Re: Quizbowl Circuit Participation and Fundamentals

sdrossboss <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:03:34 -0000

Willie and those reading this,

I specifically referenced the UC Irvine club in one instance 
regarding touching the questions from ACF regionals. I realize the 
incident is over and done with. I'd say that "rule" was implied and  
given the nature of the tournament that's something you should have 
cleared with the ACF editor so as to assure those involved that your 
changes were acceptable. I understand that your intentions were good 
as well, but when it's made aware that the questions were edited 
after being received by the host site it can send shocks of horror 
through the minds of those playing. And it did.

Having long waits between rounds is endemic to all sorts of 
tournaments and that comment was not specifically addressed to the 
Irvine club. 

Otherwise I have no issues - I just want to know that the will to 
improve when improvement is needed is there. I have no doubts in my 
mind that your intentions in everything are 100% positive, Willie. 

The reason I spoke so strongly in my post was so that clubs might 
take a look and hopefully the following thought might cross the 
mind: "it's time to take initiative".

The end of Jerry's post sums it up quite nicely: play quizbowl, write 
questions, attend tournaments. 

Willie you are absolutely right to end with those 5 points but it's 
time to take it a step further - we need to get a better 
understanding as to how to accomplish those goals. That's where I 
think we have failed - execution.

Can your organization table on campus in a frequented area? A single 
student activity fair and a table out on Sproul Plaza (the "main 
drag" on campus) were responsible for the recruitment of several of 
Berkeley's best players.

As simple as this sounds, in a club meeting rather than asking "does 
anyone want to go to (insert NoCal school here?)" ask "we should send 
a team to....who's available to go?

IN FACT, I think it should be required (if possible) that all clubs 
invited to a tournament give an RSVP rather than a non-response. Just 
for piece of mind.

Don't forget that Grad students aren't good simply by fiat. They had 
to start somewhere. There's too much that can be said about a lot of 
those points you bring up and that's one of them and probably worthy 
of a separate post.

Kudos to UCLA for apparently running a top notch event, it is very 
pleasing to hear. 

Maybe the fate of quiz bowl, at least in California, will be 
something cyclical. It's destined to perpetually have it's ups and 
down. I hope not. I want to see the longevity of this circuit 
established - and there's no better time to start than now.

-Ross
--- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, "Willie Chen" <williechen7_at_h...> 
wrote:
> Ross wrote:
> 
> What again we're hoping to avoid is an ACF regional where 3 
> Berkeley, 3 Stanford and one So Cal team compete. Were such 
> a tournament held in southern california then why not have 
> Stanford and Berkeley play somewhere in the bay area on the 
> same questions so as to cut out the travel expense altogether?
> ----------------------------------------
> 
> As the TD for that disaster, I feel obliged to respond:
> 
> First, I had no control over what teams showed up.  If schools in 
> Southern California avoided ACF, they had their own reasons.  I 
> entered the bid to host ACF Regionals that year because I 
> thought more teams in So Cal would show up.  I was wrong.
> 
> However, if you look at the demographics of that particular 
> tournament, you'd notice that most players were either really 
> advanced undergrads or graduate students, something 
> abundant at Stanford and Berkeley because of their outstanding 
> academic programs.
> 
> ACF has, unfortunately, gotten a bad rep in So Cal because of 
> the disasters from previous years.  Perhaps, as the TD, I could 
> have done more to advertise the event and/or make up for past 
> ills, but I think the problem was more with the fact it's an ACF 
> Regionals tournament than the fact it's run at UCI.
> 
> ------------------------------------------
> 
> But, all excuses aside, I do think it's worth our time to discuss 
> how to improve the circuit in California so that problems like that 
> ACF Regionals will not occur again.
> 
> Let me propose some goals for starters:
> 
> 1.  We shall attract and retain as many new players in our 
> respective programs as possible.  The same could be said 
> about attracting new schools to join the circuit.
> 
> 2.  We shall help new players to develop QB skills and 
> knowledge.
> 
> 3.  We shall encourage more tournament participation.
> 
> 4.  We shall expand or revamp the award-recognition system so 
> that more players feel welcomed at tournaments.
> 
> 5.  We shall promote the social atmosphere of tournaments.
> 
> 
> Any other suggestions?
> 
> Willie Chen