2011 NASAT: June 11-12, University of Maryland-College Park

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

High School Academic Pyramid Questions announces that it will be holding the second HSAPQ National All-Star Academic Tournament on June 11-12, 2011 at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. The tournament will convene at 8:30 AM on Saturday, June 11 and run until about 6 PM, then conclude from 8:30 AM to about 3:00 PM on Sunday. We will announce details as soon as possible regarding the specific buildings on the Maryland campus that will be used.

This tournament will be open to all-star teams representing all states, the District of Columbia, all US territories, and all Canadian provinces and equivalents (as well as state or province-equivalent divisions of any other countries). Each state or equivalent may enter up to one team, with up to six players on its roster, up to four of whom may be playing at any one time. Any player who was enrolled in the 9th through 12th grade in a school physically located in that state during the 2010-2011 academic year is eligible to play on his or her state’s team. Generally speaking, home school students are also eligible; any questions about eligibility will be answered by HSAPQ as needed. This tournament is intended for states seeking an all-star event. We encourage single-school teams looking for national championships to investigate two such championships run by groups that are unaffiliated with HSAPQ: the National Scholastics Championship run by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (http://pace-nsc.org/) and the High School National Championship Tournament run by National Academic Quiz Tournaments (http://naqt.com/hsnct/2011/details.html).

We will continue to keep cost under control; in line with that, the tournament will not be held at a resort, but rather on a college campus, much like many other high school quizbowl events held throughout the year. Furthermore, we will use a normal format comparable to regular-season events: games will consist of twenty tossups, with a thirty-point bonus being played after each correct tossup answer. Teams will play head-to-head, two at a time. “Performance-based,” multimedia, calculation, and pop culture questions will not be used. Teams will play twelve to sixteen games, in line with other national championship events, over the two days of the tournament. Because this event will be played by highly skilled all-star teams, the question difficulty will be higher than that used at existing national championships such as the NSC and HSNCT. The style and subject distribution of the questions will be quite similar to existing HSAPQ sets. The entry fee is $525 per team with a $20 discount for bringing up to one buzzer system per team. HSAPQ will be issuing suggestions on nearby hotels, transportation and dining options, and so on, but will be neither providing nor selling such accommodations ourselves, with the exception of a possible Friday night event. Teams travelling by air are advised that BWI airport is the most convenient to the campus, but flights to Dulles and Reagan National may also prove to be good travel solutions.

We are seeking to gauge interest in a social mixer and casual dinner to be held on Friday evening before the tournament on the Maryland campus. Should there be sufficient interest, we will organize this and charge a reasonable per-head fee to cover costs. Participation will be optional.

All teams must submit an application to HSAPQ for entry into the tournament. In the vast majority of these cases, applications will be accepted outright. However, if more than one contingent from a state seeks to enter this tournament, HSAPQ will evaluate applications from each potential team and determine who may represent their state at the National All-Star Academic Tournament. The only criterion that will be used in this decision is our assessment, based on a review of the players’ achievements in the 2010-11 competition year, of which team is likely to perform the best at the tournament. Therefore, GPA, test scores, and non-academic extracurricular activities should not be included on any application; other academic extracurricular activities (e.g. Science Bowl) should only be included if there were limited opportunities for teams in the state to compete at quizbowl. HSAPQ plans to make contact with a regional network of advisors who will consult with HSAPQ on these decisions.

HSAPQ will once again use a rolling application procedure: teams who submit applications to HSAPQ on or before April 4 will be notified of HSAPQ’s decision no later than April 11. We may also approve an application submitted from January 27 onwards as soon as “immediately” if we find it unlikely that a stronger team from the state could be assembled. Teams who submit applications to HSAPQ between April 5 and June 1, inclusive, will be notified no later than one week after the application is received. Once a team from a state or state-equivalent has been approved by HSAPQ, HSAPQ will no longer accept alternate applications from that state, but will accept roster changes made

by the official team contact (in most cases, the individual that submitted the application). Applications, or questions about the application process, should be sent to Dwight Wynne at dpwynne@gmail.com.

