There's some truth to what both sides are saying here. It is absolutely true that posessing that "competitive fire" will inspire some people to do whatever it takes to improve as a player. And while some players have more innate talent or HS experience than others, players can definitely improve themselves. Having teammates (or local rivals) that push you helps. Writing questions helps, and so does editing questions. Those 500+ point losses can be powerful incentives to improve. I certainly didn't start my academic competition career as a star player, and neither did Dave (either of them.) But if we are looking at things from an overall "health of the circuit" perspective, there does need to be some opportunities for younger, less-advanced players and teams. Not everyone is going to take a string of 500 point losses to a bunch of 6th year players well. People are going to walk away discouraged, whether from a belief that they are not and will never be good enough to make it in this arena or in irritation at the way the old pros dominate the circuit. (Yeah, there are some great undergrads out there, but doesn't it tell you something that the highest all-undergrad team at NAQT ICT usually finishes around #10 or so?) While it is true that the ordeal of running a gauntlet of top-level opponents will make you stronger if you are persistent, the circuit should also not be in the business of the sort of "hazing" that would tend to turn potential interested parties away. We simply can't afford it. A novice squad playing a set of teams at one's own skill level may not be as fast a ticket to improvement as sparring regularly with the titans, but it will serve to keep people and teams interested longer. It will also allow teams to hear and learn the different levels of clues on tossups more often and give them a chance to work together on bonuses more often, etc. Yes, you can do all that in practice, but real tournament settings are different.
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