CANCELED - Tusculum (TN) Earlybird novice-level tournament

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TusculumPearson
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CANCELED - Tusculum (TN) Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

Once again, this is now the thread for a canceled event. As before, the original post is shifted to quote format for posterity.
This is the formal announcement and invitation of teams to the first Tusculum Earlybird, a high school novice-level quizbowl tournament to be held at the Meen Center at Tusculum University on January 8, 2022.

(This is a reschedule of an event originally planned for September 11, 2021, and postponed in the midst of the COVID-19 Delta surge.)

This event is made possible through the support of Tusculum University Admissions and the College of Science, Technology and Mathematics at Tusculum, and through that support we’re able to make free registration and lunch available to one team per school who attends.

Further information below, or move ahead with registration:
<https://forms.gle/SrpxrihTnGCKuAzw9>

COVID-19
Current campus guidelines for Tusculum (in effect throughout Fall Semester 2021) are based on the CDC stages of virus spread as measured within the locality of Greene County, TN. Greene County is in Stage 4 (high transmission, based on a standards of >100 total cases per 100,000 residents and >10% COVID-19 positivity over a seven-day average) and therefore Tusculum is requiring mask use by everybody within an indoor space on campus, whether vaccinated or not.

Our hope is that the virus spread, which is subsiding in the region, will relax to the point where we do not have to mandate mask use for unvaccinated participants. If we maintain these precautions or if further precautions are required due to the progress of the virus we will contact you as the tournament date approaches to inform you of adjustments to participant expectations. Although there is every reason to be hopeful, we will not guarantee at this time that we will not be asked to cancel the tournament owing to virus progress, and we have not put provisions in place to run the tournament online.

SET
We’re (doubly!) thrilled to be using CERES <viewtopic.php?f=109&t=25055>, head-edited by Conor Thompson of Iowa State, for this tournament, and we thank Conor for his patience with us through our reschedule.

CERES is a MS/novice HS level set, and this tournament is correspondingly aimed at new schools to quizbowl, JV teams, and developing teams. We won’t shut anybody out of the tournament but we do encourage schools with more experienced players to allow those players to help with staffing the tournament, and we will specifically set awards aside for sophomore-level and younger players and teams.

FEE (OR LACK THEREOF)
Because of the support of Admissions and the College of STeM, every school attending this tournament may register one team free of charge. If that school intends to register a additional teams, the fee will be $80 for each team.

All tournament participants will also receive a picnic box lunch on-campus (hot dog, chips, slaw, and drink; options for vegetarian participants will be available).

STAFF DISCOUNTS
Because of the nature of the fee structure for this tournament, there is no expectation that schools bringing a single team to this tournament will supply staff to support the running of the tournament.

If a school does bring a second team or beyond, that school will be expected to provide support of one sort or another. We will provide a discount of $10 on the fee for each experienced staffer a school provides to the tournament (max $20 discount for staffers per team).

We will also consider discounts for buzzer systems as well.

The minimum fee for each additional team beyond the first from a given school registered is $60 if discounts are maximized.

We ask for staffers to register to participate, and we have a dedicated staffer registration form <https://forms.gle/CUMXoR3yhD7zJqWh9>.

PRIZES
This was planned as an early-season tournament, and we’re running it as an early-season tournament; no trophies! There will be book prizes for top scorers (overall and JV), for the top two teams overall, and for the top two JV teams.

CONTACT
The tournament director of Tusculum Earlybird is Chuck Pearson; questions about the structure of the tournament or about staffing realities can be directed to <[email protected]>.

This tournament receives active support from Tusculum University Admissions; questions about directions to campus, food, or being on the Tusculum campus on the day of the competition can be directed to Laura Battel <[email protected]>.

REGISTER NOW
<https://forms.gle/SrpxrihTnGCKuAzw9>

DISCLAIMERS
Some information is subject to change; if changes occur, they will be posted to the corresponding thread on hsquizbowl.org <viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25111>.

And, as always, in the words of the genial quizmaster, all decisions of the tournament director are arbitrary, capricious, and final.

