Ok, so as an ASCA board member who has a strong personal interest in seeing things change a bit in Alabama and has been working toward that for the last couple of years, I feel like I need to address a couple of points in this thread.
It's just that the ASCA board in general is opposed to change - even for the better. The same handful of people keep electing one another to the higher positions on the board. In addition, they keep the "at-large" membership virtually limited to small schools or schools in South Alabama who generally haven't been exposed to "good" quizbowl.
First, I don't agree with this contention at all. I don't think the board is opposed to change, for better or for worse. My experience with them is that they are very cautious about making changes that would affect the entire state without actually running those changes past the general membership. When I've brought suggestions to the board, they have been received cordially. If the board is hesitant to make major changes, I believe it is because the board is trying hard to keep quiz bowl accessible to the bulk of the state, and that this is extremely difficult given the enormous disparity that exists between programs. Let me be clear--I do not agree with the idea that we should continue using low-level question providers like Questions Galore just to make the questions "accessible". Indeed, I have been fighting hard for this to make sure QG is gone next year, but we are contractually obligated to a three year bid that ends this year. Still, to say that the board is not willing to make changes is, I think, to take a limited view of what the board is meant to do.
As far as membership on the board goes, I can tell you that Matt was asked to help with the selection process for this year's new appointments, and that I proposed Matt D. for one of the high school openings, but it is impossible to have a board for the state of Alabama where all the board is from central and north AL and think that's a fair representation. There ARE schools south of Birmingham, and we want them involved in the state organization. I sent multiple requests to coaches asking them to serve, and called several to ask them personally, but had little luck in South Alabama. We feel it is our obligation to try, however. Note also that of the last five board members who have rotated on, all five are new to ASCA's board, so we are making an effort to bring in new blood. I don't think it's terribly surprising that the president elect is someone who has served in a different position in the past--you don't generally bring someone in to run a state organization with no experience. Except, maybe, in national politics.
The fact that the ASCA President gets so many proxy votes every year goes a long way in keeping things the way that they are. They consistently cater to the lowest common denominator. We need to embrace truly pyramidal questions that emphasize deep knowledge. But, too many coaches are against doing anything that would require that they or their students take the game more seriously in order to compete.
In this we are in agreement, at least to some extent. I have been pushing for pyramidal questions and to get rid of the QG garbage for the last two years, and we are making progress in this regard. Again, we have been limited by a multi-year bid in terms of changing providers, but I am hoping that this year's HIT will be an opportunity to showcase HSAPQ's quality and to show that we CAN make a change to pyramidal questions without making tourneys run all night. As to the question of proxies or coaches opposing a particular style, I frankly think there's more of an issue with apathy than with a desire to keep out any given format or style. I am working on a proposal I have mentioned previously in board meetings that would create a Div. 1/Div. 2 classification system for AL that might help with the problem, but that's still got a lot to work out. Regardless, I think that the questions we have at the state tourney are strong questions, if a little heavy on speed checks, at the varsity level, and we are trying to build on that.
I can't tell you how many times I've been told that I would be nominated to the Board only to go to the Coach's Conference and find that I have not been. I've been told that I "trash" ASCA too much. Perhaps that is the way that it is perceived, but I actually care a great deal about the organization and I just want to see it grow and catch up with what strong organizations in the rest of the nation are doing.
I have no doubt you care about the quality of quiz bowl in Alabama, Lee. I don't think you doubt I do as well. I would like to see you on the ASCA board along with Matt at some point, and will continue to push to get at least one of you on in the next year. The main obstacle this year was that the space I proposed Matt for was allocated to have a south AL representative on the board. I'll commit to this publicly, however--I will rotate off as Secretary of the Board (i think) at the end of next year, and if one of the two of you are not appointed to the board for next year, I'll resign and nominate one of you in my place. Everyone's voices need to be heard if ASCA is to become a strong, unified organization.
Here is a list of things that need to change:
1) Questions Galore must go at all levels. The questions are cheap, but they are terrible.
2) Rules need to be changed in regards to acceptable answers, eliminating hoses, and recognizing students. It's ridiculous that we still have to wait for a student's name to be called before the student can answer.
3) Quit sending the ASCA Champs to Panasonic. Send them to a real National Tournament - PACE or NAQT.
4) Move towards pyramidality across the board. Using one-line Questions Galore junk in middle school and JV and then moving to Jim Garrick's semi-pyramidal questions in Varsity is insane.
5) Loosen up. Last year, one of the readers at State - and an ASCA Board Member - demanded that one of my players remove his baseball cap before she would read the round. Quiz Bowl isn't Church. Some teams wear suits and ties - which is fine. Some dress casually - which is also fine. Some tournaments give away prizes for the most clever t-shirts - which is awesome.
1) Agreed, and this will happen this year if I have anything to say about it.
2) Propose the changes that need to be made! That's what the votes are for at the conference. What in particular do you want changed? That recognition by pointing is acceptable? I don't think that's a problem. Eliminating hoses is a tournament-by-tournament, question-by-question issue, and it should be addressed by each tourney working hard to check questions. Using a more capable provider (like HSAPQ) would fix this, for the most part. I need to know what you mean by acceptable answers to say more on that issue. Still, I'm happy to vote for changes that will help us improve.
3) Last year's ASCA champs went to NAQT nationals AND Panasonic, but this is a moot point as Panasonic appears to have folded. There was nothing in the bylaws that prevented teams from going outside of Panasonic, and nothing to prevent them from applying their winnings in the state tourney to attending. The board did strongly encourage attendance at Panasonic for a couple of reasons, including issues with the state funding that we are able to apply for to attend a national championship. I'll be happy to show you that material at the Oct. 2 meeting if you'd like to see it, because it's just another great Alabama snafu thing that screws everyone, and there's squat we can do about it through ASCA. Still, there is no formal requirement that the state champion attend Panasonic--only that ASCA will designate a team to attend Panasonic as the state team if the first place team chooses not to attend.
4) Agreed. See #1. This would be easier if there were more programs interested at the JV level, but we have to take things one step at a time. I'd love to find a pyramidal JV/middle school provider, but I have yet to see one. PLEASE, if you read this and you know of a good option, post and let me know or e-mail me at mr.rutsky@gma il dot com. I know--we could write them ourselves--but I don't have the time or support to do that right now, so I need a contract provider with samples I can bring to the board and advocate for.
5) This is not, IMHO, indicative of the attitude of the average ASCA board member. It certainly isn't indicative of mine. There is no dress code for scholars bowl, and there doesn't need to be, short of avoiding obscenity unless you bring enough to share with everyone.
I do hope this helps to address a few of the concerns that have been expressed about ASCA. We aren't perfect. Not even close. We are, however, the only state organization existing at the moment, so let's see what from that list we can fix on October 2nd, and start making that progress forward. I'd like nothing more than to see multiple Alabama teams taken seriously at the national level in coming years, and I think programs like Brindlee Mountain, Russellville, Indian Springs, LAMP, etc. have demonstrated that we can produce programs that do so, even if they are coming out of ASCA's 4 quarter format.
Let the flames begin!
Circadian rhythms do have some meaning. I do tell my premed students that they should be practicing taking their MCAT's in the last two weeks before their test date to correspond to the time the test starts (8am or 2pm).
