

Yahoo!

Some announcements:

Then Imus Sports Council and Imus Municipal Tourism Council is organizing the 1st Maes-Maes National Invitational Championship on December 14-16 at the Imus Pilot Elementary School in Cavite (my first volunteer teaching job).

What is Maes-Maes? Simply put, it is an ingenious Filipino version sport of the beach volleyball. There is one major consideration guys... IT SHOULD BE PLAYED ON DRIED RICE FIELDS!

A total of 20 participants from Ilocos, Pangasinan, Bicol, Visayas, Mindanao and the Province of Cavite have signed up for this historical event.

The champion of the three day tournament will win Php 15,000.00.

For details, call 046-4721447 and 0918-9139697. Call now or miss the chance to be part of this big event.

Of course, our very own, Mayor Manny Maliksi is in full support of this tournament. As you all know, (Mayor) Manny, since his vice-mayor days, has always aspired and actually worked and sponsored sports development in Imus Cavite. He has sought out the formation of major sports organization and one of which is the Imus Chess Association. Thank you so much!

Still Cavite, The Cavite Chess Federation, headed by Mr. Johner Egenias, will be holding a Chess Festival on December 15 to 16 at the FRC (Puregold) Mall. Lined up are:


1. (Saturday, Morning) Simultaneous Event
2. (Saturday, Afternoon)Kiddies Tournament
3. 2050 and Under Chess Tournament (Sunday)

A lot of questions are hanging in my head about these activities. The prizes? the arbitration? The NCFP sanctioning and other stuffs. One major issue I heard about this though is the "sudden" replacement of one of it's officers. What happened? Also, who says one is a top Junior when one has not fought against a Cavite resident playing board one in one of the major collegiate leagues in the land?

Good luck to Cavite Chess Federation! This is a good start... I really wish this one adheres to it's goals and objectives (though I have not received any copy of the fed's official Constitution).

And on to our post title.

We have produced 2 grandmaster in 1 year!

We have the 7th GM in the name of Darwin Laylo, who I have had a long chat during the Pichay Cup. I reminded him about the dinner we had together with IM Ronald Dableo and Philippine's premier chess journalist, Mr. Bobby Ang on the eve of their NCFP suspension. He was humble enough to say that he has moved on about it and he's happy he is now a fully titled Grandmaster. It's a dream come true, he said!

And yes, we have our very own, the 5th youngest Grandmaster in the world, Wesley So. A resident of Bacoor Cavite. I had a long chat too with his dad, Mr. William So who told me a lot of stories behind Wesley's chess studies. One of which, he told me, is that Wesley has not watched television in the last 6 years!


This proves my theory about television and the total development of a human!Having a background in Occupational Therapy and further studies in Special Education, I have always believed that television use must be monitored specially during the developmental years. That would mean from 1 month old to 21 years old. Pediatricians book would say developmental years are from 18 below.

Tough? Wait till you handle children whose life is moved by video games like Dota, Counter Strike and Audition.

Anyways, I asked Mang William if I can do a one on one interview with GM Wesley that fateful afternoon, when he captured the title, and his answer was the same the first time I asked him during the 2nd GMA Cup. "Anytime", you visit us there he said.

Till then!
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