Search found 229 matches

by centralhs
Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:35 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: 2010 HSNCT discussion thread
Replies: 194
Views: 51276

Re: 2010 HSNCT discussion thread

Ahmad Ragab wrote: Perhaps some of the more experienced moderators should read a round (this could be fun) in front of new or inexperienced moderators and scorekeepers, and the players (also moderators) could reenact some of the issues that come up during a round that might slow down a reader (inte...
by centralhs
Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:33 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Moderating etiquette
Replies: 45
Views: 10086

Re: Moderating etiquette

The problem with asking players to spell out answers is simply that some people spell well, some people don't. (I know some highly intelligent people with brains filled with facts that are very poor spellers.)If the point is to judge how much knowledge a person has, it seems unfair to penalize that ...
by centralhs
Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Rules on Pronunciation
Replies: 24
Views: 5460

Rules on Pronunciation

How lenient should moderators be on pronunciation when accepting answers? I always tell my students that, while ideally they would pronounce all words correctly, their answers should be accepted as long as they are phonetically possible. However, we have been on both sides of this... moderators have...
by centralhs
Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Moderating etiquette
Replies: 45
Views: 10086

Re: Moderating etiquette

If there is a word you can't pronounce, my usual thing i do is just blow through it anyway and say whatever i think it is with almost no hesitation (i.e. i hate/don't understand Greek names, so i just say whatever it looks like even though it's almost always wrong), unless you have a feeling that i...
by centralhs
Fri May 28, 2010 6:05 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

It's going to be interesting to see how Brookwood, Walton, Centennial and Chattahoochee do this weekend as all 4 teams have the potential to do extremely well. Centennial appears to be the "favorite" but I wouldn't be overly surprised to see any of the other 3 teams end up placed ahead of ...
by centralhs
Wed May 26, 2010 5:10 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GATA Forums
Replies: 31
Views: 8673

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

...going by Charlie's post, the Missouri boards sound like they have provided a good opportunity for that state too. I looked very briefly at the Missouri forum and it looks great, with a wealth of useful information. Hopefully, the GATA forum can become a useful tool for Georgia teams in the same ...
by centralhs
Wed May 26, 2010 4:28 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GATA Forums
Replies: 31
Views: 8673

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

I have no idea what coach/team Sandy is referring to (and, no, I neither need nor want to know), but I can assure anyone and everyone that my own team members are free to express themselves on this forum, or any other.
by centralhs
Wed May 26, 2010 4:07 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GATA Forums
Replies: 31
Views: 8673

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Dan: I and my students are well aware of what modern quiz bowl is all about. At our practices, I almost exclusively use questions from the HS Packet archive -- most recently the GSAC questions but we have also used Prison Bowl, Harvard Fall Tournament, etc. We ran a mirror of the Harvard Fall Tourna...
by centralhs
Wed May 26, 2010 3:45 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GATA Forums
Replies: 31
Views: 8673

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Auroni: When I have more time, I will look for the thread that I referred to and post a link to it here. If anyone wants to locate it in the meantime and link it for me, I believe that it was somewhere in the vast Illinois subforum. I stand by my statement that some high school students do, in fact,...
by centralhs
Wed May 26, 2010 2:40 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GATA Forums
Replies: 31
Views: 8673

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Nothing that I said in my earlier post is "made up, unsubstantiated nonsense." There was an extensive thread earlier this year (I can look it up and make a link to it, if you would like) where several high school students said that they did not appreciate the hostile tone on the HS Quizbow...
by centralhs
Wed May 26, 2010 2:15 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: GATA Forums
Replies: 31
Views: 8673

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

I was one of the coaches in Georgia advocating for a separate GATA forum. Believe me, "censorship" was certainly not the goal in creating the separate forum; rather, we hoped to achieve a platform that would promote a more open and free exchange of ideas between Georgia high school players...
by centralhs
Mon May 10, 2010 6:54 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Moon Pie Classic at UT-Chattanooga 5/8/2010
Replies: 31
Views: 6756

Re: Moon Pie Classic at UT-Chattanooga 5/8/2010

When is UT-Chattanooga's HSNCT mirror? I haven't seen a specific date listed anywhere.
by centralhs
Wed May 05, 2010 9:24 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Prison Bowl III discussion
Replies: 22
Views: 3941

Re: Prison Bowl III discussion

The last line of the question reads "Name this French author of Discipline and Punish , who has a namesake pendulum." The phrase "namesake pendulum" would certainly tip most high school students off to the answer of "Foucault", but it implies that the pendulum is named ...
by centralhs
Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:45 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Cheapest Way to get to HSNCT from Really Far Away?
Replies: 20
Views: 4366

Re: Cheapest Way to get to HSNCT from Really Far Away?

