Working with quiz bowl teammates

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Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by JA01 »

So back in my freshman year I started quiz Bowl when the year began in September. I was the only freshman. Majority was juniors and seniors. I was extremely intimidated with all the older kids. Nevertheless I stuck with it and now as I enter my junior year I'm president and captain. The problem is is that my teammates do not take it as seriously as I do. I've invited some of my friends over the years and they've invited their friends and so on and so forth. Now the club is full of rowdy kids! They're still my friends but they're awfully immature and arrogant. Most of them just started this past February and haven't gone to that many tournaments. Yet they still behave like they've been the founding members or whatever. They're frankly quite annoying and awkward too. Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering. Despite the fact that they joined only a few months ago, they act like they've been there for years when in reality I'm the only one that's been there for more than a year. I'm trying to recruit new people that I think have potential but they keep shooting down my efforts because they don't want any more new members. They've only ever been to one competition and think they know everything. Someone please give me some advice on how to deal with them in the years to come.
Last edited by JA01 on Sat Aug 12, 2017 6:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by tksaleija »

If you have a coach then I would first bring your concerns to them to see about a light crack down. Sort of like an appeal to a higher power, that way the spotlight and animosity won't be on you. I have a very similar issue, particularly with a member who's been doing quiz bowl for years but thinks that entitles him to free reign despite the fact that he has done more QU than NAQT and rarely takes practices seriously.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by CPiGuy »

So, as someone who dealt with some of these issues as the science bowl captain at my high school, I feel qualified to respond to this. Here are some things that are true:

1) Not everyone cares as much about quiz bowl as you do. You're just going to have to accept that some people won't take the activity as seriously as you do, or want to win as badly as you do, or put as much effort into it as you do -- especially if you're one of the only returning players. This is especially true in HS, where people will join clubs because they have free time and/or want to put it on their college application, and it doesn't require as large a commitment. So, the first step to solving your problems is accepting that this is not a problem you can fully solve.

2) More people is (usually) better. You should actively welcome anyone who wants to join the team, unless they're, like, deliberately disrupting practices. This is especially true of underclassmen. If you're worried about swamping practices down with too many poor players, you could split practices into two groups -- one group is the core of the team reading harder questions, and the other group is the newbies / people taking it less seriously, reading easier questions and being more casual about rules (although that's less of an issue in QB, where there aren't insanely draconian rules, but I digress). This also means that, if some of your teammates are trying to discourage recruiting efforts, you should not listen to them. This is one case where it's alright to pull rank and say "i'm the captain/president/etc, we're recruiting more people". Having said that,

3) Don't pull rank unless absolutely necessary. It's not important to be absolutely on task at every practice. It's important that everyone in the club have fun, so that they'll keep coming to quizbowl practices in the future. What you should absolutely not do is try to run everything according to your plans only, because you're the captain/president/person with a cool title -- because if you invoke that for everything, it will lose its importance. The only times that it should come up that you are the captain is when it really is necessary -- maybe because it's the week of the state tournament, so you really do need to be focused in practice; maybe you need to have a serious discussion about who's going to make up your A team, etc. So, most of the time, just "roll with it". If you want to do extra studying or packet reading in your spare time, go for it -- it's always good to get better! However, team practices are exactly that -- they're for the entire team, and the entire team may not enjoy super-intense practices every time.

Another thing you may consider is to start a tradition of ending practice with a "fun" packet -- this could be a deliberately easy packet or a trash packet. That way, people have something to look forward to and know there'll be a fun thing at the end, so they may be more inclined to be serious during the regular practice.

Hopefully this helps.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by El Salvadoreno »

JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends. Now obviously I am going to agree with recruiting more people and if they are being disruptive in a way that is more than a holler in between buzzers they need to be taken down a peg. But if they are just having fun hanging out do really need a crackdown? Because if quizbowl was only made up of the serious players we would have a lot less players.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by tksaleija »

El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends. Now obviously I am going to agree with recruiting more people and if they are being disruptive in a way that is more than a holler in between buzzers they need to be taken down a peg. But if they are just having fun hanging out do really need a crackdown? Because if quizbowl was only made up of the serious players we would have a lot less players.
Well you have yo consider at what point does "just messing around" become disruptive? I definitely agree that general camaraderie and joking around can be good for chemistry and morale, but when quiz bowl costs time and money, I think it, at some point, people who just use it as a social gathering should either take it more seriously or leave. That's the same with any semi-serious club (NHS, Science Olympiad,etc.). If you just let a group of people kind of cruise by without doing any real work and using up valuable practice time, then you're going to have a hard time maintaining a good, working relationship with your team in the future.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by Couch's Kingbird »

Do you have a group of players who are serious about quiz bowl? I agree with the people who've mentioned that not everyone's going to be as serious about quiz bowl as you are (which imo is totally fine). If you do have that core group of committed players, though, consider doing separate, more serious practices and pushing them more than everyone else.

