NYC Area Tournaments?

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etakuyak
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NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by etakuyak »

We've recently started a team at my school in Westchester and I am trying to figure out what tournaments we can go to in the Westchester/NYC area that we could try out. I have read a lot of stuff about "good" quizbowl versus "bad" quizbowl, so I want to be able to see what is good and what is bad so we can try a little of both, at least at first. Any recommendations?
Evan Kratzer

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Princeton '16
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Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN) »

Don't try bad quizbowl. Good tournaments in the area include Prison Bowl at Hunter College High School, Yale's tournaments, and events like LIFT at Kellenberg. Anything written by NAQT, HSAPQ, or housewritten to be pyramidal is what you should check out. I have imperfect knowledge of the New York circuit, but my understanding is that Westchester is strongly dominated by the Questions Unlimited/Chip Beall product. I would strongly advise you to not attend any of these events - your money will end up funding probably the single most notorious individual in quizbowl history. Chip Beall has been proven as a constant plagiarist, and there are numerous documented incidents from his tournaments that demonstrate truly despicable ethics. Hence, when I recommend not trying bad quizbowl, it is not only because I think the actual experience of playing one-liners will be less satisfying intellectually than playing pyramidal events, but also because in your region's case, your clean money will be dirtied pretty badly in the end. I will bow out of the discussion to let more local people fill you in on a more complete schedule, but I felt the need to drop in just to emphasize to you how bad an idea it would be to try out bad quizbowl in your area.
Charlie Dees, North Kansas City HS '08
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Judson Laipply
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by Judson Laipply »

The tournament at Half Hollow Hills West just switched to an NAQT "A" set last year, and many schools in New Jersey like Bergen run HSAPQ/NAQT/Housewrites. Others that I know of in NJ include Colonia which switched to HSAPQ 4 Quarters this year and Chatham which is running an NAQT IS set this saturday. I probably missed a few tournaments, but there is plenty of good quizbowl for new teams in the tri-state area.
James L.
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Mechanical Beasts
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

NYU's team was a lot more active last year than I can remember it being, so perhaps they'll start hosting a high school tournament. I'll certainly encourage them to do so.
Andrew Watkins
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by ChathamNJ »

There's a wide variety of knowledge-based competition in the area - but this board isn't a very active place as you can tell.

You can get in touch with a majority of the hosts by joining the yahoo group named njacademiccoaches. I'd copy and paste a link, but apparently yahoo groups is down right now...

My other recommendation is to contact all the hosts in the area that are listed on naqt.com. I'm sure they will add you to their email list, and you'll probably get a lot of addresses once they send you an invite.
Stephen Fineman
Academic Team Advisor, Chatham HS (NJ)
Edward Powers
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by Edward Powers »

There were more than a dozen tournaments in the area last year using either NAQT Sets, HSAPQ questions or excellently written house sets, all in an intellectually stimulating and challenging pyramidal style. I will try to provide an accurate depiction of the schedule of these events, because I think most of them will be repeated around the same time next year. And, most of these are within a 50-75 mile radius of Westchester County, although a couple are more distant. So, here goes:

October: Princeton, using NAQT Set IS 86; Yale, using IS 89A; LIFT at Kellenberg using IS 88;

November: Harvard (for the ambitious traveler) using an excellent house-written set; U Penn (circa 100 miles) using HSAPQ Set 9;

December: Bergen Academies in Hackensack mirroring the Dunbar, Ky. set;

January: Half Hollow Hills West, using Set IS 91A;

February: New Jersey NAQT States ( NY could also have states next year) using IS 92; Hunter College High School's Prison Bowl, using its own excellent house set;

March: Livingston, using NAQT's IS 90 Set; Bloomfield, using IS 94; and again, for the ambitious traveler seeking some of the very best competition, the Georgetown Day School hosted the Ben Cooper Memorial using another outstanding house set;

April: again, if you do not mind to travel, Caesar Rodney in Delaware used HSAPQ's Set 11, and the following week Moorestown in NJ used HSAPQ Set 10;

May: Bergen hosted its annual "BOAT" competition with a mirrored Set from Solon HS from Ohio, Colonia in Central Jersey used an HSAPQ 4 Quarter Set, and Chatham, NJ will wrap up the regular season a week before nationals begin with IS Set 95.

By my count, that is 17 tournaments using pyramidal questions, and even if you exclude those requiring more than 100 miles of travel (Harvard, GDS, Caesar Rodney & possibly Penn), that still leaves 13. Conversely, if you are really ambitious, you can add several more excellent ones in the Delaware, Maryland and DC region to these 17 and have more than a score of tournaments to choose from next year and probably in most years. And, as I stated above, my guess is that most of the above tournaments will be run around the same time next year, so just keep an eye on the boards for their announcements and pick the one's that sound best to you, for the fields involved are often different. For example, Harvard, Penn, Hunter and GDS often attract many of the finest teams in the country, while other tournaments, like HHH West, Livingston and Chatham attract highly competitive state and regional teams with a large cross-section of schools in attendance. All are interesting and challenging due to the questions themselves, while the calibre of competition you wish to face as you develop your program is up to you. Personally, i like my kids to see and play the very best whenever possible, but that is a personal choice every team must make as it grows as a program. The downside of my preference could be many lopsided losses at first, but that is not necessarily true. Further, coaches and teams know themselve best, so ultimately it is always a decision based upon what is best for your team at any given time.

I hope this has helped. Good luck with your decisions, and welcome to the boards.
Ed Powers
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Down and out in Quintana Roo
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by Down and out in Quintana Roo »

Edward Powers wrote:Conversely, if you are really ambitious, you can add several more excellent ones in the Delaware, Maryland and DC region to these 17 and have more than a score of tournaments to choose from next year and probably in most years.
The University of Delaware will be hosting at least one tournament next year (often in March, and perhaps an earlier one). Wilmington Charter School traditionally hosts at least one tournament as well (often in December).

And as Mr. Powers said, there are many more options if you're willing to come around the DC area which pretty much hosts one tournament a month in some fashion.
Mr. Andrew Chrzanowski
Caesar Rodney High School
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TheKingInYellow
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by TheKingInYellow »

Penn State or State College usually hosts a NAQT tournament in March or April if Central Pennsylvania is within driving distance for you guys
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Re: NYC Area Tournaments?

Post by Mechanical Beasts »

Not to excessively promote our own tournament--which can be too hard for beginning teams--but though it's distant, the option of MegaBus and BoltBus makes transportation cheap, if not fast.
Andrew Watkins
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