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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

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redliberte
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by redliberte »

i've been playing around with the idea of starting a team at jewell in my head for a while.... and now, i've found a few other people who would be interested. so, the question i pose to you is how do i go about this? i know the procedures for becoming a recognized organization are different at each institution, but i'm more concerned about the quizbowl things... how do you run practices, where do you get questions and buzzers, how do you make money, what kind of tournaments would be good for new teams, et cetera?

thanks so much, i'm so excited about this now!

ecks
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by ecks »

Here's a good overall startup guide you may want to take a loot at: http://copland.udel.edu/stu-org/acc/links/start.html

As for invididual advice, here's some (there may be overlap with the guide I posted):

1) Packets are more important than buzzer systems. They're also a lot easier to get. Your first way to get them should be to download some off of the Stanford Packet Archive, which can be found here: http://quizbowl.stanford.edu/archive/

2) Register on hsquizbowl.org's forum. You might also want to post a "I want to start up a team, have any helpful hints?" on the Discussion section of the college section; that forum includes many of the nation's top players as well as people who are connected with running/maintaining PACE/NAQT/ACF etc. etc. A lot of them are really opinionated and want to see the expansion of good quizbowl so they'll be glad to help out.

3) As for running practices, the way that Truman has traditionally run theirs is by holding bi-weekly meetings that run 2 hours long apiece. This is generally the average time for practice length that I've seen in quizbowl.

4) Earlybird and Novice tournaments are probably the best kinds of tournaments for new teams; I would tend to avoid ACF and other kinds of packet-submission tournaments because they're generally much harder and a little scarier to someone who's new to the college circuit; if you're not afraid of losing the other people on your team who are interested, though, you can certainly go for it - the more you play on better questions, the quicker you'll become better players.

As for good tournaments to go to specifically, Grinnell generally holds an annual undergrauate/novice tournament in October. Rollapalooza would also be a pretty good one to go to because the questions are generally on the easier side, it's about as local as you'll get (like Grinnell), and it will feature teams in the region you'll be up against a lot. Truman will also be hosting a tournament in November, although the target difficulty is about on par with ACF Fall, although I would definitely be willing to work with you if you want to come. WashU also has the Gateway Invitational Tournament (GIT) in the fall, generally, although last year it was in the spring, and they usually run on easier NAQT/house-written questions.

Again, most of these tournaments you'll see on the hsquizbowl.org forum, and they will advertise if they're earlybird or novice tournaments.

5) Information on the general teams you'll be playing:

Missouri only has 3 legitimate, sustained quizbowl programs: Rolla, Truman, and WashU. Mizzou has a program but only on Jason Mueller's whim, although that could change. Illinois has Northwestern, UChicago, and the University of Illinois mostly, although Bradley and UIS have come to random events in the past two years or so. Kansas really only has Kansas State; Wichita State and KU used to have fairly good/active programs, but they've basically collapsed recently and haven't shown up to much. Oklahoma has some generally good teams, with OU, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa. Arkansas has the University of Arkansas and Harding, predominantly. Iowa has Grinnell, Iowa State, and the University of Iowa, although I've really only ever seen Grinnell at the tournaments Truman goes to. Minnesota has Carleton, who goes everywhere, St. Olaf, who I've only seen at NAQT, and the University of Minnesota, mostly. This isn't an exhaustive list but assuming that you go to the same kind of tournaments that we go to, these are the kinds of teams you'll be seeing who are noteworthy.

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Charlie Dees
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by Charlie Dees »

Just metioning Drake in Iowa as a pretty active program.

I would disagree with avoiding some ACF. Notably, ACF Fall is intended as a novice tournament to introduce players to ACF. I would recommend going to that, and then when ACF regionals/nationals come around, see how willing you and your teammates are to play on really really hard stuff (note: I'm not saying "do well on really really hard stuff," as I wouldnt expect a program to be good at this stuff in less than a year, but if you expose yourself to the toplevel questions and competition it cant be a bad thing.) Also, you can always try reading the ACF regionals and nationals packets on your own (infact, I would 100% percent recommend doing that).

I'll preach here, but avoid CBI like the plague. Don't waste your time or money on that crap. It's the college equivalent of Chip Beall.

With NAQT - You should be eligible for Division 2. Division 2 is basically the novice college players national championship (its eligibility is more detailed, but I dont know all of its ins and outs so look them up on naqt.com). You absolutely MUST attend the NAQT sectional tournament in February. That's basically the regional qualifier for ICT in April.