We welcome any comments or questions regarding the National All-Star Academic Tournament or other HSAPQ ventures. Please direct your messages to HSAPQ Communications Officer Eric Douglass at ericd25@hotmail.com.

[Kouign Amann]

We are seeking to gauge interest in a social mixer and casual dinner to be held on Friday evening before the tournament on the Maryland campus. Should there be sufficient interest, we will organize this and charge a reasonable per-head fee to cover costs. Participation will be optional.

Shenanigans + UMD + quizbowl = always good. Consider team DC interested.

[Mike Bentley]

Are you guys writing those try-out sets again this year?

[Kenneth Widmerpool]

Are you guys writing those try-out sets again this year?

Although this isn't a direct answer to your question, as part of WCI (West Coast Invitational), several California college clubs are putting together a singles set of tossups only at the HSNCT/NSC level, which I'm sure that Dwight would be happy to allow mirrors for tryouts in other states.

[TheKingInYellow]

I imagine PA will send a team

[Mike Bentley]

Are you guys writing those try-out sets again this year?

Although this isn't a direct answer to your question, as part of WCI (West Coast Invitational), several California college clubs are putting together a singles set of tossups only at the HSNCT/NSC level, which I'm sure that Dwight would be happy to allow mirrors for tryouts in other states.

Cool, when do you think that set will be ready?

[cvdwightw]

Are you guys writing those try-out sets again this year?

Although this isn't a direct answer to your question, as part of WCI (West Coast Invitational), several California college clubs are putting together a singles set of tossups only at the HSNCT/NSC level, which I'm sure that Dwight would be happy to allow mirrors for tryouts in other states.

Cool, when do you think that set will be ready?

We're trying to put it together in time for the West Coast Invitational. Knowing how these things get put together, that means that it won't get finished until the end of March.

[Transparent Pudding]

Anyone at UMD planning on doing tryouts again? Maryland would love to have a team I assume, considering we won't run into travel difficulties like last year.

[ermaxfield]

Who would I contact in Tennessee about getting together a team, or is there even an HSAPQ contact for TN specifically? Has a TN team already registered?
I've never heard of this before, but I'm very interested and somewhat lost on where to start. Do I just gauge interest among all the players in my state simply by contacting coaches myself and make a team based off of response?
Thanks!

[nadph]

Who would I contact in Tennessee about getting together a team, or is there even an HSAPQ contact for TN specifically? Has a TN team already registered?
I've never heard of this before, but I'm very interested and somewhat lost on where to start. Do I just gauge interest among all the players in my state simply by contacting coaches myself and make a team based off of response?
Thanks!

For what it's worth, some combination of Hume-Fogg and MLK players appears to have shown up to this impromptu last year (when it was held at Vanderbilt) after team Maryland cancelled, so something of the sort probably does exist. I would think the Hume-Fogg and MLK coaches might be the best places to start off for organizing a team.

[ermaxfield]

Thank you so much! I'll look into that farther and hopefully something will come of it.

[Kouign Amann]

HSAPQ will once again use a rolling application procedure: teams who submit applications to HSAPQ on or before April 4 will be notified of HSAPQ’s decision no later than April 11. We may also approve an application submitted from January 27 onwards as soon as “immediately” if we find it unlikely that a stronger team from the state could be assembled. Teams who submit applications to HSAPQ between April 5 and June 1, inclusive, will be notified no later than one week after the application is received. Once a team from a state or state-equivalent has been approved by HSAPQ, HSAPQ will no longer accept alternate applications from that state, but will accept roster changes made.

Now that the first application decision deadline has passed, would it be possible for HSAPQ to maintain a list of states that have submitted successful bids and the players comprising those bids?

