New Team - Many Questions

[313carolyn]

I am helping coach a new team at our high school and have a few questions that have come up:

- How are practices usually structured? Is it typically a practice match?
- Most leagues/tournaments seem to be based on four players. What if we have more than four, but not a multiple of four? Do players substitute in from round to round?
- Are players assigned certain areas like science or literature in which to become expert?
- We are trying to join a league and would like to play in a few tournaments as well. Do some teams focus on just their league or tournaments only?
- Our school is located in the metro Detroit area. Any tips on particular tournaments or a league that you know needs another team?

Thank you very much!
Carolyn

User was reminded to enable a signature --Mgmt.

[Important Bird Area]

Welcome to the forum! We're always glad to hear of a new team joining the quizbowl community.

- We are trying to join a league and would like to play in a few tournaments as well. Do some teams focus on just their league or tournaments only?

New teams should take every opportunity possible to play, no matter the format of the event.

Most leagues/tournaments seem to be based on four players. What if we have more than four, but not a multiple of four? Do players substitute in from round to round?

This usually depends on the number of players involved. With five, it's relatively easy to substitute players in and out. If you have seven, you're almost certainly better off splitting into two teams. (One would be shorthanded, but it beats sitting and watching almost half of the time.)

- Our school is located in the metro Detroit area. Any tips on particular tournaments or a league that you know needs another team?

The best ways to find local tournaments are to watch this forum and the schedule on naqt.com, which notes that the University of Michigan is hosting its annual fall tournament on December 3rd. I'm sure the Michigan players will be along soon to provide more local information.

[Steeve Ho You Fat]

- How are practices usually structured? Is it typically a practice match?

That's what we did in my high school, and what I recommend. I've heard other teams will study stuff and that kind of thing, but it seems to me that that could be done individually by players at home, while (excluding Skype) it's difficult to get experience actually playing against opponents except in practice and competition.

- Most leagues/tournaments seem to be based on four players. What if we have more than four, but not a multiple of four? Do players substitute in from round to round?

Jeff is right here: even if you have to have a three-person team, it's always best to have everyone play as much as you can. Most tournaments offer discounts for multiple teams from the same school.

- Are players assigned certain areas like science or literature in which to become expert?

This depends on teams, but I'd recommend having one person who's legitimately interested in and wants to learn more about at least the "Big Three" of science, literature, and history. There have been successful teams that consist of one generalist, who knows things about all areas, but it's much more manageable to divide up stuff, just as long as each person's assigned area is something they're actually interested in lest they burn out.

- We are trying to join a league and would like to play in a few tournaments as well. Do some teams focus on just their league or tournaments only?
- Our school is located in the metro Detroit area. Any tips on particular tournaments or a league that you know needs another team?

I strongly recommend going to as many tournaments as possible. I'm going to Michigan State next year, and I expect we'll host at least one high school tournament this year. Michigan also hosts the one Jeff mentioned, and, if memory serves, Novi, Detroit Catholic Central, and Detroit Country Day High Schools have also all hosted tournaments in the past. Posts on this forum are probably the best place to find information about tournaments.

[Windmill Tump]

Woohoo new Michigan team! In general, I agree with what Jeff and Joe said; in particular, I think playing actual questions during practices is really fun, and after you've become familiar with what comes up, you can point out what's important to newer players.

- We are trying to join a league and would like to play in a few tournaments as well. Do some teams focus on just their league or tournaments only?
- Our school is located in the metro Detroit area. Any tips on particular tournaments or a league that you know needs another team?

Definitely go to as many tournaments as you can - your team will get a lot better this way, and playing quiz bowl is always fun.
As for a league, I know we and a lot of other teams in this area are in the Inter-County League, although I have no clue how this is organized. I assume Jeff can give you a way to contact them.
As mentioned, a good way to keep track of tournaments is on this forum, and you can look at the Michigan thread as well.
There are a decent number of local tournaments: usually, Michigan has their Autumn tournament in December, and Michigan State has a couple (Rube and March Madness)in February and March, in addition to NAQT states, which Michigan hosted this year. Then Catholic Central's hosted tournaments, and Novi's done so too for the past couple years, although I don't know what's going on this year. I think we'll host one too this year.

It's great to see that there'll be a new team this year, and I hope we'll see you around. Feel free to message me any questions you have.

[Important Bird Area]

we and a lot of other teams in this area are in the Inter-County League, although I have no clue how this is organized. I assume Jeff can give you a way to contact them.

I sure can. Write to Craig Barker, cdbarkernaqt [at] gmail

[itsthatoneguy]

Guess I'm late to the party, as you guys pretty much covered everything! We will be announcing Autumn Classic as soon as school gets started. There is also discount for new teams!