The Quizbowl Resource Center

Brookwood will have two teams at NAQT Nationals.

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:Some of my teammates and I are still recovering from the ACF Winter marathon at UGA last weekend. More seriously, though, this is an SAT weekend.

Yeah, the SAT took its toll on us this Saturday too. We were planning on taking 2 Varsity teams but only had enough players for 1. I wish y'all could have scraped together enough for a team; I think y'all would have really enjoyed Dorman's tournament. Anyway, I hope you do well on the SAT.

AlphaQuizBowler wrote:Alpharetta's planning on going to PACE.

I am glad to hear y'all are planning to go to one of the Nationals. Good luck!

jrbarry wrote:Brookwood will have two teams at NAQT Nationals.

Cool. See you there!

Doink the Clown wrote:Ah, I didn't know it was a two-day tournament. Out of curiosity, how many teams usually play it?

In 5A alone there are typically between 14-18 teams at the Varsity State Championship and another 14-18 at the JV State Championship. The other 4 classifications have somewhere between 6-16 teams at each tournament I believe. Mr. Barry or someone from another classification could probably provide more exact numbers.

I believe 4A had around 14 teams last year, which is usually par for the course.

RountreeCHS wrote: At least Walton [is] going to Cedar Shoals on the 30th.

Wellllllll......not so much anymore.

Norcross plans to send a team to NAQT Nationals. The state tournament is a different story, though. It's a possibility that the team will miss it for assorted reasons.

For what it is worth, now that the 5 bellwether tournaments I noted in an earlier post are over, here are the average finishes for some of the top teams in 5A:

1. Centennial - attended 3 of 5 - average finish = 2nd place
2. Alpharetta - attended 2 of 5 - average finish = 3.5 place
3. Chattahoochee - attended 4 of 5 - average finish = 4th place
3. Brookwood - attended 4 of 5 - average finish = 4th place
5. Central Gwinnett - attended 2 of 5 - average finish = 4.5 place
6. Walton - attended 3 of 5 - average finish = 5th place

I don't think these finishes will necessarily mirror the results at GATA Varsity exactly, but it will be interesting to see how close they come. We are only a couple months away from the State Championship and, based on the aforementioned results, the competition among the top teams in 5A looks to be very strong.

I would love to see my students really get motivated to try to vie for one of the top spots at the Varsity state tournament, as I feel they have the potential to beat any team in Georgia. Whether or not they will actually find the motivation to do the amount of practicing and studying that would be necessary is questionable at this point.

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.

I agree completely with what you said, and would apply it to my own team's potential. If we play our best, we can beat any other team in GA. But, we have yet to put together a perfect game against the best competition (especially not for an entire tournament). If we can ever do that, we will be a team to watch out for. Further, while I feel that Centennial and Alpharetta might be the best 2 teams in GA right now (or at least through the fall semester), I also believe that any of the other teams on that list could beat one or both of them and make it to the GATA Varsity State Championship. This State Tournament should be some really exciting quizbowl.

Note for all Georgia Coaches:

You may have noticed GATA's website beitng down for a couple of months. Original domain was hijacked by an unscrupulous provider and apparently sold to a Thai digital camera seller. At least, the new owner's address has him in Thailand. Anyway, GATA has procured 3 new domains, and you can access information there: tournament calendar and results, resources, etc.

The new domains are: www.gataquizbowl.com www.georgiaquizbowl.org www.georgiaquizbowl.com

The GATA state championships are approaching. Remember, you must be a member of GATA and must register (using forms on the site) in order to participate in the official state championship GATA middle, JV and Varsity championships.

Registration is exceedingly slight at this point. On Monday I will post the current JV (February 27 @ Ola High School) field.

Georgia Coaches,
The GATA State JV Championship is coming up February 27 at Ola High School. The field of registered teams is below. It is IMPERATIVE that you take care of registration as soon as possible to compete. Plans must be made ahead of time for room use and for lunch and concessions. If you wait till the week of, you MAY BE TURNED AWAY. It is an unfair burden to the host school and tournament director for teams to register at the last moment (as in the week preceding the tournament).
The registration form, membership form, and instructions are found on the GATA website. You (or a coach at your school) must be a member of GATA in order to compete.

