Baby Anteater X (1/31/2009) at UCI

[cvdwightw]

Posted on behalf of the tournament director:

Hello players and coaches,

The following is the initial announcement for Baby Anteater X (2009). This is a bit of a special tournament; it is intended for newer and less experienced players. Generally, eligibility will be limited to players in their first two years of high school quiz bowl; however, if you would like to play more experienced players, please contact me and the club will make a decision on a case-by-case basis. If you have any questions about eligibility or anything else, please email me at johnstom at uci dot edu.

What:

The College Bowl Club at UC-Irvine will host Baby Anteater X (2009), an unofficial NAQT High School tournament. Official NAQT rules will be used, with the exception that the matches will be untimed. Match play will consist of bracketed round robins. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the tournament to at least the top two teams, and may consist of individual book prizes to winning team members instead of team trophies. Prizes may be awarded to individual scorers. Teams should bring their own writing utensils and scratch paper, as the club will not provide these items.

This tournament will use questions provided by National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC. The club is using Invitational Series #82A and has purchased geographic exclusivity for Southern California. It is the responsibility of participating teams to make sure that they have not attended (and do not plan to attend) another tournament anywhere in the country that is using the same packet set. Teams can find a complete explanation of geographic exclusivity on NAQT's website at http://www.naqt.com/hs/geographic-exclusivity.html and of their responsibility in maintaining question security at http://www.naqt.com/security-responsibility.html. Teams that don't know which packet sets were used at previous tournaments may find this information at http://www.naqt.com/assigned-packet-sets.jsp. Teams with questions about exclusivity or security should contact NAQT at naqt at naqt dot com.

Where and When:

The tournament will be held on Saturday, January 31, 2009, on the campus of the University of California, Irvine in the Humanities Hall. The map of campus and visitor parking directions can be found here (note that the unmarked stalls in Lot 7 are the closest to Humanities Hall); parking rates can be found here. Teams will meet in Room 178 of the Humanities Hall for the initial meeting, and matches will occur in the 2nd floor classrooms. Registration will begin in Room 178 at 7:45 AM; the club will provide a light continental breakfast. Teams with buzzers (see notice below) should arrive by 8:15 AM. We will have a short meeting at 8:30 AM, and matches will begin promptly at 9 AM. The club will enforce the lateness policy as stated in the NAQT official rules. There will be ample time for lunch; there are many eateries in University Center within walking distance of Humanities Hall as well as a few eateries open in the Student Center (building 113 on the campus map).

Fees and Registration:

Base fee-first team: $80
Base fee-second and subsequent teams: $70
Buzzer discount: $10
Moderator discount: $15
Minimum fee: $50

Buzzer discount:

-$10/buzzer – email me if your school wishes to bring more than one buzzer (the club may be able to only give one buzzer discount per school depending on how many teams want to bring buzzers). Each buzzer must be in good working condition and have at least four buzzers on each side. The club recommends that schools that are bringing buzzers arrive around 8 AM at the Humanities Hall on the morning of the tournament. Schools that arrive in Room 178 after 8:40 AM may have their buzzers rejected due to late arrival. One or more team representatives will need to go with their buzzer to help the club official set up and test their buzzer.

Experienced moderator discount:

-$15/experienced moderator – The club may use a certain number of volunteer moderators. The club expects all volunteer moderators to have previous experience moderating at a tournament. If your school would like to volunteer a moderator, please email me the person's name, contact information, and a list of previous tournaments where they have moderated. Moderators are subject to club approval and may be rejected for any reason, including potential conflict of interest. Team coaches and assistant coaches are welcome to volunteer to moderate; the club may be able to avoid conflict of interests with the schedule.

To register:

Email Matthew Johnston, Tournament Director, at johnstom at uci dot edu with the following information:

1. School name, name of your principal, address, and phone number.
2. Coaches' name(s) and contact information (especially preferred email addresses)
3. The number of teams you wish to register and any information concerning potential number of buzzers, moderators and/or scorekeepers.

At the current time, registration is limited to twelve (12) teams on a first come, first serve basis Teams that register after the field is full will be placed on a waiting list, but we will endeavor to accommodate as many teams as want to play. I will confirm your school's registration via email. Registration will close at 8 PM Pacific time on January 23, 2009.

Payment:

The club will accept either cash (exact amount please) or checks made out to "College Bowl Club -- ASUCI". If you wish to send your payment ahead of time, please email and I will send you the appropriate address.

There will be a $20 penalty/team for schools that pay after the tournament date.

There will be a $15 penalty/team for schools that withdraw a team after the registration deadline.

Questions: Every club, as part of the registration fee, will receive one set of the questions used at the tournament. Full question sets will not be given to teams who leave early.