If you want to motivate everyone else to take things more seriously, perhaps set some goals as a group- for example, plan a trip to Nationals and use that to motivate kids to study/earn their berth on the team. I personally wouldn't advocate pulling rank or a crackdown, as you may alienate your teammates and drive them away from the club. I think you'll find that people are going to be more receptive if you're more chill and easygoing as opposed to hardcore and intense- try to work with them rather than against them.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by Couch's Kingbird »

tksaleija wrote:
El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends. Now obviously I am going to agree with recruiting more people and if they are being disruptive in a way that is more than a holler in between buzzers they need to be taken down a peg. But if they are just having fun hanging out do really need a crackdown? Because if quizbowl was only made up of the serious players we would have a lot less players.
Well you have yo consider at what point does "just messing around" become disruptive? I definitely agree that general camaraderie and joking around can be good for chemistry and morale, but when quiz bowl costs time and money, I think it, at some point, people who just use it as a social gathering should either take it more seriously or leave. That's the same with any semi-serious club (NHS, Science Olympiad,etc.). If you just let a group of people kind of cruise by without doing any real work and using up valuable practice time, then you're going to have a hard time maintaining a good, working relationship with your team in the future.
I personally think this is a pretty harsh way to look at things- there's definitely ways to balance the more social players and more competitive players (eg more serious players get on higher teams, get to go to nats, etc.). Forcing/encouraging players to leave if they don't take quiz bowl seriously is imo counterproductive and not going to help maintain respect and authority as a captain, as well as a "good, working relationship with your team" in the future.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by idek »

JA01 wrote:So back in my freshman year I started quiz Bowl when the year began in September. I was the only freshman. Majority was juniors and seniors. I was extremely intimidated with all the older kids. Nevertheless I stuck with it and now as I enter my junior year I'm president and captain. The problem is is that my teammates do not take it as seriously as I do. I've invited some of my friends over the years and they've invited their friends and so on and so forth. Now the club is full of rowdy kids! They're still my friends but they're awfully immature and arrogant. Most of them just started this past February and haven't gone to that many tournaments. Yet they still behave like they've been the founding members or whatever. They're frankly quite annoying and awkward too. Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering. Despite the fact that they joined only a few months ago, they act like they've been there for years when in reality I'm the only one that's been there for more than a year. I'm trying to recruit new people that I think have potential but they keep shooting down my efforts because they don't want any more new members. They've only ever been to one competition and think they know everything. Someone please give me some advice on how to deal with them in the years to come.
If your team is really that bad (productivity-wise) I would recommend playing solo, or alone. This does two things:

1. You become a better overall player, because you end up learning things that you wouldn't be usually forced to do.
2. Allows you to disassociate yourself from certain teammates that make the experience difficult.

From personal experience, however, I found that this really hurt team chemistry when I came back to practice, and I ultimately figured that my team was better for me, while finding ways to work out the issues that we had as a collective group. However, I've had high-level QB friends for whom, simply, their team negatively impacted their game, and thus, they played by themselves (sometimes accompanied by another teammate).
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by tksaleija »

Couch's Kingbird wrote:
tksaleija wrote:
El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends. Now obviously I am going to agree with recruiting more people and if they are being disruptive in a way that is more than a holler in between buzzers they need to be taken down a peg. But if they are just having fun hanging out do really need a crackdown? Because if quizbowl was only made up of the serious players we would have a lot less players.
Well you have yo consider at what point does "just messing around" become disruptive? I definitely agree that general camaraderie and joking around can be good for chemistry and morale, but when quiz bowl costs time and money, I think it, at some point, people who just use it as a social gathering should either take it more seriously or leave. That's the same with any semi-serious club (NHS, Science Olympiad,etc.). If you just let a group of people kind of cruise by without doing any real work and using up valuable practice time, then you're going to have a hard time maintaining a good, working relationship with your team in the future.
I personally think this is a pretty harsh way to look at things- there's definitely ways to balance the more social players and more competitive players (eg more serious players get on higher teams, get to go to nats, etc.). Forcing/encouraging players to leave if they don't take quiz bowl seriously is imo counterproductive and not going to help maintain respect and authority as a captain, as well as a "good, working relationship with your team" in the future.
Actually, I would agree with this. I am not in support of kicking people out unless there are extenuating circumstances because I'm in full support for the idea of introducing quiz bowl to as many people as possible. My situation is different than most schools, though. I have suggested the idea of multiple teams but was given a more or less lukewarm response. So since we don't have the ability to move poor players to B, C, or D teams, having 2 or 3 people of a 6-person team goof off is very frustrating and something I struggled to address last year. This being said, with such a small team, if you're going to act as an island or drag other people down, that is going to become a problem.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by alexdz »

