Discussion of how to build a team

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Holy crap you've played a lot of matches, i just looked at your record, Lee. How on earth did you play so many? You've played more (according to Byko) than any other team in the country...

[TheCzarMan]

Holy crap you've played a lot of matches, i just looked at your record, Lee. How on earth did you play so many? You've played more (according to Byko) than any other team in the country...

Seconded.

Dear christ man.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Going to tournaments can do that to you.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

How can you afford to go to so many?

And how, if every single "expert" on here says they they must, can your team have 156 wins if they don't write questions because you told me that they hate doing so?

[AndyShootsAndyScores]

How can you afford to go to so many?

We can't. We're having to scramble to get enough to money to go to nationals right now.

And how, if every single "expert" on here says they they must, can your team have 156 wins if they don't write questions because you told me that they hate doing so?

Your guess is as good as mine.

[Sir Thopas]

How can you afford to go to so many?

And how, if every single "expert" on here says they they must, can your team have 156 wins if they don't write questions because you told me that they hate doing so?

You beat teams who don't write questions and lose to teams who do.

[The Atom Strikes!]

How can you afford to go to so many?

And how, if every single "expert" on here says they they must, can your team have 156 wins if they don't write questions because you told me that they hate doing so?

You beat teams who don't write questions and lose to teams who do.

We've actually found studying college questions and Wikipedia to be more useful...

[First Chairman]

How can you afford to go to so many?

And how, if every single "expert" on here says they they must, can your team have 156 wins if they don't write questions because you told me that they hate doing so?

You beat teams who don't write questions and lose to teams who do.

We've actually found studying college questions and Wikipedia to be more useful...

Ask any athlete if they love doing wind sprints, lifting weights, and practicing. Preparation has a lot to do with eventual success.

I don't know about the Wikipedia stuff... but to an extent it could help.

[quizbowllee]

This topic probably needs to be split off into the main forum, but I will answer some of the questions posed:

1) How did we play so much?
At the risk of sounding like a smart-ass, Charlie was right. We went to tournaments. I have a team that actually complains if they go more than a week without a tournament, so I try to find somewhere for them to go. It's been a struggle trying to juggle family, work, grad school, and this team. But, if they want to compete, I'm going to try and find a way. Fortunately, we do live in an area with a lot of available tournaments. Unfortunately, many of these tournaments aren't of the greatest quality in terms of questions... And, I don't mean to sound like I'm making excuses, but some of our losses can be attributed to bad questions and hoses.

2) How do we afford to go to so many tournaments?
This is sort of amusing, considering how hard we struggle financially... I often find myself in debt to teams (I'm looking at you, Charlie Steinhice. You're check should be in the mail). Seriously, though - we host at least two or three tournaments a year. We get our local state representatives to donate to us. Parents who can afford it make contributions. We also hold car washes, yard sales, etc. Here at the end of the year, it is costing $275 out of pocket per students to attend both HSNCT and PACE.

3) About question writing....
We have beaten teams that write questions. And, my team HAS written questions before. We have a house-written tournament at the beginning of the year. But, I've never seen a great deal of improvement coming from them writing questions. Again, I think that this is a learning style issue more than anything. Personally, I have written thousands and thousands of questions for tournaments all over the nation. I also participated in many packet-submission tournaments in college. I never gained nearly as much from writing questions as I did from reading packets, playing on packets, etc. It doesn't matter how good or experienced a player is, writing questions just doesn't make some players better.

Again, I'm not arguing AGAINST question writing. I'm just saying it hasn't worked for us and for my teams. I still have my teams do it occasionally, but I would rather them read and study material instead of writing a ton of questions.

You beat teams who don't write questions and lose to teams who do.

It's not that simple. We've beaten teams that write questions... and we've lost to some teams that probably don't.

Also, someone said something along the lines of "New teams get more from reading/playing packets and experienced teams need to research things in order to 30 bonuses." (I don't remember the exact wording or who said it).

In reply to that, "researching" is not mutually exclusive to writing questions. I have players all the time who run to a computer or reference work after a round in order to look up something that they heard within the round. But, they don't necessarily write a tossup on the subject. They research it, learn what they needed to know, and then get on with practice.

Anyway... I hope this answers some questions and clarifies my stance on question writing. If it works for you, that's great. If it doesn't, then don't try to force it to. Do what works best for you to become a better player.

[Byko]

Holy crap you've played a lot of matches, i just looked at your record, Lee. How on earth did you play so many? You've played more (according to Byko) than any other team in the country...

Part of it could just be that he's sent me more results than most places/teams across the country. After all, I am just one man, and this one man has had a rather hectic 2008 already.

Thanks, Lee--as always, greatly appreciated.

[quizbowllee]

Holy crap you've played a lot of matches, i just looked at your record, Lee. How on earth did you play so many? You've played more (according to Byko) than any other team in the country...

Part of it could just be that he's sent me more results than most places/teams across the country. After all, I am just one man, and this one man has had a rather hectic 2008 already.

Thanks, Lee--as always, greatly appreciated.

Good point. I do think that we have stats up for every tournament we attended this year. That makes a difference. There were a few tournaments where I would've preferred the stats not go into the database, but I'm all for promoting the greater good and whatnot.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Ouch, it was just a simple question. Doesn't mean that i'm not going to utilize all the help, i already have in fact, or at least i'm in the process of doing so.

It's just awesome to see so many wins in one season, that's phenomenal. That's more wins than my school has had, arguably, since i graduated from here seven years ago.. I'm just consistently amazed at some of the caliber of teams here that i don't even know exist until i start talking to individuals.

[Mechanical Beasts]

Ouch, it was just a simple question. Doesn't mean that i'm not going to utilize all the help, i already have in fact, or at least i'm in the process of doing so.

That's backtracking a little, to be honest, since it was a simple question phrased pretty hostilely. That doesn't bother me too much, but it's perhaps not the way you ought to say things. And in other places, instead of saying simply that you're using (and appreciate) their advice, you mention the backlash--you spend more time on how they're resisting than on the advice at hand.

It's just awesome to see so many wins in one season, that's phenomenal. That's more wins than my school has had, arguably, since i graduated from here seven years ago.. I'm just consistently amazed at some of the caliber of teams here that i don't even know exist until i start talking to individuals.

Yeah, it's impressive. Coming to as many tournaments as possible, and playing the hardest teams and best questions possible, both gets you better and exposes you to those schools. I recommend that you come to Harvard's house-written invitational tournament on 11/15 next year. It'll be an opportunity for you to compete in a field of 36 teams, many of whom will be very, very good.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Come to Harvard? Our school doesn't even like us driving 2 hours away, let alone 6½ hours for an overnight trip. I suppose i won't rule it out, but baby steps down here in Slower Lower Delaware.

[Mechanical Beasts]

I can understand that; we essentially only traveled very far for nationals when I was in high school. I think it seems to be more and more necessary every year to travel and get to play teams outside your area. Granted, you're lucky--dare I say it!--to have Charter around for that purpose; I know that it helped us that State College came to about half the Pittsburgh tournaments..

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Oh don't get me wrong. I like having Charter around. Bill Tressler is a wonderful leader and coach and go-to guy for pretty much anything. I can't imagine what quizbowl would be like in Delaware without him or them. I couldn't do half of the stuff that he does.

[Terrible Shorts Depot]

I must second Andy here. There are 4 good PA teams (States A and B, Moravian, and us). We murder pretty much everyone else. You are lucky to have Charter around. They are a strong team and they show up to stuff. We get to murder Kane and Rocky Grove.