I'm idealogically opposed to running college tournaments on high school questions, notably, NAQT IS sets. So if you take your team to one of those, don't delude yourselves that those are really college competition.

EDIT--
Go to Oklahoma University's mirror of Brown's EFT on 9/29. That's a novice tournament that should be really good.

Don't be afraid to host stuff. College tournaments are expensive, and you need money somehow, so tournaments are the best thing. I would recommend trying to host a college tournament and a high school tournament. While you may want to do more (that's all up to you. By my count UMD hosted 2 High School tournaments and 6 college/open tournaments throughout the last year) I would recommend trying to get your feet wet directing the above. TDing is stressful, FYI. Decide to whether you want to housewrite or buy/mirror the questions. I'd be willing in my infinite freetime to edit stuff for you. I think writing questions is a tool many college players use to extend their knowledge and solidify other stuff, so use that to your advantage. Another thing I've heard and might recommend in a similar vein is making your team submit freelance packets to packet sub tournaments. Afterwards, always ask the TDs for feedback on your work.

STPickrell
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by STPickrell »

I have started two teams at the college level although both in the late 1990s. One died off after I graduated (to be fair two of the three folks I had asked to run the team didn't return the next fall) and the other survived for a year after I graduated.

The biggest piece of advice is to make the club as independent of you as possible. Many clubs die off after their founder graduates, so certainly by your sophomore year, have in place some sort of division of power and by your junior or senior years, look for students coming in that might be interested in taking the reins. If you can find a faculty member that is willing to serve as an active adviser, all the better.

At George Mason (my second team), I created the positions of Head Coach (the person worried about "on the field" stuff), President (the person worried about dealing with folks inside the GMU system), Secretary (eventually this would've been the position worried about dealing with folks outside the GMU system), and Treasurer (this is pretty obvious).

Be tolerant of people who are not as committed to the activity. They too are useful. You may have a group of 9-12 people who'd be happy to help out at tournaments at Jewell, but might only want to go to 1-2 tournaments a year, whereas you and the other 2-3 core members might want to go to 6-7 a year. Likewise, you'll probably have some teammates who average 5-15 points per game and just aren't interested in getting better. All I'd say you ask of people is that they not wig out on you within 36 hours of going to a tournament/helping with some activity. If you and 1-3 others like ACF or trash and the others don't, that's cool, too.

Be prepared for a learning curve. When I put down the buzzers for the last time in 2000, I was probably near the top of the all-time losses column -- going 3-8 at tournaments was more common than the reverse (to be fair I was on a team that was 2nd at Trashionals 2000; no one was going to beat the Keenans that year.) Some of your prospective teammates may have a hard time handling that.

Be prepared for practice attendance to decrease from 20 or so in the first few weeks to about 5-6 as reality sets in for incoming freshmen.

It helps a lot if you're bringing a car to campus. Transportation prevents a lot of teams from going places.

Most importantly, have fun. I know some of the folks on the national board like to mock them, but Charlie's three rules should apply:

Winning beats losing
Losing beats not playing at all
Have fun.

If people aren't enjoying themselves, they won't come to tournaments or practices.

GOOD LUCK!

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Charlie Dees
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by Charlie Dees »

I forgot to mention - check out the Maize Pages and when you have a team up and running, register there.

Antoher thing I forgot is reading lots about theory of quizbowl also, like guides to writing questions, getting better, etc. A lot of this theory reading is in the discussions, and a lot of good ones they moved to the "Best of the Best" on hsquizbowl.

Don't be phased by the intense rudeness of people in quizbowl (they make me look like a sweet little hummel doll). I just read stuff like this and laugh.

ecks
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by ecks »

ashkenaziCD wrote: I'll preach here, but avoid CBI like the plague. Don't waste your time or money on that crap. It's the college equivalent of Chip Beall.
Unless, of course, your college pays for it (and not from your general quiz bowl account). That seems to be the only reason people go to CBI nowadays...

I'll agree with Chuq on the rest of his post, though. It should be noted that I'm only wary of ACF because it might scare off people to a new program, which isn't something you want to do. But if you make people realize it is one of the tougher formats out there and you have the money to go, absolutely go for it.

I'll ditto the OU tournament suggestion, as well, as Truman will probably be going there. I didn't mention it because it's a bit far away.

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Charlie Dees
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by Charlie Dees »

Here's the 2007 ACF Fall announcement, with details on packet submissions.

