The Quizbowl Resource Center

Let's just get this going early.

Saint Mary's School in Raleigh, NC is proud to announce the sixth annual Belles' Bowl for 26 February 2011. All details will be forthcoming.

Thanks,
Hugh Davis

After some discussion with local tournament directors, The Early College at Guilford is going to make Quaker Bowl a fall tournament. The tentative date is October 23, 2010. Details will be forthcoming.

smithp5 wrote:The tentative date is October 23

There had better be an Avogadro's number question.

The current tentative schedule, including testing dates.

09/04/10
09/11/10 - ACT
09/18/10
09/25/10 - Tar Heel Cup
10/02/10
10/09/10 - SAT
10/16/10 - High School Celebrity Shoot (Duke)
10/23/10 - Quaker Bowl (Guilford College), ACT
10/30/10
11/06/10 - SAT
11/13/10 - Bonfire of the Manatees
11/20/10
11/27/10 - Thanksgiving weekend
12/04/10 - SAT
12/11/10 - ACT
01/08/11
01/15/11
01/22/11 - SAT
02/05/11
02/12/11 - ACT
02/19/11
02/26/11 - Belles Bowl, St. Mary's
03/05/11 - Right Triangle Open
03/12/11 - SAT
03/19/11 - Western NC Shootout
03/26/11 - District Tournament (NCASA-run, will decide qualifiers for state tournament)
04/02/11
04/09/11 - Duke Invitational
04/16/11 - State Tournament
04/23/11
04/30/11
05/07/11 - SAT
05/14/11
05/21/11

Raleigh Charter has claimed Nov. 13 for the Bonfire of the Manatees and March 5, 2011, for the Right Triangle Open.

I predict it will begin snowing on or about October 12, and and on the four consecutive Fridays following, preempting all our fall tournaments. January through March will be 61 degrees with clear skies.

limehouse wrote:I predict it will begin snowing on or about October 12, and and on the four consecutive Fridays following, preempting all our fall tournaments. January through March will be 61 degrees with clear skies.

With global warming, who knows what you'll get!

Haha wouldn't that just be wonderful!

Bonfire is an event on Facebook; RTO will be eventually.

rchschem wrote:

smithp5 wrote:The tentative date is October 23

There had better be an Avogadro's number question.

Like.

The North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities has set the following event dates for the 2010-2011 school year. For more information on these events and the NCASA, visit our website at http://www.ncscholastic.org. Questions are welcome at [email protected]. I suspect many students who participate in Twelve will be active Quiz Bowlers, so there may be conflicts with students if there are Quiz Bowls scheduled during the Twelve competitions. The Quill will likely have fewer active Quiz Bowlers participate, but only time will tell for sure.

CALENDAR UPDATED ON 8/9/10

11/13 - Twelve District Competition (3-4 sites across NC, this date may not be used)
12/4 - Twelve District Competition (8-32 sites across NC)
1/8 - Twelve State Finals (single site, 36-48 teams expected)
1/29 - The Quill District Competition (3-4 sites across NC, this date may not be used)
2/12 - The Quill District Competition (8-32 sites across NC)
2/26 - The Quill State Finals (NC A&T, 36+ teams expected)
3/12 - Quiz Bowl District Competition (3-4 sites across NC, this date may not be used)
3/26 - Quiz Bowl District Competition (8-32 sites across NC)
4/16 - Quiz Bowl State Finals (NC A&T, 48+ teams expected)

I expect there will be strong overlap between Twelve and quiz bowl; The Quill is a writing and communications event.

To those of you who are wondering where NCATA is in all this, expect a note from me this week showing how we relate. Don't worry about the nature of quiz bowl in NC changing.

Eric

Eric, do you have any more information for us? From the outside, I remain skeptical about this unknown quantity who has declared himself the King of North Carolina Quizbowl and started scheduling all sorts of alleged tournaments, but it sounds like there has been some more promising backstage communication.

NCASA is an advocacy organization first, trying to get more kids involved in academic competitions in general, like KAAC. In addition to advocating, it is also creating new, non-quiz bowl competitions (Quill, Twelve), but also using its size and dissociation from schools to be able to facilitate the state quiz bowl tournament. We've been running it for years on the backs of the coaches and players, and I saw this as a way to get the organization of the tournament to fall at a level above us so that we could all just compete instead of having to run the thing. It will otherwise change nothing about quiz bowl in NC except to encourage more schools to get involved. I'm the president of the board of directors of NCASA, and one of my chief reasons for being involved was to make sure that quiz bowl was done right (or at least not done wrong).

