I find it very disappointing that the whole of Missouri has 2 million fewer inhabitants than New York City, yet the 2015 NAQT Metro NY State Championship had 1/3 fewer teams than the equivalent Missouri Qualifier. There are 500 public schools in NYC, but 12 sent teams to NAQT State. I think it's very clear that serious outreach and organization is needed in the area, and I have some ideas for how we can do better in this regard.Chris Chiego, in [url=http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17581]another thread[/url] wrote:New York: C+
The Chip Presence is strong here, throughout Long Island and into Westchester County still. There are good quizbowl teams and tournaments, but the overwhelming stench of Questions Unlimited covers most of the NY Metro area. I'm still astounded at how few teams there are in the NYC area considering the sheer number of schools, but there is a solid, if unspectacular, circuit and a good number of good tournaments in the region. Masterminds is making improvements upstate, though there's still a ways to go in the Hudson Valley with many schools and in getting Masterminds teams to good quizbowl.
When I directed my first tournament at Columbia, I received a contact list that consisted solely of a string of email addresses, some of which bounced. Some of them were Hotmail, Gmail, or AOL addresses, so when those people did not respond, the teams associated with those emails may be lost to us now. I've organized a spreadsheet consisting of those email addresses, school names, and other relevant info, and am currently in the process of verifying coach emails. If you would like to contribute by helping me verify coach emails, identifying schools to contact, or adding to the spreadsheet with schools that you know have teams, please let me know. I do not have the time or energy for a letter mailing campaign, but perhaps someone else will be willing to do that.
One thing that may hamper efforts to spread quizbowl in NYC is the lack of any official organization. There is no state organization and no quizbowl alliance to present a view of quizbowl as an organized activity, which may be attractive to administrators and potential coaches. I've been thinking about instituting a Columbia Cup for teams in New York, which would reward teams for sending teams to good quizbowl tournaments. It would as as follows: Columbia would host three tournaments in the year, one each in the fall, winter and spring. Ideally, the third would be the NAQT Metro NY State Championship. New York schools would receive 10 points for every game their teams win at a Columbia tournament, and 5 points for every loss. Schools can also earn points by participating in other good quizbowl tournaments in New York; instead of the 10/5 point scheme, they would receive 2/1 at PACE-affiliated tournaments, 4/2 at Gold-affiliated tournaments, and 6/3 at Platinum-affiliated tournaments. This both incentivizes teams to come to Columbia for tournaments, and also allows teams to fit tournaments to their own schedule. The top 3 schools by points would receive awards presented at the spring tournament, and the top school that has not sent teams to a Columbia tournament in the past will also receive an award.
I think this is a good starting point for discussion, but certainly much more can be done to improve quizbowl in NYC. Please feel free to offer your suggestions below, and to comment on my suggestions above.