I will begin emailing instructions and information this week to registered teams.

www.gataquizbowl.com www.georgiaquizbowl.org www.georgiaquizbowl.com


A:
Baconton Charter
Hebron Christian
Ware County

AA:
Blessed Trinity
Buford
Lamar County
Lovett
Westminster

3A:
Bleckley County
Creekview
Locust Grove

4A:
Marist
Ola
Tucker

5A:
Berkmar

Andrew's a Freshman wrote:Norcross plans to send a team to NAQT Nationals. The state tournament is a different story, though. It's a possibility that the team will miss it for assorted reasons.

Our plans have actually changed as graduation conflicts with NAQT. We'll likely go to PACE instead.

Are the questions from the Alpharetta JV tournament ever going to be made available to participants?

The questions from the Alpharetta J.V. tournament were actually the Fall Novice set. They are already posted on the HS Packet Archive.

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.

and that would be where?

quizbowlpackets.com

found it. But of course it's blocked at school like every other useful site.

Why the heck would a site like that be blocked?

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:Why the heck would a site like that be blocked?

Because filtering software sucks?

Jeff, I am no computer whiz, but would going through the link to quizbowlpackets.com on the homepage of these forums allow you to get to the site? I can get to it either way here in Fulton County, but perhaps that maneuver could somehow get you on the site? Just an idea...

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:Why the heck would a site like that be blocked?

Naughty words in the packets, maybe?

RountreeCHS wrote:Jeff, I am no computer whiz, but would going through the link to quizbowlpackets.com on the homepage of these forums allow you to get to the site? I can get to it either way here in Fulton County, but perhaps that maneuver could somehow get you on the site? Just an idea...

We get it here fine in Clarke, and this from the filters who blocked NAQT for a short time because it was listed as "games."

jburnsOHS wrote:found it. But of course it's blocked at school like every other useful site.

Have you considered requesting to have it unblocked? We used to have the forums here blocked at our high school until I asked our coach to request to have them unblocked.

jburnsOHS wrote:found it. But of course it's blocked at school like every other useful site.

Most filtering software I have come across has a link on the blocked site page to label the site as incorrectly restricted.

Elliott, I tried going through link here, and it was blocked. We used to have Bess blocking things, and I thought that was bad. Now, I guess because it's cheaper, we have Webwasher. Almost anything useful for history or quiz bowl is blocked. I've submitted hundreds of site review requests, as has my county social studies coordinator. I think 1-2 have been unblocked. Our county technology department's mission is to thwart teaching at every turn.

The State JV Championship Tournament field for Feb 27 so far:
A:
Baconton Charter
Galloway
Hebron Christian
Providence Christian
Savannah Country Day (2 teams)
Ware County Magnet

AA:
Bleckley County
Blessed Trinity
Buford
Lamar County
Lovett

AAA:
Bleckley County
Creekview
Locust Grove (2 teams)
Lumpkin County
Woodward Academy

AAAA:
Lakeside
Marist
Ola (2 teams)
Tucker
Villa Rica

AAAAA:
Alpharetta
Berkmar
Central Gwinnett
Chattahoochee
Parkview
Roswell

Please register (www.gataquizbowl.com or www.georgiaquizbowl.org ). Remember, a coach must be a paid GATA member in order to participate.
Registration is closed after Feb 22.

Please add Brookwood to the 5A list, sir.

Also, Chattahoochee will have 2 teams on February 27th for JV State. Thanks, Jeff!

I'm not sure if this has been discussed by GATA before, but would they consider using 3-part bonuses for the Varsity State competition? I don't have anything specifically against 2-part bonuses, but I'm confused as to why GATA buys 3-part bonuses only to cut them down. Furthermore, with the closeness of the top teams this year, I think the competition could use the extra definition that hard parts of a bonus provide to a match.

2 parters are a done deal for this year but I'll be sure to at least put it on the agenda at the Board meeting in May. Not officially speaking for the board, mind you, but it can be brought up.
Personally speaking I don't mind three parters as long as the final part isn't too too hard which given they're NAQT packets, usually aren't.

CSQuizJags wrote:2 parters are a done deal for this year but I'll be sure to at least put it on the agenda at the Board meeting in May.

If you don't mind me asking, why is this "a done deal?" Have the questions been received and already edited into 2-part form? It seems that the Board still has time to address the issue if it wants to.

William:

Any rules or procedures changes should be submitted to the GATA Board for discussion and a vote each May. Send any proposal to Jeff Burns, our President.

