The Quizbowl Resource Center

A rather big problem I've noticed is that by the time we get to the playoffs in tournaments, the team is usually really tired. I'll concede that usually the teams are better by this point, but we're noticably out of it. In addition to the obvious good night's sleep, any advice?

A quick energy drink shot by late afternoon can help, i've seen.

My kids just try to yuk it up and have fun to get in a positive mood, as well, and they can usually turn around tired minds and possibly pessimistic spirits.

Plus, i always thought that the benefits to good, loud, catchy music during a break on your mp3 player is enormously helpful for putting you in a good mood, get your mind off of thoughts like "omg these teams are way better now lolz," and more importantly to just wake up a little bit.

Taking a walk after lunch can help, as can caffine.

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:A quick energy drink shot by late afternoon can help, i've seen.

My kids just try to yuk it up and have fun to get in a positive mood, as well, and they can usually turn around tired minds and possibly pessimistic spirits.

Plus, i always thought that the benefits to good, loud, catchy music during a break on your mp3 player is enormously helpful for putting you in a good mood, get your mind off of thoughts like "omg these teams are way better now lolz," and more importantly to just wake up a little bit.

I wholeheartedly agree with all three of these points. I've tested all of these methods, and they seem to work pretty well. I myself am a strong advocate of the music method. I usually drink my energy drink early in the day, since the long commute to any tournament for my team is usually in the neighborhood of 2-5 hours. Obviously, this forces me to wake up at some time between 2-4 AM... so I feel pretty dead.

HHS_Charlie wrote:I usually drink my energy drink early in the day, since the long commute to any tournament for my team is usually in the neighborhood of 2-5 hours. Obviously, this forces me to wake up at some time between 2-4 AM... so I feel pretty dead.

Ah, the problem with this is that i've seen (and been the victim of) energy drink crash by the late afternoon, especially if lunch was not fulfilling. A second drink sometime after lunchtime (or a first, if you hadn't done the caffeine/taurine/etc. rush in the morning) is necessary in many cases.

Nothing beats the mp3 player though. Hell if i was still playing today, i might never take mine off. I've even listened to mine between rounds this year while i was a moderator just to keep me going.

Music is good, as is walking.

A key thing from my experience is what you eat for lunch. If you can, avoid the greasy stuff.

Bring some good, healthy, energy-packed snacks, like fruit or granola or something. Keep the chatter going between matches to a reasonable extent, so the team doesn't mentally slog off and just sit around waiting. Listen to ABBA.

Cheynem wrote: Listen to ABBA.

Seeing a teaming rocking out to "Dancing Queen" would certainly put a smile on my face...



































...and murderous rage in my soul.

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:good, loud, catchy music

Oh man, you're just asking me to make jokes, aren't you?

Content: I've heard a few coaches insist their kids avoid eating food that's too greasy. I've also seen a coach carry a huge bag of candy with them, giving the players pieces for the length of the day. I personally don't know if I could handle hours-long sugar highs.

Caesar Rodney HS wrote:

HHS_Charlie wrote:I usually drink my energy drink early in the day, since the long commute to any tournament for my team is usually in the neighborhood of 2-5 hours. Obviously, this forces me to wake up at some time between 2-4 AM... so I feel pretty dead.

Ah, the problem with this is that i've seen (and been the victim of) energy drink crash by the late afternoon, especially if lunch was not fulfilling. A second drink sometime after lunchtime (or a first, if you hadn't done the caffeine/taurine/etc. rush in the morning) is necessary in many cases.

Nothing beats the mp3 player though. Hell if i was still playing today, i might never take mine off. I've even listened to mine between rounds this year while i was a moderator just to keep me going.

After years of consuming caffeine, I have found that most crashes don't hit me very hard, if at all. However, I have brought 2 energy drinks to tournaments before, especially if they're very key tournaments in VHSL play. However, I would advise against drinking more than 2 per day. On one particular occasion over the summer, I consumed three during my work shift, and that night I was completely unable to sleep. The easiest way for me to describe it would be "too tired to sleep"... I was miserable.

I find that the mp3 player should be a key weapon in a quizbowl player's arsenal. Depending on what you pack it with, it can heavily influence your mindset going to a match. If you want to be "fired up", you can listen to some heavy metal, or if you want to clear your mind, you could always listen to some smooth and soft music. I find that the latter helps you focus, but listening to it as you hit the down-slope of your energy for the day can actually hurt more than help.

Personally, I like to mix in some funk music.

