VCU Winter Tournament VI (12/07/2013; New Kent, VA)

[Cody]

This is the general announcement for the 2013 Virginia Commonwealth University Winter Tournament VI, which is a high school academic quizbowl tournament, to be hosted at New Kent High School in New Kent County, Virginia, on Saturday, December 7, 2013 from 9am to about 5:00pm.

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

Questions:
This tournament will be using IS-132 as a question set; it is procured from National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT).

Affiliation:
Since we are using an IS set, the top 15% of the field will automatically qualify for the 2014 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament, which will occur on May 30-June 1, 2014. More information about HSNCT is available at this link. This tournament is Platinum certified by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence, so it is an opportunity to qualify for the National Scholastics Championship, which will occur on May 24-25, 2014 in Reston, Virginia. The top 25% of teams will qualify; more information is available at this link.

Format:
This tournament will use the 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. There will be no math calculation tossups; this does not preclude bonuses requiring math calculation or tossups or bonuses on mathematical concepts. 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. The VCU team reserves the right to cap the field based on availability of space and staff; the current cap is 22 teams.

Registration & fees:
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 unit and eight activators all work). There is no limit to the number of systems you can bring. If bringing a buzzer system that plugs into a control unit with a modular connector, such as a telephone plug, you must provide tape with your system if any latching tabs are broken. Failure to do so means you cannot claim the discount.
Staff discount: $10 off school's total fee. This could be a coach, parent, or student who is not playing. Team-provided staffers will keep score for various games. 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 miles traveled one-way from your school's address to 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 fee, but you cannot have a negative fee.

To register for this tournament, you must e-mail me at [email protected] with the number of teams, buzzers, and staffers you intend to bring, an email address where you can be contacted with details, and a cell phone 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 the above e-mail address with the information requested. Posts made in this thread do not count as official registrations.

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 required by your school. 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 a 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.

All checks must be made out to "Quizbowl at VCU". If you require a pre-tournament invoice or W-9 form in order to have a check cut, you must let us know by let us know by November 22nd, so that we can send you the paperwork in time. If you do not let us know about this requirement by November 22nd, 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 half-time substitution opportunity in each game. Each player may appear on only one team's roster throughout the day; there is no switching from the B team to the A team, etc. Teams may also play shorthanded with fewer than four players.

The VCU team reserves the right to cap the field based on availability of space and staff; the current cap is 24 teams. Teams registering after 16 teams are in the field will be placed on a waitlist and will enter the field as we expand or as teams drop.

Food:
Neither breakfast nor lunch will be provided by the tournament. We will provide a list of suggested eateries for the lunch break.

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 7th.

Cody Voight
Treasurer, Quizbowl at VCU
Tournament Director, VCU Winter Tournament VI
[email protected]

List of registered teams (20 total/24 cap):
1 Clover Hill
1 Cosby
4 Dorman
1 East Chapel Hill
1 EC Glass
2 Georgetown Day
1 Howard
1 Loudoun
4 Maggie Walker
1 Mills Godwin
3 New Kent
1 Thomas Jefferson

[Cody]

I'm pleased to announce that we received Platinum certification from PACE; the original post has been edited to reflect this.

[thomasgnd]

Dorman is interested in bringing 5 teams to this event. Please email a quote for the registration cost to me at [email protected]. We will bring 3 buzzers

[naan/steak-holding toll]

I should be able to staff this.

[Cody]

With the registration of 2 Clover Hill teams, we are about to hit our (temporary) cap. I'm still in the process of recruiting staff, so it's likely we'll expand, but for now, any team that registers once we hit 20 teams will be placed on the waitlist.

With the registration of a Richard Montgomery team, we've hit the cap. I'm still in the process of recruiting staff, so it's likely we'll expand, but for now, any team that registers will be placed on the waitlist.

[Cody]

As an update: I've upped the cap to 22 teams and the waitlist is starting to fill out. There's some pretty stiff competition, so if you want to play, you probably want to get on the waitlist sooner rather than later!

[Cody]

With the drop of a GDS team and raising the field cap to 24, everyone is in the field again. I encourage teams to get on the waitlist if they are interested in playing since there will be drops, but this is the last time the field cap will be raised.

[Cody]

Live Stats (through Round 8)

[Cody]

Prelims Stats
Playoff Stats

[Cody]

Stats can be viewed at the links just above this post. Congratulations to Dorman A for taking first.

Rounding out the top 6:
2 Maggie Walker
3 Dorman B
T-4 E C Glass, Thomas Jefferson, Georgetown Day (in order of crossover PPG)

[naan/steak-holding toll]

This was fun to moderate for. It was cool to see a bunch of teams I'd never had the pleasure of meeting before - especially the super-impressive Dorman team (congratulations!) - and good to see some old stalwarts playing as well.