We look forward to a fresh, virus-free start to the high school quizbowl season in Greeneville on January 8. Come join us.
Last edited by TusculumPearson on Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:44 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
TusculumPearson
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Posts: 125
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Re: 11 Sept 2021 - Tusculum Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

Bump for - at long last - a formal announcement, with a month to go before tournament day.

There was a lot of serious consideration - not least from the tournament director himself - on the wisdom of moving forward with an in-person tournament. Ultimately, we're going to let schools vote with their feet. We very much want students on campus to compete together, we believe we have a structure to conduct the tournament safely, and we are going to work with all who want to participate to make this the best day possible.

Specific concerns to [url=mailto:[email protected]][email protected][/url], as always.
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
TusculumPearson
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Re: POSTPONED - Tusculum Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

As we said in the original announcement, we started planning the event before the rise in the Delta variant of COVID-19, and we made the announcement at a point where, despite the trend, East Tennessee was handling the surge better than other regions in the state.

That is no longer the case. Far-northeast Tennessee is now one of the most ravaged parts of the state. The count of new cases (based on 7-day moving average) was slated to clear 100 cases per 100,000 residents in Greene County by Saturday, which would put the county clear of both CDC Stage 4 standards (with positivity rates remaining above 10%), and other counties in the region are dealing with similar surges placing their counts in the 70-90/100,000 range, well ahead of the metropolitan centers of the state. Multiple hospitals in the region are reporting 95% of beds filled with COVID-19 patients, and those cases are impacting pediatric populations.

At this juncture I'm simply not comfortable inviting guests to visit my neighborhood for any reason, let alone for a quiz tournament.

We're not in a position to conduct a tournament online, and to do so would undermine one of the tournament's chief goals - outreach to schools that haven't played before, especially schools in rural locations where participation in online quizbowl would be difficult.

Therefore we're putting this tournament on pause. We'll revisit a rescheduled date for this tournament when COVID-19 infection numbers start to genuinely recede.

Thanks to those of you who reached out and expressed interest.
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
TusculumPearson
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Re: 01-08-2022 - Tusculum Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

We believe circumstances are aligning to allow for a rescheduled tournament. Although slow, the evidence is that the Delta surge is receding in East Tennessee and we're hopeful that within a couple of months we're in a positive situation with regards to the virus.

We're making this a true Calendar 2022 Earlybird and attempting to situate the tournament right at the start of the calendar in January.

It's still a novice-level tournament; we're still going to have set-asides for JV teams and new teams to tossup-bonus quizbowl, and we're still encouraging players with a lot of experience to consider staffing.

The registration link is <https://forms.gle/SrpxrihTnGCKuAzw9>.

We hope your team is able to join us.
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
TusculumPearson
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Posts: 125
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:04 pm

Re: 01-08-2022 - Tusculum Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

There's hunger for this one.

Field update (confirmed registrations only, no verbal commitments):
Castlewood (VA) (2 teams)
Gate City (VA) (3 teams)
Lebanon (VA)
Richlands (VA) (2 teams)
Southside (SC) (3 teams)
Commerce (GA)
Cookeville (TN)
Midway (TN)
J.I. Burton (VA)
Currey-Ingram (TN) (3 teams)

Tennessee now represented, but Midway (Roane County, west of Knoxville) is as far east as the Tennessee schools get.
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
TusculumPearson
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Posts: 125
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:04 pm

Re: 01-08-2022 - Tusculum (TN) Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

Field update current as of December 15.
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
TusculumPearson
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Posts: 125
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 3:04 pm

Re: CANCELED - Tusculum (TN) Earlybird novice-level tournament

Post by TusculumPearson »

For the obvious reasons of Omicron spread, we've made the difficult decision to cancel our attempt to reschedule Tusculum Earlybird.

So many people have been so supportive of this tournament through some brutal circumstances, and I'm incredibly grateful to the efforts of everybody at Tusculum, throughout the East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia region, and dear friends nationally who stepped up to give this in-person tournament every chance of happening and succeeding. In the end, the public health realities are simply too much to overcome.

There will be an effort to reconstitute this event and a tournament field at a later date - but, as the good doctor said, we don't set the timeline, the virus sets the timeline.

Thanks again.

chuck
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Chuck Pearson, Tusculum University, general purpose East TN/SWVA quiz flunky, [email protected].
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