Metro Richmond Invitational @ New Kent (1/12/2013)

[Frater Taciturnus]

This is the general announcement for the 2012 Metro Richmond Invitational Tournament. This is a high school academic quizbowl tournament, to be held at New Kent High School on Saturday, January 12th from 8:30 AM until shortly after 4:30 PM.

LOCATION, DIRECTIONS, PARKING: The tournament will take place at New Kent High School, in scenic New Kent County, Virginia located at 7365 Egypt Rd New Kent, Virginia 23124. From my previous experience in traveling to New Kent, this is just a few miles off Interstate 64 exit 214. There should be plenty of parking outside the building available.

QUESTIONS: The set will be the HSAPQ Invitational Set #33. This is the same question provider that provides the questions for the VHSL Scholastic Bowl tournaments, as such this is an exceptional opportunity for teams to prepare for district and regional tournaments.

AFFILIATION: This tournament will seek affiliation with the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence and and as such we expect it will be an opportunity to qualify for the National Scholastics Championship (pace-nsc.org), which will occur in June 2013.

FORMAT: This tournament will use the traditional tossup/bonus format. A round will consist of 20 tossups with correct tossup answers earning a team a bonus in which it can earn up to 30 additional points, usually broken into three questions each worth 10 points. Teams will be seeded to preliminary groupings before being reseeded based on record. All teams will be offered a minimum of 9 games. Trophies will be awarded to the top teams, and book prizes will be awarded to the top individual scorers. We reserve the right to cap the field based on availability of space and staff.

REGISTRATION AND FEES:
-The fee structure is as follows:
Base fee: $70 per team. There is no limit to the number of teams who can attend from one school.
Buzzer discount: $5 off school's total fee for each fully functional system (control box and eight activators all work)-no limit to # of systems you can bring
Staff discount: $10 off school's total fee. This could be a coach, parent, student who is not playing, etc. Team-provided staffers will keep score for various games not involving the team with which they are affiliated. Volunteer staffers must stay through all the games (except finals) in order to receive credit for their school. There is no limit to the number of staffers you can bring.
Travel: $10 off the school's fee for every 150 one-way miles traveled to New Kent High school between your school's address and New Kent High School according to Google Maps.
Minimum fee: The minimum fee is $0 (you can bring enough buzzers and staffers to eliminate your entire fee via discounts, but you cannot have a "negative fee.")

-To register, e- mail me at [email protected] with the number of teams, buzzers, and staffers you want to bring, and an email address where you can be contacted with details. We are also requiring a cell phone contact number belonging to someone who will be attending the tournament, so that we can track you down if you are running late. Feel free to share this announcement with any schools that you think would be interested in attending. There is no further registration form or other action needed on your part in order to be officially registered; you only need to e-mail me at that address with the information requested. Posts made in this thread will not be considered official registrations; you must e-mail me.

METHOD OF PAYMENT: All teams must pay by the day of the tournament. We prefer to accept payment in person right before the tournament starts, but we will accept checks by mail ahead of time if your procedures require it. Teams who do not pay by the day of the tournament will be charged a $25 penalty and will have two weeks to pay their total amount before we start mailing letters to your school administration about it.
We can accept cash, personal checks, or checks from school, school district, or quizbowl club funds. We have no ability to process purchase orders, credit cards, Paypal, or any other forms of payment. Bringing forms of payment outside of the three listed will be considered nonpayment and subject you to the $25 late payment penalty.
We will contact registered teams with instructions on who to make the checks out to. If you require a pre-tournament invoice in order to have a check cut, let us know by December 14th so that we can send you the paperwork in time. If you do not let us know about this requirement by December 14th, and it causes you to come to the tournament without your payment, then you will be subject to the $25 late payment penalty.

TEAM & ROSTER SIZE: There may be a maximum of six players on one team's roster, up to four of whom may play at one time. There will be no exceptions to this rule. If you bring more than six players, you must register a second team to have all of them play. There is a halftime substitution opportunity in each game. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day-no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may also play shorthanded with only three players. Teams consisting of fewer than three players may not play without my express prior permission.

FOOD: Breakfast will not be provided by the tournament. For lunch, teams are encouraged to go to the basketball concession stand in the cafeteria or to bring their lunches. Pizza, Drinks and various other snacks will be available for a small fee so teams are encouraged to bring some cash for lunch.

Please e-mail me if you have any further questions. I'm looking forward to seeing a wide variety of teams from Virginia and surrounding states on the 12th.

List of Registered Teams (23):
Buckingham County
Eastern View
GDS
James Monroe A
James Monroe B
James River
JR Tucker
Kempsville A
Kempsville B
Maggie Walker A
Maggie Walker B
Maggie Walker C
Matoaca
Nandua A
Nandua B
Nandua C
Richard Montgomery
Spotsylvania
TJ A
TJ B
Varina
Warwick
Washington and Lee

[Frater Taciturnus]

This tournament has received Platinum Certification from the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, so the top 25% of the field will qualify for their national championship tournament on June 8th and 9th, 2013 in College Park, Maryland.

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

Round 3 is underway here in New Kent. I'll be updating prelim stats here between rounds.

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

Washington and Lee will be replaced after lunch by four players from New Kent.

[Blackboard Monitor Vimes]

Maggie Walker A, Thomas Jefferson A, Richard Montgomery, Georgetown Day School, Maggie Walker B, and Thomas Jefferson B have made the playoffs and qualified for the PACE NSC. I'll be updating combined stats here each round.

[Frater Taciturnus]

Richard Montgomery defeated Maggie Walker Governor's School's "A" team 425-330 in the first game of an advantaged final to win the 2013 Metro Richmond Invitational! Congratulations to both teams, and also to Georgetown Day School for finishing in third, and to Thomas Jefferson "A" for coming in fourth place.