Frequency of Meetings

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paintallthestuff
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Frequency of Meetings

Post by paintallthestuff »

So I joined the school JV quiz team a few months ago, and found this site a few weeks ago. Reading through some of the posts, I've noticed that some teams reference daily practices and study sessions. Our coach holds practice and a lunch study session once a week. Is this enough, or should the number of meetings increase if we are to get better?

On a different note, six new players showed up a few weeks ago, and I feel they are really dragging us down, doubling the amount of negs and whatnot. In fact, of the original eleven players, our coach is only going to select four members to continue on to varsity at the end of the year. Is this normal? Is it better to have a small, well rounded team or a large one?

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Golran
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Re: Frequency of Meetings

Post by Golran »

My opinion is that nobody should be excluded from activities that wants to put in the effort and work that the activity deserves. For quizbowl especially since there's no AAU quizbowl, no rec leagues, no club/travel teams not associated with schools. In nearly any other competitive activity, there is still a way to participate without having to go through your school in a way that you won't be put at a disadvantage (like you would if it were to go to a tournament solo and unaffiliated due to exclusion by your school). From that, I could see a coach not bringing multiple teams to tournaments due to budget restrictions, but with private funding you could still attend tournaments. As for practices, if there's such a huge skill gap, the low level players may not get much out of practice, especially if they've never even heard of the answer lines or their context, in which case their time would not be well spent at a group practice. But this go back to the first point where individuals that are willing to put in the effort will be up to the level where they will get something out of practice and shouldn't be excluded.

Even if your school's team is limited by resources, you will have a group of people already formed that want to participate in the same activity as you without a formal avenue to do it. You could certainly hold your own practices, with the people on this board advising you (not coaching though) on any questions you may have. Many tournaments will allow you to participate without your school's affiliation, so as long as you're privately funded (heck, even sell your team's name to a local pizzeria and make shirts with their name on it to advertise) you'll be able to participate in tournaments.
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t-bar
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Re: Frequency of Meetings

Post by t-bar »

What exactly do you mean by "dragging us down"? I suppose if you're doing something like playing simulated games in practice, and the new players are negging your team out of all the questions, that could be frustrating, but most new players have the opposite problem--they're reluctant to buzz on anything at all. If your newbies are already engaged enough to be buzzing frequently, that (usually) indicates a level of interest that will lead to rapid improvement once they get a better foothold on how you play the game.

As to whether picking a limited number of players is normal, it varies enormously based on where you are. In many areas, there is no formal distinction between Varsity and JV players at tournaments--they all play together, and a school can send as many players as they have the budget for. In areas dominated by a league or otherwise tightly controlled by some central authority, I imagine the practice of "picking teams" is more widespread. As Ian said, ideally everyone who wants to go to a tournament should be able to, but standards may vary in your area.
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Adm Akbar says It's a Tarp!
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Re: Frequency of Meetings

Post by Adm Akbar says It's a Tarp! »

I've held practice twice a week for the most part, and on a few occassions, 3 times a week. If a player wants to get better, it's basically on him/her to study and improve. Team practices don't hinder a player improving, but there are better ways if the player is motivated. I use practices mostly to get the team working together and used to communicating on bonuses.

I haven't stopped anyone from playing who came to practices and worked. If by "dragging the team down" though you mean some players come and act like they just want to be around friends and distract the whole team from practice, then they probably could using a talking to by the coach, or even being told don't come to our team practices if you are going to be disruptive. But, I've had a player who has come to practice every day, and all of last season didn't answer a question, rarely answers questions at practice, but still kept coming. And recently he answered his 1st toss-up in a match, then answered 2 more and he couldn't have been happier. As long as all the players are coming to practice to actually participate, and not distracting the rest of the team, I don't see why a player should be stopped from coming.
Fountain of Youth? There's already enough youth. Why not the Fountain of Smart?

-John Timmer, Kent State '10, Jackson-Milton Quizbowl Coach ('08- )
paintallthestuff
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Re: Frequency of Meetings

Post by paintallthestuff »

Adm Akbar says It's a Tarp! wrote:If by "dragging the team down" though you mean some players come and act like they just want to be around friends and distract the whole team from practice, then they probably could using a talking to by the coach, or even being told don't come to our team practices if you are going to be disruptive.
Yeah, sorry, that's what I meant when I said 'dragging the team down', not that they weren't buzzing. I should have been more specific. Some of them play well, but they are really rude when some of the other players buzz in with the wrong answers, and have therefore stopped people who know the answers from buzzing in. One of our better players is AMAZING at geography and history, but he's rather shy, and doesn't buzz when these players are around. It's just rather frustrating! I'll talk to the coach or team captain. Thanks!

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