EDIT: and in response to the mention of greasy food, I would like to mention that it's absolutely ridiculous for some tournament directors to do such a thing to the lunch menu. By that, I'm referring to the fact that every tournament that I've been to that served lunch had greasy pizza. This is apparently the easiest available food for TDs to rustle up, but I wonder if they realize the implications of serving such greasy food to QB players.

HHS_Charlie wrote: I find that the mp3 player should be a key weapon in a quizbowl player's arsenal. Depending on what you pack it with, it can heavily influence your mindset going to a match.

Insert Neil Sammader joke here.

In addition to the above, which is reasonable outside of the ABBA suggestion, it is helpful to put matches in perspective. If you are relatively certain that you will survive the morning rounds with a chance to play some important games in the afternoon, then you should tell that to your team. If you know the teams you will face, you can look at the morning schedule and tell your team to focus on one or two games. They should still take the other games seriously, but there is a limit to the number of times that you can get your adrenaline going in one day (or at least diminishing returns), and it helps build your focus if you know ahead of time that a particular point in the day is important.

Shcool wrote:In addition to the above, which is reasonable outside of the ABBA suggestion

YOUR ARE WRONG


I'd like to second the caffeine and tea suggestions, they've always mitigated my energy decline after lunch.

I've always tried to stay away from caffeine and energy drinks because my body doesn't really appreciate them too much, so here's what I do:

1. Go to sleep the night before (duh)

2. Before the tournament, go to the store and buy a box of Fig Newtons. I can usually eat most of a box over the course of 10 or so rounds, and the rest of the teams also appreciates them. They are very tasty, and very energyful, I find.

3. Before each game, listen to something to pump you up. If you find yourself too aggressive, however, listen to something more chill before the next game. During the walk to lunch or whatever, listen to the chill music as well. Lunch is where you can steel yourself for the playoffs. Which brings me to:

4. Eat a (somewhat) healthy lunch. It's not always possible, but I like a good sub from Quizno's or the like.

Music suggestions:

Pump up: Dropkick Murphys (especially Sing Loud, Sing Proud)

Chill: Sublime (especially 40 Oz. to Freedom), Dispatch (especially Bang Bang)

While ABBA would certainly rejuvenate me, the rest of my team once taught my coach the Soulja Boy during a break, and another time, one person performed her parody of the infamous Youtube muffins video.

Basically, we act as stupid as possible, which usually involves some combination of running around/falling asleep/music. Since most tournaments do not grant us these liberties, I suggest gum and Craisins.

People get tired at quizbowl tournaments?

If you know you're going to lose energy during the day of a tournament that's important to you, it might not be a bad idea to load up on carbohydrates the night before. Eating a lot of pasta for dinner before a tournament will keep you supplied with energy and eating things like apples or Fig Newtons will give you short term bursts during the day of the tournament. This may seem extreme, since it's what cross country runners tend to do in preparing for a race, but you all are complaining about a lack of energy. I've never really run into this problem, but I wouldn't suggest my regimen of eat junk food the night before, get 5 hours sleep, and eat junk food for lunch.

I've not had issues with greasy food at lunch. Also,stimulate yourself when you are not playing, especially during the drive to and from the tournament. I usually read or do homework, but playing random packets would probably work as well.

I think that the most important thing is to get a decent night's sleep (>6 hours) before the tournament. This isn't college, you're probably not going to last through the tournament on pure spite.

Eating something (preferably like cereal or pancakes or waffles or something) for breakfast is also a good idea. You're not going to get a brain cramp from powering five questions in round 1, and as long as you don't hit a food coma, you'll have enough energy to play well until lunch, instead of having to use lunch to reload the energy you lost in the morning.

If there is ever a delay in the tournament (e.g. for re-seeding), the worst thing you can do is sit around doing nothing. Use this time to get some energy - I've never used any of the music suggestions, but I have raced a chair-in-an-elevator to the second floor.

Motivation is key; you can't get deflated after a close loss or you'll just play lethargically and lose even more games. Teams and players that can shake off a loss will not get on any sort of slide, and that will keep them in contention. Similarly, keep that energy level up after a big win; you'll need it in the next match.

I'll also echo the suggestions to eat some kind of snacks (preferably healthy with sugar) to supplement the energy.

Something that will also help is attending a lot of tournaments. Most sports run conditioning drills, so players don't get tired toward the end of the game. There's not really any "conditioning" you can do in quizbowl, unless you're going to practice for eight hours one day. So, the only good way to get that "conditioning" in is to play lots of tournaments. Stay for the consolation rounds, if you miss the playoffs; if it's single-elim, see if some other teams and moderators are willing to stick around to read some more rounds after you're eliminated. The only good way to avoid getting tired at the end of tournaments is to be used to playing through those long slogs.