Leon Pfeiffer is the executive director of NCASA and has been posting these dates just to get us out in front of the fall rush to schedule. The date of the quiz bowl state tournament is about where we would have tried to schedule it anyway.

NCATA, meanwhile, will continue to support and develop quiz bowl and Quiz Bowl Like Substances in NC, but at the more granular level of teams and players and coaches, and encouraging and supporting local tournaments.

We hope that a substantial number of schools will be joining NCASA in the fall so that this leverage can come to actually exist. In the event that it fails, for whatever reason, we'll still hold a state quiz bowl tournament on March 26, but it will probably be at Raleigh Charter and hosted by whomever we can scrape up to moderate.

Eric

I added the Tar Heel Cup and Duke Celebrity Shoot to the calendar. The fall is thickening!

Eric

NCASA is proud to announce our partnership with the National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC. NAQT will provide all questions for NCASA quiz bowl tournaments, and NCASA will be using NAQT rules, with minor exceptions, for all tournaments. We are proud to have NAQT and Novel Electronic Designs as corporate partners for our Quiz Bowl Competition. For more information on NCASA Quiz Bowl and our other events, visit our website at http://www.ncscholastic.org.

Will NCASA be using timed matches, or will that be one of the modifications?

Untimed.

I changed the calendar to reflect an error I made. The state tournament is on 4/16, and will be held at NC A&T in Greensboro. The 3/26 date is district qualifying for the state tournament. Winners here advance to state. These will be held locally.

The North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities will hold a news conference Tuesday August 10 at 10:00 AM on the Raleigh Charter High School campus. We will formally announce the launch of our association, briefly describe our events, and review the NCASA Scholastic Cup. If you can't attend, look for us on TV or in the paper as we have invited press outlets from across NC.

Another important announcement: our news conference will also announce that we are now accepting applications for member schools. At least two schools joined immediately, not including Myers Park High School, who indicated they will join and will participate in every NCASA and partner competition as they pursue the NCASA Scholastic Cup. Myers Park HS in Charlotte is the largest school North Carolina.

NCASA will not hold Junior Varsity level competitions this year in any event, including Quiz Bowl. We thought it was just more than we wanted to tackle in our first year.

Contact your principal to make sure your school joins NCASA. The NCASA Quiz Bowl Tournament is only open to NCASA member schools.

friendswithdave wrote: The NCASA Quiz Bowl Tournament is only open to NCASA member schools.

Why?

Also, will your District tournaments be geographically organized, and if so, will there be any way to avoid the issue of the top schools in the state potentially being close to one another?

Edit: I glanced at the NCASA website, and I realize that the answer to my first question is "yes." I also have another question, though--the membership fee for NCASA ($100 + $0.30 * number of students enrolled at a school) seems rather high, especially for larger schools in poorer areas; how do you plan on ensuring participation by schools which do not offer large budgets for Quiz Bowl and Quiz Bowl like activities?

Also, while I understand the emphasis on NAQT as the question provider for NCASA, why aren't other sources of questions (most notably HSAPQ) listed? Why aren't various free sources of practice questions (such as quizbowlpackets.com) listed?

NCASA Quiz Bowl tournament is only open to member schools so we can give schools incentive to join. If our events were open to everyone, schools would have no reason to join, and we would not be able to organize the tournament.

Schools are free to participate in all other quiz bowl tournaments without becoming NCASA members.

Districts will be setup to minimize the travel distance for schools. Yes, it is possible that high performing schools that are close together would be in the same district. We plan to advance two teams out of each district to help with this concern.

friendswithdave wrote: We plan to advance two teams out of each district to help with this concern.

What happened to anticipating 48+ teams at State, as mentioned above? Also, given that the 3rd place team in one District could quite plausibly be better than the best team in another district, have you considered using something like NAQT's D value system (http://www.naqt.com/college/s-value-rev ... posal.html) to qualify District non-champions?

Also, I remain curious about the choice to not mention alternative sources of practice questions as well as the issue of the relatively high entry fees.

To clarify, we plan to advance two teams out of each district in each enrollment classification. With eight expected districts and three enrollment classifications, advancing two teams from each district gives 48 schools at the state finals.

Quiz Bowl is just one of three competitions NCASA is offering this year. Member schools can participate in all NCASA competitions at no additional charge. We will also offer training and/or practice materials for our competitions at no additional charge.

Charbroil wrote:
Also, I remain curious about the choice to not mention alternative sources of practice questions as well as the issue of the relatively high entry fees.