Final notes:

The College Bowl Club and I will do what we can to ensure a high quality tournament.

If you have any questions, please email me at johnstom at uci dot edu

Otherwise, have a great day, and good luck to all teams. Have a wonderful winter break and holiday season, hope to see you in January.

Sincerely,

Matthew Johnston

College Bowl Club at UC-Irvine

[ihavenoidea]

RB will bring at least one team of underclassmen, possibly two.

[Alvin6226]

SaMo B is attending .

[cvdwightw]

SaMo B is attending .

Sa Mo B should officially register with the tournament director (johnstom at uci dot edu).

Barring buzzer issues, we will probably be raising the cap to at least 14 and probably 16 (official announcement once we figure out how many staff we're getting)

Officially Registered:
University x2
Arcadia x2
Edison
Rancho Alamitos
Los Alamitos
Rancho Bernardo x2

Expressed Interest, but not officially registered:
Capistrano Valley
Santa Monica
North Hollywood
Lakeside (WA) -- I'm not sure on the exact details but it sounds like they may be trying to bring a varsity team and would thus be better off attending Triton Bowl or Carnal Embrace

[Kaisuopai]

La Jolla would be interested in bringing one or two teams of underclassmen, though La Jolla would have to confirm because most of its underclassmen are slackers.

I will register with johnstom at UCI dot edu when we confirm how many teams we have, which will likely be in a week. Also, regarding the "unofficial NAQT tournament" label: this tournament does not qualify for Chicago nationals, then?

-Kai

[cvdwightw]

1. Being an Unofficial Tournament does not preclude teams from qualifying at the tournament.
2. We're probably closer to an "official" tournament, as we almost certainly meet all six criteria.
3. I don't think that, given the weakness of the field compared to varsity tournaments, that any teams should qualify from this tournament, but it's NAQT's decision, not mine.

[ihavenoidea]

I hope no one qualifies to nationals because of this tournament.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Why not? It's an NAQT a-set. We already argued about this in another thread. I agree they shouldn't qualify, but apparently it's in the rules.

[Angry Babies in Love]

I was always under the impression that NAQT 'A's didn't qualify teams for nationals. Why make a series of easier questions if they still qualify teams for nationals?

[ClemsonQB]

I was always under the impression that NAQT 'A's didn't qualify teams for nationals. Why make a series of easier questions if they still qualify teams for nationals?

Read this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6989

A sets aren't always easier, as is detailed in the above link.

[dtaylor4]

But wouldn't qualification be squashed because of the field restrictions?

[Angry Babies in Love]

I was always under the impression that NAQT 'A's didn't qualify teams for nationals. Why make a series of easier questions if they still qualify teams for nationals?

A sets aren't always easier, as is detailed in the above link.

I stand corrected. But I think, personally, in relation to regular IS sets, that 'A' sets are easier, in my humble opinion.

[Joe Romersa]

So what if a crappy team qualifies for nats cuz they have above-average underclassmen. they just get a trip to Chicago to get slaughtered.
and the prospect of qualifying for HSNCT has lured more teams than, say, NNT.

or people are bored cuz we havent had an []ing tournament since november -.-.

[Duke Togo]

...the prospect of qualifying for HSNCT has lured more teams than, say, NNT.
...we havent had an []ing tournament since november -.-.

...

[Alvin6226]

Field update please?

[cvdwightw]

Field update please?

University (x2)
Arcadia (x2)
Edison
Los Alamitos
Rancho Alamitos
Rancho Bernardo (x2)
North Hollywood
Santa Monica
Orange Lutheran

You will notice that unless my math is off that is 12 teams. Thanks to some helpful people who are coming with their teams and volunteering to help staff, we can comfortably raise the cap to 16.

[MattyJ]

Hi, I am Matt the TD for Baby Anteater.

The field is now 16 teams with the new additions of Torrey Pines, Capistrano and La Jolla

[cvdwightw]

Field Update:

University x2
Arcadia x2
Edison
Los Alamitos
Rancho Alamitos
Rancho Bernardo x2
North Hollywood
Santa Monica
Orange Lutheran
Torrey Pines
Capistrano Valley
La Jolla x2

Confirmation Pending*:
Rancho Bernardo C
North Hollywood B
North Hollywood C

We have enough staff to run the 19-team tournament, assuming that our "volunteer" (for the discount) staff people are still coming. We are looking for a ninth fully-functional buzzer system (we're tentatively looking at an old Quiz-a-Matic that has a tendency to fail in various ways). If any of you who read this board can bring an extra buzzer, please let someone affiliated with UCI know. We hope to have these teams confirmed as soon as possible.

[ihavenoidea]

Dwight, I think RB has two teams signed up for sure and 1 team pending.