[Ethnic history of the Vilnius region]

Greetings,

HSAPQ is pleased to announce that the following teams' bids for the National All-Star Tournament have been accepted:

Texas:

Head coach: Chris Romero
Player 1: Thomas Littrell
Player 2: Benji Nguyen
Player 3: Jiawei Li
Player 4: Jonathan Xu
Player 5: Roger Cain
Player 6: Carlo DeGuzman

District of Columbia:

Player 1: Aidan Mehigan (St. Anselm's Abbey School)
Player 2: Jacob Wasserman (St. Anselm's Abbey School)
Player 3: Daniel Brach-Neufeld (Georgetown Day School)
Player 4: Jared Cowan (Georgetown Day School)
Player 5: Jordan Cahn (Georgetown Day School)

Ohio:

Head coach: Rhonna Smith (Olmsted Falls)
Player 1: Michael Coates (Harding), Junior
Player 2: Jim Coury (Olmsted Falls), Senior
Player 3: Saajid Moyen (Copley), Senior
Player 4: Joe Nutter (Walnut Hills), Senior
Player 5: Nishanth Uli (Solon), Senior
Player 6: Brandon Williams (Northmont), Senior

Georgia:

Abubakar Abid (Walton)
William Horton (Alpharetta)
Rishi Rachavelpula (Chattahoochee)
Adam Silverman (Centennial)

We look forward to announcing more bids in the near future.

[Horned Screamer]

Are other relatively local regional teams like Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina that didn't go last year considering this?

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Delaware

If we are, i won't be a part of it (i'll likely never be able to commit to this tournament, to be honest). I don't know of any Charter kids but i'll let them speak for themselves. But i'd be pretty surprised to see a Delaware team attend this. And i can tell you that players from CR never will unless they feel like paying out of their pocket, because our school would never fund us for it.

[JamesIV]

I would hope Maryland would send a team (given the location), but I've heard a bunch of different things in terms of who's going to organize it.

[Duncan Idaho]

Are other relatively local regional teams like Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina that didn't go last year considering this?

South Carolina doesn't fit into either of these categories, but I am in the process of organizing its team.

[David Riley]

Is there an "official" entry form? I sent the info earlier but we're not listed.

[Transparent Pudding]

I would hope Maryland would send a team (given the location), but I've heard a bunch of different things in terms of who's going to organize it.

Kuo-Kai and I are in the process of putting something together.

[JamesIV]

I would hope Maryland would send a team (given the location), but I've heard a bunch of different things in terms of who's going to organize it.

Kuo-Kai and I are in the process of putting something together.

Oh, okay, awesome. Good to know people with organizational skills are taking charge.

[cvdwightw]

Is there an "official" entry form? I sent the info earlier but we're not listed.

I'm not sure what happened here. My guess is that your message got sent straight to my spam folder. This did get sorted out and the Illinois roster will be in the next update. If you don't get a confirmation that I got it within 24 hours of sending it and you read this board, PM me about it or contact Eric.

[Kenneth Widmerpool]

California is putting its squad together, should have the roster in by the end of next week.

[limehouse]

Are other relatively local regional teams like Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina that didn't go last year considering this?

NC is in the process of assembling a group. We're butting up against a lot of high school graduations.

[Ben Dillon]

Indiana is holding tryouts 4/30. Assuming we can secure funding, we'll be in attendance.

[Matt Weiner]

Update: Right now California, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia are registered.

Registration will remain open until the week of the event, since we have ample capacity to accommodate several more teams. Please keep HSAPQ updated on your plans if you're trying to attend.

[Black-throated Antshrike]

Delaware

If we are, i won't be a part of it (i'll likely never be able to commit to this tournament, to be honest). I don't know of any Charter kids but i'll let them speak for themselves. But i'd be pretty surprised to see a Delaware team attend this. And i can tell you that players from CR never will unless they feel like paying out of their pocket, because our school would never fund us for it.

Yeah we won't be able to do this. We would have to pay out of our own pocket as well. I would also probably the only one interested in attending anyway

[Edward Powers]

Matt,

Jon Pinyan informed me that you know that New Jersey is trying to form a representative team for NASAT. If you are curious, the selection process has been described and explained in the Northeast Region Forum. It is not an ideal process at all, as you can no doubt discern, but at this late date it is probably the best we can do. Also, we may or may not be able to get a team that is able to go to NASATon this short notice. But perhaps we can. So: Do you have an ABSOLUTE deadline for registration, so that we know the time constraints under which we will be working?