Sources: (1) oversight - we'll add them (2) Since we are using NAQT as the source, it seemed logical to suggest the most similar format and style from which to practice. This isn't because of any exclusivity or preference.

Fees: As Leon mentioned, quiz bowl is but one part of the Scholastic Cup and the fees allow for participation in all of the tournaments NCASA provides.

Eric

Must member schools participate in all three activities to be in contention for the scholastic cup? I'm not entirely sure that's going to be feasible for us.

limehouse wrote:Must member schools participate in all three activities to be in contention for the scholastic cup? I'm not entirely sure that's going to be feasible for us.

Not necessarily, but of course, the more in which you participate, the more points you earn. You could just do really well at a couple.

rchschem wrote:

limehouse wrote:Must member schools participate in all three activities to be in contention for the scholastic cup? I'm not entirely sure that's going to be feasible for us.

Not necessarily, but of course, the more in which you participate, the more points you earn. You could just do really well at a couple.

I guess we'll try and go all out. It really is a heck of a lot of competition for not much money.

Eric, are you thinking about mirroring the HFT for Bonfire?

limehouse wrote:Eric, are you thinking about mirroring the HFT for Bonfire?

Yes.

South Caldwell HS is setting a tentative date of March 19th for the Western NC Shootout. We hope to become PACE affliated this year as well.

At the request of several of last year's top teams, we will be moving away from A-series questions. We also plan to pool varsity and JV teams for the prelims, but maintain a JV playoff bracket and championship trophy. Of course, only varsity playoff teams will earn national bids, so if a Fresh-Soph team dominates the field, we will give them the choice of playing in the varsity bracket (for national qualication purposes) or the JV bracket (to earn hardware).

As for NCASA, I am hopeful that a large number of teams participate. In some parts of the state, however, I fear that spliting the available schools into three divisions would make for some VERY small tournament brackets. For example, how many "large schools" even exist in the NC mountains (most schools are 1A/2A).

schsquizbowl wrote: We also plan to pool varsity and JV teams for the prelims, but maintain a JV playoff bracket and championship trophy. Of course, only varsity playoff teams will earn national bids, so if a Fresh-Soph team dominates the field, we will give them the choice of playing in the varsity bracket (for national qualication purposes) or the JV bracket (to earn hardware).

As for NCASA, I am hopeful that a large number of teams participate. In some parts of the state, however, I fear that spliting the available schools into three divisions would make for some VERY small tournament brackets. For example, how many "large schools" even exist in the NC mountains (most schools are 1A/2A).

As far as NCASA is concerned, we are working very hard to solve the division problem and make it equitable. It is not as "simple" as athletic divisions are. We really won't know much until we see enrollment numbers.

About the tournament: balancing the pools will be very difficult if you're combining JV and V, I fear. It's tough enough to make sure divisions are equitable when they're all varsity. I worry this would create blowout matches that might pad some records and otherwise discourage younger teams.

Eric

Thanks for the input Eric. My greatest hope for NCASA is that an experienced tournament organizer like you is helping in the planning stages.

As for my tournament...every year, I have had over half of the JV teams play at the level of a significant portion of the varsity field. Most tournaments don't offer a JV division at all, and attract B or C teams that lean heavily on freshmen or sophomores. I think that the more talented JV teams will appreciate the tougher competition, and the opportunity to qualify for a National tournament. However, I will seek to gauge the opinion of my JV participants and will gladly offer a competely seperate JV division if that is what they prefer.

Thanks again,
Jonathan Haas
South Caldwell HSQB

With the Western NC Shootout falling the weekend before the NCASA District Tournament, I could see a lot of teams, including new ones, wanting to participate in a warm-up before our State qualifier. Also, since we are not doing a JV division, this could also help your tournament. I think there will be quite a few schools wanting to provide opportunities for their younger quiz bowlers.

If you do decide to join NCASA, I hope you'll consider hosting a District Tournament the following weekend. We will be looking to experienced people like you to host our District Tournaments.

Cheers!

NCASA has updated its calendar to include our regional meetings. For times and registration information on the webinars, visit the calendar page on our website: http://www.ncscholastic.org/calendar-ncasa.php?m=9/2010

Sept 20: Charlote at Myers Part HS
Sept 21: Near Asheville at WRESA
Sept 22: Northeast NC online webinar
Sept 27: Fayetteville at Educational Resource Center
Sept 28: Kenansville at Duplin Commons near the community college
Sept 28: Northwest NC online webinar
Sept 29: Two make-up online webinars
Sept 30: Durham at NCSSM

These meetings will last about 90 minutes and include details and additional information on all competitions including Quiz Bowl. Coaches, school coordinators, and administrators are encouraged to attend.

