Welcome to the Rookery!

Your application will get processed MUCH faster if you include two pieces of information for me:
1. Who you are

2. How you heard about the Rookery

I try to keep this community safe for kids as there are a lot of them in this club, and one of the best ways to accomplish that, is by knowing who they could be interacting with here.

All ages and skill levels are welcome! You might be one of the kids that plays with us at the library, or one of their parents. Or you might be someone who scanned a QR code on one of our boards at a tournament, or you might have heard about us on substack. Regardless, please feel free to apply!

Some of us have been playing for a long time, but many have just started and are still learning. Now is a great time to join.

About this club:

I started this club as a way to keep in touch with a group of good friends that I made while working at Niowave, Inc. I had previously played at the Grand Rapids Chess Center, (go check them out online or in person, they're great) and I was interested in bringing all of the people who enjoyed this hobby to the same place. Since starting the club, my kids have gotten into chess, and we play a lot at the local library, where a lot of our newer players are from.

About the name:

Since I started the club, originally named "Current and Former Niowave employees" it had really grown out of its name. I felt that in order to continue growing the club while maintaining it's unique identity that the club needed a new name and a new look.

I didn't want any name that limited who could be in the club based on geography or profession or any other background but I wanted it to be unique enough to preserve the community. I thought maybe some kind of animal might be good because it was very generic but identifiable. So, I started looking for animals that were adept problem solvers and stumbled upon crows... Turns out there is a crow species called a "Rook" that is known for it's problem solving ability and for nesting in large loosely related groups called "rookeries." I thought this was a nice aesthetic for a club that is basically little pockets of people affiliated with one another that have spread out some and are making new connections elsewhere.

So I settled on "The Rookery" and drew a cartoony logo. If you know me, or someone else in the club, please join us!