Thanks.

[David Riley]

Not to derail this thread, but....ONLY NINE TEAMS?!!?!?! Last year, Matt Weiner and co. hosted an excellent tournament. This is one of the year's premiere events; where's Florida, South Carolina, and some of the other powerhouses? Is it finances? schedulng?

[Kenneth Widmerpool]

There are several teams that are still in the process of organizing.

[Eccles cake]

Not to derail this thread, but....ONLY NINE TEAMS?!!?!?! Last year, Matt Weiner and co. hosted an excellent tournament. This is one of the year's premiere events; where's Florida, South Carolina, and some of the other powerhouses? Is it finances? schedulng?

Well, Florida didn't go last year, but we're likely not going to go this year unless Ransom or some other team creates a team. We're really not organized enough to create a true Florida team. And then, there are issues with financing it, and I'll be in China when this happens. It'd be nice if we could get some sort of organization going in Florida, but Florida is a large state and I'm not sure if anyone is up to the task of organizing this. Ideally, if UF gets more organized, someone could try from there, but that's a big responsibility.

[cvdwightw]

Do you have an ABSOLUTE deadline for registration, so that we know the time constraints under which we will be working?

Registration will remain open until the week of the event, since we have ample capacity to accommodate several more teams. Please keep HSAPQ updated on your plans if you're trying to attend.

I am considering "four to six players as determined via the method in that thread" as an "official bid" (similar to what we did with a couple of other teams this year) and I'm assuming Matt will not object to me approving it.

If there are any other teams out there that are still in the process of forming, under the guidance of one or more people that know what they're doing, go ahead and submit the process/people in charge as the official bid.

Also, we expect to have around 12 teams by mid-week.

[Edward Powers]

New Jersey is in the process of selecting its 6-12 best players by a vote of its coaches. Once done, the players will be asked if they want to be part of a NASAT team. Assuming we get at least 4 to agree to come, can anyone help with recommendations for decent & reasonable hotels near the University of Maryland, possibly within walking distance? Further, if we end up having to use public transportation like Amtrak to get there, can anyone who knows the area give a recommendation---would it be better to take Amtrak all the way into DC then take a Metro from there to College Park, or, is the Amtrak stop in Maryland (its name escapes me at the moment) which is supposedly about 6 miles from the University, a better option, with our team taking a cab or maybe two cabs to arrive at our hotel?

Any help or advice on either issue would be appreciated.

Thanks.

EDIT: I forgot to thank Dwight for accepting our "process" as an "Official Bid". So: Thank you. I hope we can now follow through and come join the fun. And even though NASAT seems to have a smaller field so far than it had last year, given the names I see on the rosters above, it seems like a formidable group of teams is coming, so we in Jersey will surely have our hands full. But that's OK; we like competition, and we certainly enjoy the company of our compatriots from across the country, so we naturally hope we can be there.

[Kouign Amann]

Further, if we end up having to use public transportation like Amtrak to get there, can anyone who knows the area give a recommendation---would it be better to take Amtrak all the way into DC then take a Metro from there to College Park, or, is the Amtrak stop in Maryland (its name escapes me at the moment) which is supposedly about 6 miles from the University, a better option, with our team taking a cab or maybe two cabs to arrive at our hotel?

The problem is that New Carrolton is the terminus of the Orange Line, so if you went there, you would have to take the Metro all the way downtown, and then change to the Green Line to head back out to UMD. If you went to Union Station, your Amtrak ride would be 15 minutes longer, but your Metro trip would be 30 minutes shorter. If cabs are an option, though, it would certainly be fastest to go to New Carrolton and then drive into College Park.

[Edward Powers]

Any recommendations for a reasonable hotel within walking distance? Chris Ray and U of Md people: Can you help here? NASAT officials?