Couch's Kingbird wrote:...perhaps set some goals as a group- for example, plan a trip to Nationals and use that to motivate kids to study/earn their berth on the team. ... I think you'll find that people are going to be more receptive if you're more chill and easygoing as opposed to hardcore and intense- try to work with them rather than against them.
I agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly. This is a situation where pulling, not pushing, your team will be more helpful in the long run, I think (that is, a carrot, not a stick). Give them an accessible goal to reach for, and the ones who end up reaching will be helpful to you.

Also, maybe you can find a way for them to be able to engage socially during practices. If you're trying to drill some specific content, maybe have them do a team worksheet or something. It gives you a way to keep practice productive but also allow them to talk and participate with one another. Sitting behind the buzzer listening to a person read questions to you can definitely feel a little socially isolating if you're a more extroverted person, so I can see why people might be resistant to that.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by El Salvadoreno »

tksaleija wrote: but when quiz bowl costs time and money, I think it, at some point, people who just use it as a social gathering should either take it more seriously or leave.
I did not realize spending my time and my money precluded me from having fun.

In all seriousness we have talked about disruptiveness and arrogance, but I have really heard of no act beyond the pale that is going to cause me decry your teammates (or the OP's teammates) behavior as an affront to the natural order.

That being said, if you want to take your teammates seriously, I agree with the strategies above. But you also have to come to the realization that not everyone is going to take this game as seriously as you do and that is fine. Chicago has like 7 teams at every tournament, but I can almost guarantee not everyone in Chicago takes QB as seriously as Max Schindler. They may not make Nationals, but that does not mean they cannot go to tournaments and have fun too.

P.S. One can "goof off" and take this game seriously to. A great example is that Chicago Hype Video for Nats 2017.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by tksaleija »

El Salvadoreno wrote:
tksaleija wrote: but when quiz bowl costs time and money, I think it, at some point, people who just use it as a social gathering should either take it more seriously or leave.
I did not realize spending my time and my money precluded me from having fun.

In all seriousness we have talked about disruptiveness and arrogance, but I have really heard of no act beyond the pale that is going to cause me decry your teammates (or the OP's teammates) behavior as an affront to the natural order.

That being said, if you want to take your teammates seriously, I agree with the strategies above. But you also have to come to the realization that not everyone is going to take this game as seriously as you do and that is fine. Chicago has like 7 teams at every tournament, but I can almost guarantee not everyone in Chicago takes QB as seriously as Max Schindler. They may not make Nationals, but that does not mean they cannot go to tournaments and have fun too.

P.S. One can "goof off" and take this game seriously to. A great example is that Chicago Hype Video for Nats 2017.
I'll be honest, that will be something I'll have to get used to, but I'll swallow my pride and say that I have some work to do when it comes to team chemistry. I'm used to the coach doing the organizing and such, so taking all of that over can be massive and I honestly would like it if people on my team took it as seriously, but maybe they won't. As I said earlier, we only have one team of 6 at our school, so that's difficult, but if anyone has suggestions for team chemistry in a situation with only one default A team, I'd love to hear them. Sorry for coming across as authoritarian, just shows that I have some work to do before the season starts.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by Couch's Kingbird »

tksaleija wrote: I'll be honest, that will be something I'll have to get used to, but I'll swallow my pride and say that I have some work to do when it comes to team chemistry. I'm used to the coach doing the organizing and such, so taking all of that over can be massive and I honestly would like it if people on my team took it as seriously, but maybe they won't. As I said earlier, we only have one team of 6 at our school, so that's difficult, but if anyone has suggestions for team chemistry in a situation with only one default A team, I'd love to hear them. Sorry for coming across as authoritarian, just shows that I have some work to do before the season starts.
My advice would be to put some effort at recruitment- put up posters, participate in your schools club fair (if there is one), etc. Find some way to spread the word and get more people to join your team. You will get kids who are more interested in competition as well as kids who are looking for a fun social time- but once you have more players, you can start sending multiple teams to tournaments, running separate practices, etc. and will no longer be stuck with a "default A team" situation.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by El Salvadoreno »