When GATA started in the late 1980s, we used 4-part bonuses. We changed to three-part bonuses then 2-part bonuses circa 1995-6. JUst a little history FYI...

I don't know how folks feel about this. I do not recall anyone making that firm suggestion in recent years. Must be time to discuss it.

PS NAQT generously supplies us their state championship set which we use as the basis for our State set. We do not pay for that set of questions. Our State Quizmaster edits the set to meet our standards/requirements.

The GATA JV State Championships were held today at Ola HS. Below are the final results (for 5A only):

Final place - Team - final record (playoff seed)
1st - Centennial - 8-0 (1)
2nd - Chattahoochee A - 7-1 (2)
3rd - Brookwood - 6-2 (3)
4th - Alpharetta - 4-4 (5)
5th - Walton - 4-2 (4)
6th - Chattahoochee B - 3-3 (6)
7th - Roswell - 3-3, I think (7)
8th - Harrison - 2-4, I think (8)

Centennial (or should I say the younger Silverman brother) was "untouchable" all day. He won this tournament last year as a freshman, and had little difficulty repeating this year. From what I heard/saw, his closest match was the Championship Game, which was still 280-130. Quite impressive to say the least.

EDIT: spelling

Congrats to Centennial and Chattahoochee for their top finishes yesterday at State JV. Looks like, with 5 of the 8 top finsihers, that Fulton County Schools has asserted itself in state 5A quiz bowl. Let's hope that isn't true at Varsity State! :-)

Results
5A
Centennial 1
Chattahoochee A 2
Brookwood 3
Alpharetta 4

4A
Lakeside 1
Ola A 2
Heritage High 3
Marist 4

3A
Flowery Branch 1
Woodward Academy 2
Locust Grove A 3
Eastside High School 4

2A
Lovett School 1
Westminster 2
Blessed Trinity 3
Calhoun A 4


A
Savannah Country Day A 1
Oak Mountain Academy A 2
Baconton Charter 3
Hebron Christian 4

Jeff,

Thanks a bunch for posting the results at JV State from all 5 classifications. It is particularly helpful for us, since we will be dropping down to 4A next year, to see who the top teams will be in the future.

Chattahoochee dropping down to 4A?!?!
That is some of the worst Quiz Bowl news I have heard in a while...
especially for my 2A-sized school that plays up GHSA and evidently must play up for GATA, too!

Nonetheless, I extend congratulations on your fine finish this weekend, Mr. Rountree.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Awwww, it si SO saaaaaad! The Hooch dropping to 4A! :-)

Yeah... we here at Central Gwinnett are really torn up about Chattahoochee moving to 4A next year!

Ha, ha, ha! Y'all make me laugh. Seriously, though, we are looking forward to next year, getting to play a whole new set of teams at the State Championships. In fact, many of the 4A teams, like Heritage, Lakeside, and Marist, we rarely (if ever) get to play during the year, so it should be fun.

In regard to our classification, here are the specifics: CHS was actually below the 4A/5A cutoff at the start of this year, but we didn't apply for 4A classification until October; it was granted by the GHSA in December. Some teams/groups here at CHS have already started competing at the 4A level this semester. We are projected to be around 1750 students this fall, which actually means we won't even be the biggest 4A school. Anyway, that's the story about our change in classification.

Can someone explain why the GATA AAAAA State Championship is happening in Hinesville, GA? No offense to the folks down South, but this choice of location is so disadvantageous to so many teams that would otherwise compete, I can't think of any logical defense of the choice. I've heard the argument that GATA has to hold a tournament in South GA every few years, but who does this benefit? There are 58 high schools that are members of GATA and therefore eligible for the championship. Of those 58 schools, only 7 (12%) of the schools are located below the Fall Line. Even worse, only 2 AAAAA schools, Jenkins and Bradwell Institute, are located in the southern half of our state. I'm sure those teams are eager to compete, but does GATA need to go to such great lengths to appease at a maximum 2 schools when there are so many schools in the metro area that find themselves unable to attend what should be the premier event of the season?