[Susan]

Any recommendations for a reasonable hotel within walking distance? Chris Ray and U of Md people: Can you help here? NASAT officials?

Many many people have better knowledge of College Park-area hotels than I do, but if you need to get started looking immediately, here's UMCP's list of nearby accommodations (the top group, in which most of the hotels are on Baltimore Ave, contains most of the places I've ever stayed at that were within walking distance of campus).

I regret that I cannot recommend the Clarion Inn and Fundome.

[Matt Weiner]

The Marriott is actually on the campus, and the Ramada is decent and walkable. Crossing route 1 is sometimes an adventure but once you get beyond that there are sidewalks and it's less than a mile to the campus entrance.

[Edward Powers]

Thanks Matt.

EDIT: And a belated thanks to Susan and Aidan.

[Horned Screamer]

MOQBA has chosen the Missouri team for sure, so our bid should be incoming. For those curious, we selected Ikshu Neithalath from Clayton (maybe if I post more about him on the internet people will vote for him to be on the PACE All-Star team next week), Sabrina Fritz from Villa Duchesne, Craig Chval from Rock Bridge, and Ben Zhang from Ladue Horton Watkins.

[Cheynem]

I briefly asked Matt Weiner about this earlier this week, but with the potential emergence of some new teams, how is the staffing situation for this tournament?

[Edward Powers]

I have reserved a van and booked some rooms at the Ramada Inn, so, if at least 4 of our All State Honorees choose to compete, New Jersey will be there to join the fun. Our All State Team is as yet unknown, but honorees will know by Friday evening, May 27th. Thus, we should be able to make a final confirmation of our participation within the next 5-8 days.

[AlphaQuizBowler]

What time does HSAPQ plan on finishing this tournament on Sunday? Team Georgia is trying to book flights.

[Matt Weiner]

All Sunday games will run without a lunch break, so we'll be done by 1 barring unforseen complications.

[Horned Screamer]

Is there going to be any updated information about what teams are registered?

[Zivel]

Is there going to be any updated information about what teams are registered?

Agreed -- can we get a field update?

[Edward Powers]

I am very happy to report that you can add one more team to the field: New Jersey will be in attendance. I found this out earlier today when I learned that I have at least a fourth player to fill out the New Jersey roster, with possibly a 5th also committed to come.

Here are the names of the 4 players who have committed to represent New Jersey and come join in the fun in Maryland:

Grace Liu of High Tech; Bobby Gaffey of MAST; Zoe Madonna of Columbia High School, and Alex Frey of my very own Saint Joe's. Additionally, Roey Hadar of Ranney might also be joining us; he will let me know one way or another very soon.

Now: What other states have definitely committed so far? The nine identified upthread, or have more registered since? And, is this announcement here sufficient to be an official registration, or must I register in a more formal manner? If so, how? Thanks for any help in this matter.

EDIT: Roey will be coming and will be our only Sophomore; Grace and Alex are Juniors, and Zoe & Bobby are Seniors.

[Edward Powers]

If Missouri and New Jersey have joined the field, does that make 11 states in the field? Or are there more? Less?

[Matt Weiner]

The current field is California, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.

I have been informed that Indiana may need to pull out pending funding issues.

With 12 teams we will do a full round robin followed by a split into top and bottom halves for another round robin. Ties for the top bracket will be played off. This format will last 16 games plus any needed tiebreakers and finals.

Should the tournament land at 11, 13, or some other non-12 number of teams, the new format will be announced accordingly.

The drop-dead date to register for the tournament or request an extension is noon on Wednesday.

[Edward Powers]

Is Indiana pulling out, and if so, how might this impact the format?

[AlphaQuizBowler]

Has it been decided where exactly on campus the tournament is being held?

[Inkana7]

Has it been decided where exactly on campus the tournament is being held?

I don't speak for HSAPQ and this isn't official, but I'm pretty sure it's being held in famous quizbowl location Jimenez Hall.