tksaleija wrote:As I said earlier, we only have one team of 6 at our school, so that's difficult, but if anyone has suggestions for team chemistry in a situation with only one default A team, I'd love to hear them.
You could always try and hang out with them outside of Quizbowl. For example, I still do pub trivia with some of my old teammates and friends. Doing things outside of Quizbow will help build camaraderie and help to make them see you as less of an authoritarian figure.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by 1.82 »

El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends.
I enjoy having fun and spending time with my friends, too, and I do that during quizbowl practice by playing quizbowl, because quizbowl is fun. Obviously I have many friends who do not think quizbowl is fun, and I enjoy spending time with them, too. I just don't do it during quizbowl practice, because quizbowl practice is for playing quizbowl.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by El Salvadoreno »

1.82 wrote:
El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends.
I enjoy having fun and spending time with my friends, too, and I do that during quizbowl practice by playing quizbowl, because quizbowl is fun. Obviously I have many friends who do not think quizbowl is fun, and I enjoy spending time with them, too. I just don't do it during quizbowl practice, because quizbowl practice is for playing quizbowl.
My point was not people who do not like quizbowl should annoy those who do. My point is that there are serious and casual players and there is nothing wrong with being either. In fact, the circuit would be harmed detrimentally if we lose either side. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with social behavior at quizbowl tournaments or practices like talking between questions so long as it is not overly obnoxious, rude, or loud.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by Good Goblin Housekeeping »

El Salvadoreno wrote:
1.82 wrote:
El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends.
I enjoy having fun and spending time with my friends, too, and I do that during quizbowl practice by playing quizbowl, because quizbowl is fun. Obviously I have many friends who do not think quizbowl is fun, and I enjoy spending time with them, too. I just don't do it during quizbowl practice, because quizbowl practice is for playing quizbowl.
My point was not people who do not like quizbowl should annoy those who do. My point is that there are serious and casual players and there is nothing wrong with being either. In fact, the circuit would be harmed detrimentally if we lose either side. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with social behavior at quizbowl tournaments or practices like talking between questions so long as it is not overly obnoxious, rude, or loud.
talking between questions is almost always pretty obnoxious/rude
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

I agree with Naveed. If people on your team don't think playing quiz bowl is fun enough to do it for like 1 1/2 hours uninterrupted, they should find another activity because this clearly isn't bringing them enough enjoyment. That's on them, not you.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by tksaleija »

It appears we have some good, old-fashioned quiz bowl discourse. As with most things, I think there's validity to both; quiz bowl requires camaraderie and goofing off but also seriousness dedication.
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Re: Working with quiz bowl teammates

Post by El Salvadoreno »

Borel hierarchy wrote:
El Salvadoreno wrote:
1.82 wrote:
El Salvadoreno wrote:
JA01 wrote:Few of them take quiz Bowl seriously and treat more as a social gathering.
Is there anything wrong with this? I mean this is not DI collegiate football where you could possibly make hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you are :kenj:)? Is there a problem with just having fun? Now, do not get me wrong I study seriously but I also just enjoy spending time with my friends.
I enjoy having fun and spending time with my friends, too, and I do that during quizbowl practice by playing quizbowl, because quizbowl is fun. Obviously I have many friends who do not think quizbowl is fun, and I enjoy spending time with them, too. I just don't do it during quizbowl practice, because quizbowl practice is for playing quizbowl.
My point was not people who do not like quizbowl should annoy those who do. My point is that there are serious and casual players and there is nothing wrong with being either. In fact, the circuit would be harmed detrimentally if we lose either side. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with social behavior at quizbowl tournaments or practices like talking between questions so long as it is not overly obnoxious, rude, or loud.
talking between questions is almost always pretty obnoxious/rude
Maybe talking is not the right word. Maybe commenting (as in "That was a good idea for a tossup." or "Where was power on that Tossup?") is more the word I'm looking for. Either way my point still stands. There will always be serious and casual players and that is what turns 4 team college tournaments into 8 and 12 team ones and 12 team HS tournaments into 36 team ones. Getting rid of casual players by forcing them to become more "serious" by whatever definition will be harmful to the circuit writ large.
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