<I'd be interested to hear from other high
school teams about practicing/studying,
etc.>
The high school team I coach practices two hours
after school one day a week. We've also found playing
against faculty members to be a lot of fun and great
practice. We schedule practice games with three other
school one day a week, so we get to check out the local
competition and play three games each week no matter
what.
We're fortunate to have an 80-minute academic studies
class that meets daily, which is when we do our actual
studying. The administration is very supportive and
students get an activity credit for the class. I'd suggest
talking to your coach and principal about starting such a
course.
The best study tool we've found for high school quiz
bowl is the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: if you
know the material therein, you've at least got a
fighting chance. It's useful because it's divided into
disciplines, so you can give each player a section to study
based on his area of interest or expertise. The book is
also an invaluable resource for challenges. Other than
that, we spend a lot of time studying questions from
old matches.