Free public training Nov. 1 designed to teach consequences for every move

SALT LAKE CITY --  Former Alabama State Trooper and U.S. Air Force veteran Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson is on a nation-wide mission to change young lives using the game of chess to teach vital life lessons and he is coming to Salt Lake City for his next move. According to the  Georgia-based chess champion, his Be Someone Inc. organization, which he founded 17 years ago, changes young lives “using chess boards not fists and guns.”

Hudson started his Be Someone non-profit organization in 2001 and has trained more than 64,000 young people how to “fight with their brains not bullets.”  He speaks in terms young people today can understand and he has experience to back up his street-cred. “I grew up in the inner-city of Birmingham.  I was destined to fail.  My resume was not pretty…. Foster child, gang member, petty criminal,” he says.

His life changed forever one day when a teacher saw the potential Hudson never realized he exhibited and sat him down in front of a chess board.  “At first I rebelled.  I’m not smart enough to learn this game and even if I did, so what,” he remembers thinking.  The patience of this teacher paid off and the “so what” came to be as Orrin slowly gave up the street life to turn things around. 

“I honestly believe my teacher, using the game of chess, not only changed my life, he saved it,” Hudson claims.   Several years removed from his high school days and well on his way to a successful life, Hudson saw a story about a New York robbery resulting in the murders of several young people.  He knew then he had to do something to pay back the debt he owed.  He developed a training program using chess aimed at young people – many of them  at-risk youngsters – as well as parents, guardians and counselors.

What he will be telling audiences at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco (15 W. 200 South) November 1, 6 – 9 p.m. is impactful… “Brains before  bullets; Think it out, don’t shoot it out; Gert your head up, pants up, grades up, and, most importantly, don’t ever give up.”  Hudson stresses, “I teach young people something they are not being taught today, there are consequences for every move they make, whether it is on the chess board or in life.  I teach them to think ahead and to be givers in this life,  not takers.”

The Be Someone training is free and open to the public.  Hudson, a motivational speaker and best-selling author as well as a chess champion, will set up multiple boards and will take on competitors while at the same time presenting his life-changing messages.  “I welcome young people but I also invite parents and guardians – especially single moms who need new tools in raising their children through the mine field of life.”

Hudson requests registration be made at info@besomeone.org and invites interested attendees to visit the organization’s web site at www.besomeone.org to learn more about him and his program.  He and Be Someone have accumulated a wealth of honors and awards and media attention through the years and earned the support of celebrities such as Steve Harvey and Tyler Perry.

Hudson will be participating in “The Powerful Experience” conference at the Salt Lake Palace, November 2-3.  “When I visit a city for whatever reason,” he explains, “I almost always take the opportunity to offer a free training session.  What I teach is bedrock common sense, attention getting, and results proven.“

”This visit might be said to be a leap of faith since I have no formal partnerships arranged,” he adds. “But faith has seen me take an idea and build it into an effective organization making a difference in young lives.  I believe we will have a good turn out and I can’t wait to meet the citizens of Salt Lake, November 1.”