[cvdwightw]

Dwight, I think RB has two teams signed up for sure and 1 team pending.

You are right that team list only goes up to 15.

[MattyJ]

Hello everyone, with Baby Anteater this Saturday I would like to give everyone a field update.

University 1
University 2

Arcadia A
Arcadia B

Los Alamitos

Edison

Rancho Alamitos

Rancho Bernardo 1
Rancho Bernardo 2
Rancho Bernardo 3

North Hollywood 1
North Hollywood 2

Orange Lutheran

Santa Monica

Capistrano Valley

Torrey Pines

La Jolla 1
La Jolla 2

I would also like to see if any of the teams attending could bring a buzzer in addition to the ones already registered, we have enough of them but would like a backup if at all possible.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Matthew Johnston, TD Baby Anteater X

[Alvin6226]

Good luck everybody.

[cvdwightw]

Preliminary stats are now up at http://clubs.uci.edu/qbc/ptas/BabyAntea ... dings.html

[r.g.anderson]

Final standings are now available at the same link.

http://clubs.uci.edu/qbc/ptas/BabyAntea ... dings.html

[MattyJ]

Thanks for coming everybody, it was a good event with some great games.

Nice to see the younger players doing so well, there definitely is a good future for quiz bowl in Socal.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the tournament please share them with me. It was my first time as a TD so feedback would be great.

[ihavenoidea]

Thanks UCI

[Julie RS]

My own opinion is that teams that were made up of Freshmen and Sophomores were at a huge disadvantage when playing against Juniors and Seniors, even if the Juniors and Seniors had no previous Quiz Bowl experience, due to the fact that Freshmen and Sophomores been exposed to the same subjects in school. Most Freshman and Sophomores haven't had a full year of Chemistry or Physics, nor have they had U.S. History or Government and the packets contained a lot of questions about these subjects.

That being said, I think that it was a very well-run tournament and the kids on my daughter's team had a lot of fun.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

My own opinion is that teams that were made up of Freshmen and Sophomores were at a huge disadvantage when playing against Juniors and Seniors, even if the Juniors and Seniors had no previous Quiz Bowl experience, due to the fact that Freshmen and Sophomores been exposed to the same subjects in school. Most Freshman and Sophomores haven't had a full year of Chemistry or Physics, nor have they had U.S. History or Government and the packets contained a lot of questions about these subjects.

That's quizbowl. Study more (or at all) next time.

[Auroni]

That's quizbowl. Study more (or at all) next time.

hey, way to make a stupid, superfluous post.

that being said, this is a common thing that a lot of quizbowlers face. However, points can be scored by finding some easy to remember things in each subject that comes up but that the player hasn't learned yet, and then committing those to memory (like, let's say the ideal gas law, kirchoff's laws, or the whiskey rebellion), and then getting that knowledge reinforced by taking those subjects.

User was tempbanned for three days for backseat modding.

[AKKOLADE]

That's quizbowl. Study more (or at all) next time.

hey, way to make a stupid, superfluous post.

hey, way to backseat mod on a post that, while somewhat blunt, is accurate.

[Down and out in Quintana Roo]

Sorry, i hadn't had my caffeine yet in the morning and it probably was a little too blunt. I do apologize if it was borderline offensive or direspectful.

But really i pretty much meant what i said...

Regardless, freshmen and sophomores will often be at a disadvantage for the same reason they do in just about any other activity... experience, maturity, exposure, etc. They're only going to improve if they play better teams, practice on good packets, and study outside of practice/school to master subjects they only have minimal information on.

[cvdwightw]

I think there is a tradeoff here. Juniors and seniors from new programs may have an advantage in what they've covered in the classroom, but freshmen and sophomores from established programs may have a different advantage: (a) coach(es) who's usually competent and able to get players to learn "stuff that comes up" outside of the classroom, and older players who are usually helpful in getting the younger ones to work toward their level of play.

I think it boils down to a question of the difference between "what people know from quizbowl" and "what people know from outside quizbowl." Looking at the stats, I don't think there was a significant difference between the older and younger teams, on the whole. Yes, North Hollywood and University had an advantage due to extensive outside-of-quizbowl knowledge, but at the same time, the younger teams from programs with top teams also performed quite well, and I think that's a testament to the coaches and/or older players at the school.

Saying freshmen and sophomores are disadvantaged because they haven't taken certain courses is like saying that juniors are disadvantaged on the Economics portion of Academic Decathlon because they haven't taken that course yet. Motivated students who are interested in certain subjects are going to do the independent outside "study" to get better at those subjects.

Besides, there are whole swathes of literature, arts, geography, mythology, etc. that are eminently answerable by players who haven't taken any sort of classes in those subjects.