Volunteering Through the Game of Chess
This week’s guest post is by Dimnobi Eleh, who shares his experience volunteering at a summer chess club and the lessons he learned about patience, growth, and connecting with others.
Volunteering at my summer chess club taught me something quiet but big. Chess has always been part of my life. I grew up playing, and I even won a tournament back in Nigeria. This summer, I decided to give back by helping run the Oakville chess club, twhere I taught basics, organized events, and made sure new players felt welcome.
My role was simple on paper. I set up boards, showed kids how the pieces move, and sat with beginners while they learned to think a couple moves ahead. In practice, it was a lot noisier, messier, and far more rewarding than I expected. The room smelled like sweat and pizza boxes after tournaments. Little hands bumped pieces off the board. Players argued about whether a pawn could sneak past a rook. All of it felt flawed, but alive.
What surprised me most was how quickly small wins changed people. One boy came every week and lost almost every game. He would stare at the board like it was a puzzle with missing pieces. After a few sessions, he started seeing patterns. The week he finally won against another child, he did not jump. He simply looked stunned, then smiled slowly as if he had discovered something inside himself. He hugged the king with his palm before looking at me and whispering, "I finally did it". That moment hit me harder than any trophy I have.
I also learned to be patient and to explain things in different ways. Some players needed a diagram. Others needed a story about the pieces. I learned to celebrate small improvements and to remind kids that losing is part of learning, not a verdict on who they are or how good they were at the game.
Volunteering at the chess club was not a grand project. It was afternoons of repetition, jokes about blunders, and tiny victories that added up. But those afternoons did something important. They helped people feel capable and connected, and they reminded me why sharing something you love with others is important.