UM
Where we are the chess culture is huge and everywhere and there are a lot of very very competitive parents involved. I say parents because thats usually where the attitudes come from. We know a family who has two kids - we met them when little one was DS age in K - older was maybe 9 - they had been doing the competitive chess for the older and the parents played and they travelled and it was a fun thing for the family - then its noticed just how good the little one is - like scary chess prodigy good - so they started entering him in tournaments and then did get him a chess coach. What was interesting is that it was kind of like MoN's thread about skill vs interest. Its hard to tell if the little one is as interested in it as the older kid - but wow is he good. So the parents are nurturing it - perhaps even pushing it - where the little one wouldn't go on his own because he was 5 - now at 7 he is doing more tournaments, and again its a big family thing for them and he is winning. Does he like it or view it as something he does I don't know - but basically their point was that he could not get better to the level he understands without the coach appropriate to the level, which the school coach might not be. So I think if the coach is saying he needs more - its not necessarily about the drive to win or compete, he might be saying that your DS can go deeper and would need special instruction to do so. Ironically this is the reverse of what we all go through here - when was the last time some teacher came to a parent and said your kid needs more!!
DeHe
