Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Dormant threads from the high school sections are preserved here.
Locked
User avatar
CaptainKirk
Lulu
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:24 pm

Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by CaptainKirk »

Our school has basically given us the finger in terms of funding, opting instead for boosting the football team again. We are beginning to fundraise to get to some of the tournaments, but there are many that we won't be able to attend either because of funding or because of our coach's busy lifestyle. Have any teams ever gone as a group of friends and carpool to a tournament without school funding or affiliation before? If we did this, could we still qualify as a high school team for nationals at these "non-affiliated group" tournaments?
Eli Kirk
DuBois Area High School '16
Quiz Bowl Captain 2014-
User avatar
heterodyne
Rikku
Posts: 427
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:47 am

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by heterodyne »

We did this quite a bit. There are a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure that your transportation, logistics, and payment are worked out well in advance. Second, ensure that those hosting are aware that you will be attending unaffiliated. This could be an issue due to restrictions set by their own venue or to ensure that they use the pseudonym you want.
Alston [Montgomery] Boyd
Bloomington High School '15
UChicago '19
UChicago Divinity '21
they
User avatar
ryanrosenberg
Auron
Posts: 1890
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 5:48 pm
Location: Palo Alto, California

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by ryanrosenberg »

CaptainKirk wrote:Our school has basically given us the finger in terms of funding, opting instead for boosting the football team again. We are beginning to fundraise to get to some of the tournaments, but there are many that we won't be able to attend either because of funding or because of our coach's busy lifestyle. Have any teams ever gone as a group of friends and carpool to a tournament without school funding or affiliation before? If we did this, could we still qualify as a high school team for nationals at these "non-affiliated group" tournaments?
Definitely let the tournament director know which school you're from, and make sure that they're okay with a pseudonym. When I directed last year's Tar Heel Cup, we had an unaffiliated team playing under a pseudonym that qualified for NSC. They had told me what school they were, though, so I was able to tell PACE and make sure their qualification went through.

Both HSNCT and NSC have had teams play under pseudonyms at nationals in the past few years, too, so there shouldn't be a problem there.
Ryan Rosenberg
North Carolina '16
ACF
User avatar
CaptainKirk
Lulu
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:24 pm

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by CaptainKirk »

But would we be able to play as a pseudonym team, and then play as our high school at nationals? Would that just require us to give some background info to the tournament directors?
Eli Kirk
DuBois Area High School '16
Quiz Bowl Captain 2014-
User avatar
Important Bird Area
Forums Staff: Administrator
Posts: 6112
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2003 3:33 pm
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Contact:

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by Important Bird Area »

For HSNCT, you would need to apply for a wildcard bid (explaining that you played pseudonymously at the local qualifying events).
Jeff Hoppes
President, Northern California Quiz Bowl Alliance
former HSQB Chief Admin (2012-13)
VP for Communication and history subject editor, NAQT
Editor emeritus, ACF

"I wish to make some kind of joke about Jeff's love of birds, but I always fear he'll turn them on me Hitchcock-style." -Fred
User avatar
The Stately Rhododendron
Rikku
Posts: 484
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:18 pm
Location: Heart's in the woods

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by The Stately Rhododendron »

CaptainKirk wrote:Our school has basically given us the finger in terms of funding, opting instead for boosting the football team again. We are beginning to fundraise to get to some of the tournaments, but there are many that we won't be able to attend either because of funding or because of our coach's busy lifestyle. Have any teams ever gone as a group of friends and carpool to a tournament without school funding or affiliation before? If we did this, could we still qualify as a high school team for nationals at these "non-affiliated group" tournaments?
Because our coach having a kid/working Saturdays, Oakland Mills almost never went to a tournament with a coach. We signed up for tournaments and then drove to them. Fortunately for us, we got some school funding. We always went as Oakland Mills, and our school didn't care/had no problems with it.

Is there a reason why you couldn't go as DuBois? Does your school not allow you to go without a coach?
IKD
Yale 18
Oakland Mills 14
"I am the NAQT beast I worship."
User avatar
CaptainKirk
Lulu
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:24 pm

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by CaptainKirk »

The Stately Rhododendron wrote:
Because our coach having a kid/working Saturdays, Oakland Mills almost never went to a tournament with a coach. We signed up for tournaments and then drove to them. Fortunately for us, we got some school funding. We always went as Oakland Mills, and our school didn't care/had no problems with it.