And the consequences are large. The current field stands as such:
Alpharetta
Bradwell Institute
Brookwood
Chattahoochee
Centennial
Harrison
Jenkins
Meadowcreek
Walton

Notice that 7 of the 9 schools are from the metro Atlanta area. That's right, we're all going to drive 4.5 hours to play some teams that are a few miles down the road. Also, there are some conspicuous absences: Norcross, who have played well this season; Central Gwinnett, a consistent top 8 finisher at least; Berkmar, a regular tournament attendee; Roswell, who attended States last year and had a top-8 finishing JV team this year; Grayson, who in the past has fielded good teams. And I've even heard that Centennial is having trouble securing transportation. If they're not in attendance, I'm not sure the tournament could even be called a valid State Championship.

Besides the effect of lowered attendance, there's also a big impact on the budget of the schools that do attend. My school, which hosted two tournaments (last year and this year) in order to raise money for the 2010 PACE NSC is having to spend several hundred dollars on transportation and lodging for the state tournament. This unexpected expense means that we probably won't have enough money for Nationals. I'm sure this is at least part of the reason why Norcross is choosing to stay home on March 26. There was much discussion at the beginning of the season about why less Georgia teams are attending national tournaments, and someone pointed out that the biggest reason is economic. It seems contradictory that GATA would want to impede its top teams' abilities to attend national tournaments, but it is (unintentionally) doing just that.

This may seem drastic, but is it too late to move the event? I'm sure one of the metro Atlanta schools (us, Centennial, Chattahoochee) would be willing to host, and maybe it's not too late to get more teams registered. Barring that, I hope at least that GATA learns its lesson about hosting locations.

William:

The 4A/5A state Tournament has been held in North GA for so many years in a row that no one can remember when it was as far south as in Macon. Holding it for one year in SE GA is the right thing to do for at least once every 10 years or so. 2010 just happens to be that year. It is not "appeasing" anyone as those two SE GA 5A schools did not even make the suggestion to move State to SE GA for one year.

Our 4A numbers are NOT down.

One purpose of GATA is to encourage schools to participate in quiz bowl in this state. Moving 4A/5A State south for one year in 10 was designed to encourage 4A and 5A schools in S GA to participate. The GATA Board will assess (at its May meeting) if doing that achieved the intended outcome.

The Centennial coach told me Saturday that a parent was bringing their team to Hinesville. I hope that holds up. I cannot speak to every detail at Central Gwinnett, but it sounds like their new admin is making it very hard for that team to go anywhere overnight due to transpo restrictions. I hope Cathy and her kids can figure that one out. I know it is not an easy situation for her. Two Gwinnett schools told me they could not come due to their kids' commitments to other activities that weekend, a fact that woudl have precluded them from coming to State even if it were in Metro Atlanta. Distance to State might be just one factor negatively affecting 5A (though not 4A).

My personal (not GATA's offical position) opinion is this: we have all known about where and when State was to be since at least last August. That really is enough time to plan a trip to Hinesville. Most of us have obstacles to overcome to make any overnight trip. Some can and some cannot and some WILL not if it inconveniences them in any way. In my experience, we get a bunch of all three types in Georgia. And it almost always is the coach/sponsor's lack of commitment to this activity that holds participation back. For every Cathy Hirsch at Central Gwinnett, who does anything she can to promote the activity and her team's participation, you have 4 coaches who find every reason possible to limit their teams participation. It is unfortunate. I wish I could clone coaches like Elliott Rountree and Cathy Hirsch and Elaine Wade (Bleckley County) and Gabe Council (Baconton Charter) and send those clones to any school in GA where there are kids who wanna do this activity in an active way.

Sorry for my rant. Lack of commitmentto this activity has just really annoyed me over the 30+ years I have coached quiz bowl.

Do we know if the 4A tourney will start on Friday yet?
If it does, about what time?
I am trying to schedule mine and the kids morning!

Thanks!

I for one am looking forward to Hinesville- never been (and after hosting for two straight years, it's nice to leave the school for State). And yes, I knew about it since, well...May, got things ready then and still didn't really shrink our competition schedule (heck, we EXPANDED it, one of which was an overnighter and, if we hadn't lost our hotel rooms because of snow, two). It's all about planning ahead- even during the summer months. Yes, nationals is a great goal, don't get me wrong, but you just need to compartmentalize your money and budget properly. Yes, SGA teams don't really come, but we do try- Screven Co just formed and they'll be playing their first event in Athens next weekend, so good for them. Yes, the economy sucks, but somehow, I personally have seen MORE teams come out of the woodwork in the past year or so to attend events (Hillgrove, Jasper Co, E Paulding, Pickens Co) than have done so in the past. And don't worry, Im sure it will be somewhere in ATL next year (and why not Alpharetta? Good chance to raise some funds from concessions and the like). Sometimes in this business, you have to think more than one year in advance- sometimes two.