Well, to travel from Lawrenceville, GA to Hinesville, GA is about 550 miles round trip. So using the price that Matt Dennis from DAR quoted of .90 per mile (our cost was something similar), that would have come to a total of like $490. And that's not even counting the gas, bus driver hotel room and ...
by centralhs
Thu Apr 29, 2010 7:59 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Cheapest Way to get to HSNCT from Really Far Away?
Replies: 20
Views: 4366

Re: Cheapest Way to get to HSNCT from Really Far Away?

I'm amazed that a school would be able to take a bus all the way from Alabama to Chicago without having to pay anything. If my team got a bus, we would have to pay for everything out of pocket -- including the bus itself, gas and the driver's meals and hotel room. When I wanted to take our team by s...
by centralhs
Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Trash in National Tournaments... Again
Replies: 81
Views: 11636

Re: Trash in National Tournaments... Again

I was just joking. Clearly I don't think that Miley Cyrus is ever going to be worthy of "classic" status. Thus, my use of the phrase "God forbid!" I think that for any pop culture to be worthy of inclusion at an academically-oriented Nationals, it must both stand the test of time...
by centralhs
Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Trash in National Tournaments... Again
Replies: 81
Views: 11636

Re: Trash in National Tournaments... Again

I think that there is a clear and easily definable distinction to be made between sports or pop culture of a "classic" nature and out-and-out "trash". Questions that fall into the first category focus on subjects that have stood the test of time and are now considered classics in...
by centralhs
Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:14 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

There are many things about High Q that don't make sense to me. The questions themselves often seem to have been selected at random and are sometimes quite strange and trivial. The field of teams that makes it on to the show each year is also quite random. Every private school in the northern half o...
by centralhs
Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:35 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Keeping individual stats
Replies: 42
Views: 6753

Re: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)

It is, of course, always up to the people running tournaments to decide whether or not they want to keep individual stats. However, I really don't like any generalization of what is "appropriate for the Southeast" or what people "like in Georgia" or whatever. Many teams in Georgi...
by centralhs
Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:24 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Keeping individual stats
Replies: 42
Views: 6753

Re: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)

I definitely like to see individual stats kept for informational purposes. However, I have mixed feelings about trophies or other awards being given to highest individual scorers. While it does seem to motivate some players, I have been disappointed on occasion to see my students get irritated when ...
by centralhs
Sun Mar 07, 2010 9:18 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)
Replies: 44
Views: 10838

Re: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)

I echo everything that Mr. Barry said about the tournament yesterday at Norcross. It was obvious that they had put a lot of work into planning every element of their tournament and it paid off. You would never have known that it was their first time hosting a tournament. Everything was well-organize...
by centralhs
Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:33 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: North Georgia Academic Team Tournament (take three) 4-3-10
Replies: 3
Views: 770

Re: North Georgia Academic Team Tournament (take three) 4-3-10

Central Gwinnett will definitely be there but, since it's during our Spring Break, our team may only consist of 2 or 3 players.
by centralhs
Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:07 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Yeah... we here at Central Gwinnett are really torn up about Chattahoochee moving to 4A next year!
by centralhs
Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:53 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)
Replies: 44
Views: 10838

Re: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)

Andrew: How many preliminary and playoff rounds are you planning to run? If time constraints are a major factor, why not just plan to use less rounds rather than to eliminate questions from within the rounds? By the way, most coaches/teams in Georgia are used to playing only 5-6 preliminary rounds. ...
by centralhs
Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:22 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Wofford College (SC) Tournament 2/27/2010
Replies: 24
Views: 5476

Re: Wofford College (SC) Tournament 2/27/2010

This "Dorman B" team appears to clearly belong in the top 25 in the country. They beat Southside's regular A team and averaged 508 PPG. Wow! I feel sorry for the unfortunate schools that had to play both this Dorman team and Southside A in the preliminary rounds. Glad it wasn't my team... ...
by centralhs
Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:13 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Berry College Scholars Bowl - 2/20/10 - Registration Closed
Replies: 30
Views: 5363