Finally, if someone's really struggling and you can afford to do it, either sub the player out or tell the player to just go ahead and zone out on everything that's not his strength. Obviously this doesn't work if it's your star player and you need him to score 80+ points to have a chance to win, but if it's a supporting player and you think you can win without a good performance, go ahead and sub someone else in. Your tossup points might go down a little bit, but that should be supplanted by a fresher player being able to contribute more on bonuses, or at least catch the few key words that might slip past a tired player. In fact, this is the only really good argument I can find for having a fifth player - sure, most players play less, but they're also less tired by the time the playoffs come around.

Gatorade is key. Plus dumpable for dramatic victories!

Also, ABBA rocks.

I've found that while having carbohydrates before a tournament can be beneficial, it actually really hurts the first round or two after lunch. I agree with what Mike said about the snacking on fruit. It really keeps you awake.

Dresden The Moderator wrote:Gatorade is key. Plus dumpable for dramatic victories!

Also, ABBA rocks.

Does anyone have a documented or even anecdotal account of a gatorade-type dunk after a quizbowl victory?

Prof.Whoopie wrote:
1. Go to sleep the night before (duh)

See you would think this is obvious, but for some reason quizbowl does not seem to see it that way...

Prof.Whoopie wrote:1. Go to sleep the night before (duh)

One trips during which we leave in the wee hours of the morning, or any time we go on a long trip, 90% of the time, I sleep in the car/on the train for a majority of the way. It works for me, but I've been doing it for years, so it is not recommended.

Dan Greenstein wrote: Does anyone have a documented or even anecdotal account of a gatorade-type dunk after a quizbowl victory?

I think I remember hearing about one of the teams in the Mahoning County League having done this once, but I might be mistaken.

Sleeping the night before is super key. I totally disagree with caffeine though, in my experience it hurts play a lot. I do recommend lots of water, and jogging from match to match, if possible. Keep blood flowing, listen to good music, and enjoy yourself.

cdcarter wrote:Sleeping the night before is super key. I totally disagree with caffeine though, in my experience it hurts play a lot. I do recommend lots of water, and jogging from match to match, if possible. Keep blood flowing, listen to good music, and enjoy yourself.

I am sure all members of Whitman's 2007-2008 quizbowl team will attribute their victories to jogs that Damjan and I took between rounds. Home Made Kazoku's "Take it Easy" and Enrique Iglesias' "Hero" played similarly pivotal roles.

Hmm... I have heard of the mild exercise method before. However, the most my team attempted was a bit of stretching, aside from an incident or two in which our captain did push-ups. Perhaps I'll try the jogging method next season.

Having a good attitude about quizbowl is the main thing here. No amount of your gummy bears, "disco music", or tofu lunches will prevent fatigue if you're playing on a team that freaks out if a tournament goes past 2 in the afternoon. Teams full of players who incessantly complain about how long the tournament is going or who have plans that can't wait past 5:00 are going to be fatigued, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Stuff suggested in this thread can certainly help as even teams with good attitudes get tired, but instilling a good team outlook on quizbowl must be the first priority.

Parson Smirk wrote:Having a good attitude about quizbowl is the main thing here. No amount of your gummy bears, "disco music", or tofu lunches will prevent fatigue if you're playing on a team that freaks out if a tournament goes past 2 in the afternoon. Teams full of players who incessantly complain about how long the tournament is going or who have plans that can't wait past 5:00 are going to be fatigued, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Stuff suggested in this thread can certainly help as even teams with good attitudes get tired, but instilling a good team outlook on quizbowl must be the first priority.

post of the year

Matt Weiner wrote:

Parson Smirk wrote:Having a good attitude about quizbowl is the main thing here. No amount of your gummy bears, "disco music", or tofu lunches will prevent fatigue if you're playing on a team that freaks out if a tournament goes past 2 in the afternoon. Teams full of players who incessantly complain about how long the tournament is going or who have plans that can't wait past 5:00 are going to be fatigued, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Stuff suggested in this thread can certainly help as even teams with good attitudes get tired, but instilling a good team outlook on quizbowl must be the first priority.

post of the year

Nomination seconded, both for content and humor.

I am normally anti-horizontal scroll bars, but I support this nomination and the AHAN Jr rename. Good work, Douglass.