And to answer your comment about moving it- would you ask Vancouver to move the Olympics one month beforehand because someone complained about not being able to get there? I agree to Rick (scary thought, I know) but Georgia is NOT just Atlanta (and this from someone who use to live in the Metro Area).

And to more pressing matters- Rick, what does the 4A field look like? You're hinting it sounds big. Good!

4A/5A State Tournament starts at 4:30pm at Bradwell Institute in Hinesville, GA. EVERYONE needs to be in the building by 4:30pm.

I am NOT sure of the count, Robin, in either classification, but the 4A list I glanced at was longer than the 5A list.

Handling our JV bowl this Saturday has NOT allowed me to contqact State teams last week or this week. All should expect emails next eek with finalized type details.

jrbarry wrote: My personal (not GATA's offical position) opinion is this: we have all known about where and when State was to be since at least last August. That really is enough time to plan a trip to Hinesville.

I agree, it was convenient that everyone had plenty of time to plan the trip, but that doesn't really overcome the general inconvenience of having to plan for (and finance) an overnight trip to Hinesville

Sorry for my rant. Lack of commitment to this activity has just really annoyed me over the 30+ years I have coached quiz bowl.

But that's what I don't understand: why would GATA choose a location that seems to discourage those teams that are committed to the activity (as evidenced by regular participation in Saturday tournaments) from coming to the state tournament?

And to answer your comment about moving it- would you ask Vancouver to move the Olympics one month beforehand because someone complained about not being able to get there? I agree to Rick (scary thought, I know) but Georgia is NOT just Atlanta (and this from someone who use to live in the Metro Area).

I don't think the Bradwell Institute has made quite the investment in infrastructure and planning that Vancouver made in the Games. And it's not just "someone" complaining about not being able to get there; it's multiple good teams that, although they might not be complaining per se, are just not showing up. Sure, Georgia is not just Atlanta, but the data on GATA membership and tournament registration make it clear that competitive 5A state quizbowl is pretty much just Atlanta (though it would be great to see some competitive teams from elsewhere).

Holding it for one year in SE GA is the right thing to do for at least once every 10 years or so.

My whole question regards the validity of this statement. In theory, it sounds right, but I honestly can't come up with any tangible evidence to support it in practice. It bleeds money out of quizbowl budgets, it keeps top teams out of the competition, and it has a negligible effect on participation in SE GA. And there's not one year every 10 in which those issues just go away.

From Cathy Hirsch at GATA concerning the State tournament:

**Both AAAA and AAAAA state tournaments will be ONE DAY events this year.
Expect a long day of competition!

**Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010

**Check-in: 8:00 to 8:30am. ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST BE ON
CAMPUS BY 8:30AM!

**Location: Bradwell Institute (High School)
100 Pafford Street
Hinesville, GA 31313 Use MapQuest.com for directions.

Hopefully this will make the trip a little cheaper.

When criticizing the choice of GATA tournament sites, one must also remember that GATA does not have the power to take over a school at will. We must be invited to a school. Every year in March or April (formally ---and informally throughout the year), we ask coaches to let us know if they are interested in hosting a GATA event at their school the following year. If I remember correctly, there were only one or two interested parties besides Bradwell, and NONE of those was a school whose coaches or players have complained about the location since.

I will be sending that email out to coaches within the next couple of weeks asking for input on next year's. If a coach has constructive feedback or would like to submit a host bid, we would love to receive it and discuss it at our May meeting.

If GATA were to move the 4A/5A Varsity State Championship back to the metro-ATL next year, I am sure there are a few schools around here that would be willing to host the event, including us here at the Hooch.

Of course, we could just move the tournament back to a more geographically central location, like Macon, Warner Robins, Milledgeville, or even Griffin. I believe it has been held in one or more of those locales in the past with few, if any, complaints that I can remember. Regardless, due to GA's size, any place that we choose is going to be inconvenient for somebody; however, a more central location might make it the "easiest" for the most people.

Jeff is correct. A school must be willing to host the State Championship and then take on the necessary responsibility that comes with hosting a tournament. Some schools/programs aren't willing to do that, for a variety of reasons.

EDIT: grammar