The Quizbowl Resource Center

This was our (Douglas County High School)'s first year competing in the"mainstream" quiz bowl circuit in Georgia. We were fairly successful this season; we qualified for HSNCT twice and finished 4th in the state, pulling off some upsets along the way. However, I just wanted to know what we should do in the off season do gear up for next year in terms of studying, public relations/ team promotion, and recruitment/team building. If it helps, as captain, I have set our team's Fall Semester goals as getting ranked in Fred Morlan or HSQB's Top 200 by December, securing Nationals funding by March, and getting invited to and being competitive at Marist's Winter Invitational Tournament.

Figure out what your best categories are and get really good at them. There's a variety of ways you can study (reading packets, reading books on various topics, reading poetry, watching films, etc.). Also, though, I would try and improve at your weakest subjects as well.

For team recruitment, just talk to people about what quizbowl is and see if they're interested. I invited a couple of my teammates to practice after finding out they were interested in quizbowl because I knew them from other things on campus.

Don't pay attention to rankings, just read a lot over the summer.

Go to ACE Camp. It's a great team-building exercise, and far and away the place you're likely to get the most practice playing questions over the summer.