I'm going to freelance a packet, and I think it would be a very good idea for you to start writing the William Jewell packet right now (or Truman, or UMR, etc.) Even if you don't go, submit some freelance stuff just to get the writing experience.

And to tie in, read ACF Fall packets. I would suggest starting on those, early ACF stuff, and novice/community college tournaments to build a base before trying to master the national canon. Although reading through old CO/ACF nats/whatever else is hard can be helpful in its own way also.

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DeckardCain
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by DeckardCain »

I agree with a lot of what has been said here. One thing I'd like to add is that it's a very good idea to advertise your organization on campus as much as possible. Activity days and intramural tournaments are good ways to recruit new members. Some people are inevitably going to lose interest, as Shawn alluded to, and you don't want to find yourself shorthanded.

Most if not all teams are willing to provide tournament discounts to new programs. Hosting a tournament is a lot of work, and if you do decide to host one I would recommend getting questions from elsewhere, at least in your first year. I've found that producing questions is always the most stressful part of hosting our high school tournaments, and this is while working with teammates with several years of writing experience. One good thing is that teams are generally understanding and patient with first-time hosts.

It's always great to see a new team on the circuit. Good luck, and remember that having fun is always the ultimate goal.

MikeWormdog
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by MikeWormdog »

While packets are more important than buzzers, people like buzzers, and buzzers are attractive to potential recruits. You might want to try borrowing buzzers from Liberty High or some other local school when you first start out. William Jewell may also own a set of buzzers that you could borrow/rent from the student activities office.

Put lots of flyers up on campus, and advertising free food (even if it's just candy) is a good way to bring in more people. Also, there will likely be several people who show up to the first meeting whom you'll never see again...don't take that personally--it happens with everyone.

As for money, sometimes orgs get money from the school or an activities fund or something. At first, the people interested in going to stuff might have to pony up some money themselves for entry fees. As said before, running a high school tournament is probably the best way to make money outside university funding, and some colleges don't give money to organizations that don't have fundraising plans of their own.

Don't host a college tournament until you've hosted a high school tournament (at least one)--college tournaments don't make as much money, and your clientele will be much more demanding. It's also best to have gone to a few college-level tournaments before you host one yourselves. You'll need more people for high school tournaments, but it's easier to find people to help out with HS stuff--local coaches, ex-players in the area, friends from high school, etc.

Transportation at Jewell shouldn't be a problem...I would think most people have cars.

johnboy81918
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by johnboy81918 »

MikeWormdog wrote: You might want to try borrowing buzzers from Liberty High
The person to contact there is Rosemary Camp, who (I believe) heads the quiz bowl program over there. I could be mistaken though, and I'd hate for you to not know the right person to talk to about this.

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DeckardCain
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by DeckardCain »

:lol: I was waiting for this.

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redliberte
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by redliberte »

john, you're a (thing that could get me banned).

the rest of you have been very helpful... i certainly have a lot to do!

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DeckardCain
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by DeckardCain »

I'd also say that it would probably be no problem at all to invite you to Truman Capote in September. There's no entry fee, and it's a really laid-back event that is a good start to the year.

ecks
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by ecks »

DeckardCain wrote: I'd also say that it would probably be no problem at all to invite you to Truman Capote in September. There's no entry fee, and it's a really laid-back event that is a good start to the year.
As a person somewhat in charge of Truman Capote, I'll second this, as we're trying to make it more like an intramural of the quizbowl programs in Missouri.

KentB
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by KentB »

yeah, while we haven't invited Missouri officially yet, I would be all for someone sending out an invite to Chittum and David Hoffelmeyer and whoever would want to come.

flycaitiee69
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by flycaitiee69 »

KentB wrote: David Hoffelmeyer










:wub:

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Charlie Dees
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by Charlie Dees »

When Savannah was at our tournament David's senior year there was another guy who looked kinda like him (Joe Drake) at our school. All of the girls kept saying afterwards "that David from Savannah looks like Joe...but a lot hotter." I was embarrassed for their existence.

ecks
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by ecks »

Just curious... is this going anywhere? Rumors tell me no, but I'd like to know from the source.

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Charlie Dees
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how does one start a college quizbowl team?

Post by Charlie Dees »

I have a feeling Stephanie doesn't check the board much, but I can say that I've been told firsthand that she will probably not be starting a team at all.

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DeckardCain
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Post by DeckardCain »

That's a shame.

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