Robinson and Porter Ridge - any tentative dates for tournaments? I'm trying to work on a competition schedule. Thanks.

classicrun wrote:Robinson and Porter Ridge - any tentative dates for tournaments? I'm trying to work on a competition schedule. Thanks.

There won't be a fall tournament at Robinson; there might be a spring but we don't know yet--they have a new coach. April usually announces the Porter Ridge tournament a little later. Historically it's been a mirror of the Brookwood, GA tournament, which would put it on Nov. 20.

I finally updated the tournament calendar on the NCATA website this morning, so you can use that as well as the calendar in this thread, which is accessible to anyone who wants to claim a date or post a tournament announcement.

Eric

A final reminder that membership in the NC Association for Scholastic Activities will remain open until November 23. Member schools are eligible to participate in the Twelve, The Quill, and Quiz Bowl District and State Tournaments. We will also conduct meetings and seminars to help teams prepare for all competitions, especially Quiz Bowl. For more information or to register online, visit our website: www.ncscholastic.org

Newton-Conover High School near Hickory and Raleigh Charter High School will host the West and East District NCASA Quiz Bowl Tournaments on March 26. Top qualifiers from these District Tournaments will advance to the State Finals on April 16, hosted by NC A&T State University in Greensboro. These and other NCASA academic competitions are open to all member schools. If you are interested in becoming a member of NCASA and participating in the District Quiz Bowl and / or The Quill on-demand writing competition(coming in February), contact me or visit our website, http://www.ncscholastic.org.

We're excited that twice as many teams are expected to compete for the State Quiz Bowl Title this year versus last year. Medallions will be awarded to all students of the top three teams at District and State Finals. Champion and runner-up trophies will be presented to the top two schools at the State Finals. All competing teams will earn points towards the NCASA Scholastic Cup, awarded to the school with the best overall scholastic program in North Carolina.

Thanks to Kim Kaylor of NCHS and Eric Grunden of RCHS for hosting these competitions.

Duke is hosting its second annual spring tournament this year. We will be using IS-104, and all teams are welcomed to participate. For more information, please visit our announcement: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewto ... =1&t=11116.

(corss-posted to tournament announcements)

Just reminding everyone of the 8th Right Triangle Open at Raleigh Charter on March 5. This is a house-written tournament with a three-part format: team directed questions, team worksheet, and a pyramidal tossup/bonus section. As usual, it will be Swiss-paired in real time.

Fees: $55 for the first team, $45 for additional teams. $10 discount per working buzzer, limit 2 (you can bring as many as you want, but we'll only discount two).

Eric

On 4/2, Conway High School near Myrtle Beach is hosting NAQT IS-104 at their inaugural Conway Academic Tournament. I spoke to the TD and he said he was generating a lot of interest in his area. We're going down, and it would be great to see some other NC teams come, particularly with the state tourney coming up and the lack of NAQT sets in our area.

(Cross-posted in Southeast Tournament Calendar)

EDIT: Just remembered that Duke is hosting IS-104 on 4/9, so I imagine most NC teams will be there. I have another commitment that day, so we'll have to hear the set at Conway.

Final Results for the first NCASA State Quiz Bowl Tournament:

1. The Early College at Guilford
2. NC School of Science and Mathematics
3. Raleigh Charter High School
4. Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy
5. Carrboro High School
6. Freedom High School
7. Randolph Early College High School
8. Newton Conover Health Science High School
9. New Bern High School
10. Simon G. Atkins A&T High School
11. Myers Park High School

Please use the links below to find team and player statistics for the preliminary and playoff rounds.

Eric

On what set or from what provider was that tournament played?

According to NAQT.com, IS-105.

So it was just played with bouncebacks? It's hard to read stats i'm not familiar with, sometimes. But, okay.

Whoa those are some of the weirdest stats I've seen. I can't figure out how to read the Individual pages.

Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast wrote:Whoa those are some of the weirdest stats I've seen. I can't figure out how to read the Individual pages.

They posted the total point value instead of the number of questions answered.

Is there a reason North Carolina stats routinely remove the links from the team names on the standings page?

Neg wrote:

Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast wrote:Whoa those are some of the weirdest stats I've seen. I can't figure out how to read the Individual pages.

They posted the total point value instead of the number of questions answered.

So what reads "15" under the 15 column equates to 1 power, "30" under the 15 column equates to 2 powers, "45" under the 15 column equates to 3 powers... etc?