WINNIPEG — You would never tell by just looking at Matthew Tardaguile but the Andrew Mynarski VC School student is exercising.
Not his body, his brain.
“I started sweating half way through it because I got really nervous,” said Tardaguile.
Sweating over a game of chess. Something Steve Udarbe calls a sport.
“It relaxes you,” said Udarbe. “That’s what I feel when I play it. Probably the same thing with other sports. Some people play basketball or volleyball and they feel content. They feel fulfilled.”
Udarbe launched Mind Sports Manitoba in January as a way to share his passion for chess and scrabble.
“Once you learn those sports, you learn patience, perseverance, creativity,” said Udarbe. “You have to be imaginative.”
On top of organizing weekly drop in games, Mind Sports Manitoba also offers clinics to schools. Udarbe hopes it will help create more chess and scrabble clubs by hooking a generation that’s hooked on technology.
“They’re more sociable when they play face-to-face instead of playing with their cell phone or smart phone,” said Udarbe.
While Mind Sports Manitoba would like to one day see its membership grow into the hundreds, the organization doesn’t want to get away from it’s initial goal of developing both chess and scrabble here in the province. To help their drive, Mind Sports Manitoba will be holding a tournament this Saturday at the Sinclair Park Community Centre.
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