VCU Season Finale XI (04/28/2018; Richmond, VA)

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Cody
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VCU Season Finale XI (04/28/2018; Richmond, VA)

Post by Cody »

This is the general announcement for the 2018 Virginia Commonwealth University Season Finale Tournament, which is a high school academic quizbowl tournament, to be hosted at VCU in Richmond, Virginia, on Saturday, April 28, 2018 from 8:00 AM to about 5:00 PM. Registration will run from 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM, so teams should arrive before 8:30 AM. Rounds should conclude for the majority of teams before 5:00 PM.

Please note the change to our typical registration process, below, which involves registering via a Google Form. If you need any assistance, please e-mail George at the e-mail at the end of this post.

Location, directions & parking:
The tournament will most likely take place in Grace E. Harris Hall, located at the intersection of Main Street and Harrison Street, in Richmond, Virginia. One will want to park either on the street, or in the West Main Street Parking Deck, which has entrances on Cherry Street and Laurel Street and is nominally located at 801 W Main St. A campus map is accessible here.

The opening meeting will likely occur in Harris 101.

Questions:
This tournament will be using the BHSAT question set. Teams that have played the 2018 BHSAT at other sites are not eligible.

Affiliation:
This tournament will be Platinum certified by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, so it will be an opportunity for the top 25% of the field to qualify for the National Scholastics Championship, which will occur on June 2nd through 3rd in the Washington, D.C. area. More information is available at this link.

Format:
This tournament will use the tossup/bonus format. A round will consist of 20 tossups with correct tossup answers earning a team a bonus in which it can earn up to 30 additional points, usually broken into three questions each worth 10 points. There will be no math calculation tossups or bonuses; this does not preclude tossups or bonuses on mathematical concepts. Teams will be seeded to preliminary groupings before being reseeded based on record for playoffs. All teams will be offered a minimum of 9 games. Trophies will be awarded to the top teams, and book prizes will be awarded to the top individual scorers.

Registration & fees:
base fee: +$70 per team to your school's total fee. There is no limit to the number of teams who can attend from one school.

buzzer discount: -$5 to your school's total fee for each fully functional system. There is no limit to the number of systems you can bring. A fully functional buzzer system is defined as follows:
  • A buzzer system that clearly indicates which player has buzzed.
  • The control unit and at least 8 activators work, including lights on either or both of the 8 activators and control unit.
  • If the activators plug into a control unit via a modular connector, such as a telephone plug, tape must be provided if any latching tabs are broken.
staff discount: -$10 to your school's total fee. This can be a coach, parent, student, or other person who is not playing. Team-provided staffers will keep score for various games. Volunteer staffers must stay through all the games (excepting finals) in order to receive credit for their school. There is no limit to the number of staffers you can bring.

travel discount: -$10 to your school's total fee for every 150 miles traveled one-way from your school's address to VCU, according to Google Maps.

minimum fee: The minimum fee is $0. You can bring enough buzzers and staffers to eliminate your fee, but you cannot have a negative fee.

To register for this tournament, fill out this form. Once you have submitted the form, there is no further action needed on your part in order to be officially registered. You will receive periodic e-mail updates from us after you have registered. Posts made in this thread do not count as official registrations.

Please feel welcome to share this announcement with any schools that you think would be interested in attending!

Method of payment:
All teams must pay by the day of the tournament. We prefer to accept payment in person right before the tournament starts, but we will accept checks by mail ahead of time if required by your school. Teams who do not pay by the day of the tournament will be charged a $25 penalty and will have two weeks to pay their total amount.

We can accept cash, personal checks, or checks from a school, school district, quizbowl club, or other source. We have no ability to process purchase orders, credit cards, Paypal, or any other forms of payment. Bringing forms of payment outside of the three listed will be considered nonpayment and subject you to the $25 late payment penalty.

All checks must be made out to "Quizbowl at VCU". If you require an invoice or W-9 form in order to have a check cut, you must let us know by March 28, so that we can send you the paperwork in time. If you do not let us know about this requirement by March 28, and it causes you to come to the tournament without your payment, then you will be subject to the $25 late payment penalty.

Team & roster size:
There may be a maximum of six players on one team's roster, up to four of whom may play at one time. There will be no exceptions to this rule. If you bring more than six players, you must register a second team to have all of them play. There is a half-time substitution opportunity in each game. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day; there is no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may play shorthanded, with fewer than four players.

The VCU team reserves the right to cap the field based on availability of space and staff; the current cap is 24 teams. Teams registering after the field is full will be placed on a waitlist and will enter the field as we expand or as teams drop.

Food:
Neither breakfast nor lunch will be provided by the tournament. We will provide a list of suggested eateries for the lunch break, which will be some time after 12 PM.

George Berry
Tournament Director, VCU Season Finale Tournament
[email protected]
Last edited by Cody on Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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Cody
2008-09 Male Athlete of the Year
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Re: VCU Season Finale XI (04/21/2018; Richmond, VA)

Post by Cody »

Field (9/24):
1 Clover Hill
2 Collegiate
1 Douglas Freeman
2 Mountain Vista
3 Norfolk Academic Guild

Waitlist (0):
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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Frater Taciturnus
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Re: VCU Season Finale XI (04/28/2018; Richmond, VA)

Post by Frater Taciturnus »

Just to update with 10 days until the tournament we currently have a field of:

Norfolk Academic x 3
Collegiate x 2
Freeman x 1
Mountain Vista Gov x 2
Clover Hill x 1
Robinson x 1
Rockbridge x 2
Cosby x 1
Glen Allen x 2
Maggie Walker x 2
Dinwiddie x 3

While I am aware that Cody's post above notes a field cap of 24, I am holding further registrations until I can get a few more outside staffers to ensure that this tournament can be run as well as possible. (If you are a non-VCU-affiliated staffer who would be able to help us out, please email me at the linked address in my signature)
Janet Berry
[email protected]
she/they
--------------
J. Sargeant Reynolds CC 2008, 2009, 2014
Virginia Commonwealth 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
Douglas Freeman 2005, 2006, 2007
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Cody
2008-09 Male Athlete of the Year
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Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:57 am

Re: VCU Season Finale XI (04/28/2018; Richmond, VA)

Post by Cody »

Final standings and prelim statistics have been uploaded.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
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