Is there a reason why you couldn't go as DuBois? Does your school not allow you to go without a coach?
Our school is very strict where it doesn't need to be, and lenient where it needs to be strict. We pretty much have to have a coach, school approval, and school-approved transportation for any event that could be associated with a school "club". We have to be supervised at all times as the quiz bowl team, but football players can drive to and from away games by themselves. It's very imbalanced here.
Eli Kirk
DuBois Area High School '16
Quiz Bowl Captain 2014-
User avatar
Howard
Tidus
Posts: 696
Joined: Fri May 09, 2003 5:42 pm
Location: Ellicott City, MD

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by Howard »

This year, for the first time ever, due to my philoshophical issues with an organizer, I refused to take my team to a particular tournament. I made it clear to my team the extent of my issues and advised them they were still free to make up their own minds as to whether they still wished to attend without me or support from the school. As part of this, I told them I thought the whole pseudonym idea was silly. There are all from the same school and would have met any qualification requirements of the tournament. It's my opinion independent teams are free to call themselves whatever they want while they're on their own time, and the school or school system is would be violating their free speech by telling them they can't.
John Gilbert
Coach, Howard High School Academic Team
Ellicott City, MD

"John Gilbert is a quiz bowl god" -- leftsaidfred
User avatar
heterodyne
Rikku
Posts: 427
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:47 am

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by heterodyne »

You may find the pseudonym idea silly, but in many cases it's necessary to avoid school retribution.
Alston [Montgomery] Boyd
Bloomington High School '15
UChicago '19
UChicago Divinity '21
they
User avatar
ryanrosenberg
Auron
Posts: 1890
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 5:48 pm
Location: Palo Alto, California

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by ryanrosenberg »

For PACE NSC, as long as we can verify that all the students are from the same school, a performance playing under a pseudonym will qualify you for nationals. Teams with strong performances using pseudonyms that just fall short of nationals qualification may use those performances in their wildcard bids.
Ryan Rosenberg
North Carolina '16
ACF
User avatar
Captain Sinico
Auron
Posts: 2675
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2003 1:46 pm
Location: Champaign, Illinois

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by Captain Sinico »

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. I'm sure you can find a way around them if you'll put some effort in.

Schools are often okay with a parent trusted by the coach accompanying a team for the purposes of making everything official. Even if your school's not cool with that, local tournament organizers usually really only care that you have some affiliated responsible adult. Ergo, see if you can rope a parent in and have them be your chaperone or coach.

On a related note, schools are often much more receptive to parental pressure than student pressure when it comes to things like one team getting the shaft over another. That might be an avenue to pursue if you find it necessary.
Mike Sorice
Former Coach, Centennial High School of Champaign, IL (2014-2020) & Team Illinois (2016-2018)
Alumnus, Illinois ABT (2000-2002; 2003-2009) & Fenwick Scholastic Bowl (1999-2000)
Member, ACF (Emeritus), IHSSBCA, & PACE
vishdog101
Lulu
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 9:52 pm

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by vishdog101 »

As the founder/captain of my middle school quiz bowl team, the school administration did the same thing to us. Your best bet would be what you previously mentioned-carpooling. However, you are required to have an adult chaperone of some sort. Good luck!

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt.
vishal sivamani
coppell 21 | jhu 25
joyous
Lulu
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2015 9:44 am

Re: Going to HS tournaments without coaches?

Post by joyous »

My school started a quiz bowl team relatively recently (last year), but they do not really have a coach and the club is entirely student-run. The presidents of the club managed to get a grant to fund a few buzzer sets as well as transportation to tournaments. My team decided to split off due to club board issues, so now we play under a pseudonym as well as pay for our own registration, etc.

Even so, it's entirely fine to play at tournaments without a coach while representing your school, but if your club ever turns sour, you always have the option of playing under a pseudonym! To be frank, I did not know that pseudonyms can apply for wild card bids for HSNCT so thanks for indirectly answering any questions I would have had for that :)

Best of luck!
sam he
phillips academy '17
uc berkeley '21
Locked