As the Varsity Chess Team Captain:
Serving as the Varsity Chess Team Captain at the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez was both an honor and a deeply rewarding experience. Under my leadership, our team achieved victories in local and island-wide tournaments, a testament to our collective dedication and strategic growth. Beyond the competitions, I took great pride in mentoring my teammates, spending time with each player to practice, analyze their games, and draw inspiration from professional chess strategies that we could adapt to our own play.
Being captain taught me invaluable lessons that extended far beyond the chessboard. It challenged me to think creatively, break free from conventional strategies, and approach problems from different perspectives. The experience reinforced my belief in the power of adaptability and the importance of applying skills from various areas of life to achieve success in anything I set my mind to.
As the Chess Club President:
As the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez Campus’ Chess Club President, I presided over different initiatives that helped our club grow and thrive such as, but not limited to:
- Fundraising activities to obtain new chess equipment for the team and local club members to practice on.
- Budget management to ensure there were always enough funds for local and island-wide tournament participation and transportation, equipment replacement and maintenance, and administrative fees for activities on Campus, among others.
- Bringing the chess to the local community in an accessible way in terms of equipment and teaching those who had never played before, leading them to develop a passion for the sport.
- Opening up a space in our club to practice parallel sports such as Go that could help everyone acquire transferable strategies and tools that could help improve their chess game.
