Questions for Starting a New Team

New high school teams looking for advice should post here.
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geigersplat
Kimahri
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Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by geigersplat »

Hello All,

I am a teacher at a North Carolina private school and am coaching a new Quiz Bowl team for the first time this year. We just had our first interest meeting and I have a whopping 17 kids who signed up (way more than I expected). I wanted to ask a couple of questions that I have not been able to find the answers to:

1) Are there any NAQT or NC High School affiliation fees. How do I find them? How much are they? How do I pay them?

2) How do I formally establish my new team? Do I need to announce it in some way or just start registering for events?

3) Anyone have any advice for purchasing a lockout system that is has a good durability to affordability ratio? Can you give me a link? Something that worked for you?

4) Any other odd stuff I may not be thinking about that I should know? Any tips for a beginner?

Thanks so much!
Dylan D. Phillips
Gaston Day School
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by Important Bird Area »

Welcome to the quizbowl community!

There are no affiliation fees for participating in NAQT, so you should feel free to just start signing up for tournaments (which have various registration fees, depending on size and amenities). There are calendars here on the forums and at naqt.com.

The "Officiator" by Anderson Enterprises is a good inexpensive buzzer system.
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
acrosby1861
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by acrosby1861 »

geigersplat wrote: 2) How do I formally establish my new team? Do I need to announce it in some way or just start registering for events?
I think it would be best to tell the school about the new team if the school doesn't know already. But if the school already knows, then start registering & competing.
geigersplat wrote: 4) Any other odd stuff I may not be thinking about that I should know? Any tips for a beginner?
Practice. A lot. It lets kids know what types of questions to expect, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Also start competing. It has the same benefits as practicing, and it also builds experience.

Good luck with your new team!

Edit: I found a few typos.
Arianne Crosby
Los Alamitos High School '17
UC San Diego '20
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cchiego
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by cchiego »

Here's a guide to attending quizbowl tournaments. This should give you an idea of the registration process and what to expect at the tournaments themselves.

We also have a basic overview of how to start a team as well as a brief guide to some resources to help a team improve.

You can also take a look around the forums and naqt.com as well as some other quizbowl sites.

It's always nice to see a new team with an enthusiastic sponsor; best of luck this year!
Chris C.
Past: UGA/UCSD/Penn
Present: Solano County, CA
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by Great Bustard »

Hi Dylan,
Welcome to quizbowl! The National History Bee and Bowl are quizbowl-style tournaments with a focus on history. This link: http://www.historybowl.com/resources/st ... resources/ has everything you need to get started. We'll have several tournaments in North Carolina this year, and one in South Carolina that you're also welcome to attend. Our area Regional Coordinator, Eric Xu, can be reached at [email protected] if you have any further questions. Good luck!
David Madden
Ridgewood (NJ) '99, Princeton '03
Founder and Director: International History Bee and Bowl, National History Bee and Bowl (High School Division), International History Olympiad, United States Geography Olympiad, US History Bee, US Academic Bee and Bowl, National Humanities Bee, National Science Bee, International Academic Bowl.
Adviser and former head coach for Team USA at the International Geography Olympiad
geigersplat
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by geigersplat »

Thank you very much for your help and advice. I had my school purchase the Anderson Officiator and it works like a charm. We had our first practice yesterday and I can tell the kids need some work but they were enthusiastic and having fun.

I work at a small independent school with most students involved in multiple sports and extra-curriculars. Unfortunately, athletics tend to trump everything else so I have many students who have to leave my practice early to make it to athletic practices (which are held every day), and I was only able to get one practice a week with my Quiz Bowl team. Has anyone had any similar challenges to this and have any specific tips for overcoming it?
Dylan D. Phillips
Gaston Day School
tuscumbiaqb
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by tuscumbiaqb »

geigersplat wrote:Thank you very much for your help and advice. I had my school purchase the Anderson Officiator and it works like a charm. We had our first practice yesterday and I can tell the kids need some work but they were enthusiastic and having fun.

I work at a small independent school with most students involved in multiple sports and extra-curriculars. Unfortunately, athletics tend to trump everything else so I have many students who have to leave my practice early to make it to athletic practices (which are held every day), and I was only able to get one practice a week with my Quiz Bowl team. Has anyone had any similar challenges to this and have any specific tips for overcoming it?
One option is holding practice before school occasionally if your students are amenable to it. Other than that, there's probably not a whole lot you can do except build a small core of students who want to make quiz bowl their primary extracurricular activity. Focus on recruiting the few students who don't really have a niche (that is, if they have the aptitude for the activity to begin with). If you have just a few for whom quiz bowl is their "thing", it won't hurt the team as much when some have to miss for athletic practices.

To deal with an issue peripheral to yours, one thing we've done at our school (a public rural high school with enrollment around 75 in 9-12) that's helped with schedule conflicts is to create a school-wide priority policy. Students can choose which practices they attend, but they may not miss a competition in any activity for a practice in another. That rule has saved my (already small) roster for many a tournament.
Jason Loy
Cutter Morning Star HS '00-'04
Harding '04-'08
Missouri State '08-'10
Coach, Tuscumbia High School
Member of HSAPQ, MOQBA, PACE
Monstruos de Bolsillo
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by Monstruos de Bolsillo »

Another option is outside practice, but that depends on the willingness of the students to take time out of their own busy lives. While it is very important to practice with the buzzers, especially early on, complementing that with either outside study or prep can be quite useful, and can lead to some pretty rapid improvement. My team will sometimes Skype practice on weekends.
Alex Sankaran
West Chester '17-'21
Henderson (PA) '12-'16
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needhamquizteam
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by needhamquizteam »

By the end of this year my team is losing 7 of our 11 players, any tips to recruit and rebuild? ( I am looking for people with mythology and literature)
Roger Ramesh
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Re: Questions for Starting a New Team

Post by dhumphreys17 »

The thing that has best worked with our team can be done using this script.

Me: "Mr. X, our quiz bowl team is doing its annual recruitment drive. Do you have any recommendable players, especially that would be good for (fill-in-the-blank, but for our cases) Literature?"
Teacher: "Well, are Jane Doe and John Smith on your team already? Both of them would be good for lit."
Me: "Jane is, but not John. Thanks for the suggestion!"
Teacher: "You're welcome!"

FIVE MINUTES LATER (read in obnoxious French SpongeBob voice)

Me: "John! How are you doing?"
John: "Good."
Me: "John, Mr. X told me that we should look at recruiting you for our quiz bowl team because you'd make a great literature player. Are you interested?"
John: "Really? Mr. X recommended me?"
Me: "Yeah."
John: "Sure, I'll check it out."

TL;DR: When people know they've been recommended by a teacher, it builds their self-esteem and makes them more interested in joining the program.
Devin James John Humphreys
Sacred Heart Academy High School (MI), Class of 2017 - 2015 HSNCT, 2016 NSC, 2017 NSC
Michigan State University, B.A. Class of 2020
University of Notre Dame, J.D. Class of 2023 - standby 2023 ICT-DII; coach 2023-24
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