Macon youth program promotes life skills through chess

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Chess and Community, a youth development program, is promoting strategy and planning skills through the game of chess. Their motto, “think before you move”, aims to help children combat impulsive behavior and learn how to plan ahead.

Chuck Henderson, the director of Chess and Community, explained the benefits of the game in youth development.

“Chess is about strategizing and planning,” he said. “That’s the problem that we see in the youth today. They don’t have a clear vision, they don’t have a plan, they don’t have a strategy. What we do is we try to instill that concept.”

Founded in Athens, the organization recognized the need to expand its program in Macon after seeing a rise in youth crime. The program aims to instill leadership qualities through the game.

Kourtney Shelley, a mother of a student in the organization, shared her positive experience.

“We saw them playing chess, and he was so intrigued, and I said, ‘Wow.’ We discovered there was an organization that allowed for him to participate and play in chess so we got really excited about that.”

Shelley also mentioned how her son was learning new tactics and making new friends through the program.

The Chess and Community program is not only teaching children how to play chess, but also providing them with valuable life skills.

The group meets bi-weekly on Wednesdays at L.H. Williams Elementary School and the Bloomfield-Gilead Center and every third Saturday at Francar’s Buffalo Wings.