Re: Berry College Scholars Bowl - 2/20/10 - Registration Closed

Congratulations to Walton on a job well done yesterday! I didn't get to see West Knox/Farragut play, and I had personally never heard of them before, but apparently they are a very strong team. And yesterday I got to see more than ever just how good William (from Alpharetta) and Abubakar (from Walto...
by centralhs
Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Berry College Scholars Bowl - 2/20/10 - Registration Closed
Replies: 30
Views: 5363

Re: Berry College Scholars Bowl - 2/20/10 - Registration Closed

You may have already sent this information but: (1) What time are we supposed to get there on Saturday and (2) What building are we meeting in?

Thanks,

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.
by centralhs
Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:57 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

The questions from the Alpharetta J.V. tournament were actually the Fall Novice set. They are already posted on the HS Packet Archive.

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.
by centralhs
Tue Feb 02, 2010 6:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: North Georgia Academic Team Tournament (Postponed)
Replies: 33
Views: 7482

Re: North Georgia Academic Team Tournament (February 13, 2010)

A 9 game round robin sounds fine to me. Actually, on our end, that sounds ideal! For us, it's really about hearing as many rounds as possible to prepare for the upcoming state tournament. Even though these should be easy questions for my team(an A set), NAQT always throws in some facts that students...
by centralhs
Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:19 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: '09-10 HS Midseason Poll - Congratulations State College!
Replies: 137
Views: 22392

Re: '09-10 HS Midseason Poll

The Walton tournament this year used a standard NAQT IS set (IS-88, I believe), not an A set like last year. The Brookwood questions were quite different this year from previous years -- more pyramidal in style and much more challenging. As for the rankings, from what I've seen so far this year, alt...
by centralhs
Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:54 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Why we can't have nice things
Replies: 141
Views: 27660

Re: Why we can't have nice things

As someone completely outside this discussion but as someone who reads these boards frequently and has skimmed the Masonic thread, I have made the following conclusions: Mark Grant was no more rude than Matt Weiner was. New posters on the board are no more responsible for their online behavior than ...
by centralhs
Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:03 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

I would love to see my students really get motivated to try to vie for one of the top spots at the Varsity state tournament, as I feel they have the potential to beat any team in Georgia. Whether or not they will actually find the motivation to do the amount of practicing and studying that would be ...
by centralhs
Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ANNOUNCEMENT: ACF Winter Mid-Atlantic at NC Wesleyan College
Replies: 27
Views: 8317

Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: ACF Winter Mid-Atlantic at NC Wesleyan College

I am a little confused. Did a current Maggie Walker student (or students) play on a team along with VCU players or did the entire team consist of Maggie Walker players?This situation is strange to me because either: (1) it is puzzling why a team exclusively of Maggie Walker players would call themse...
by centralhs
Thu Jan 21, 2010 4:35 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Only one of my students drives and I don't think her parents want her to drive long distances on the highway. As for driving the 5 hours in one day... the Varsity State tournament is a two day event (Friday evening and Saturday.) Since the tournament is so far away, we really have no choice but to s...
by centralhs
Thu Jan 21, 2010 4:19 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

The main problem that Central Gwinnett has in going to "far away" tournaments like Dorman is transportation. I have an extremely difficult time finding parents who are willing to drive to events -- especially when it means driving several hours and/or staying overnight. In the past, I drov...
by centralhs
Sun Jan 17, 2010 1:25 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: NAQT: Who You Attempting to Fool?
Replies: 69
Views: 18408

Re: NAQT: Who You Attempting to Fool?

Pardon my ignorance, and maybe this question is addressed somewhere on this message board, but... what exactly is the "blurt rule"? I am thinking that it might be similar to the "non-responsive" rule used at some tournaments here in Georgia. Cathy Hirsch Coach Central Gwinnett H.S.
by centralhs
Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:47 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)
Replies: 44
Views: 10838

Re: Norcross mirrors the Prison Bowl -3/6/10- (GA)

Central Gwinnett is still interested in possibly attending this tournament; I will have a better idea as we get closer to March. Also, I would strongly advise sending e-mails advertising your tournament out to as many coaches as possible since a lot of them do not read this forum. Cathy Hirsch Coach...
by centralhs
Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:57 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)
Replies: 74
Views: 23684

Re: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)

It seems like a shame for a high school student who really wants to try playing at his first college tournament not to get a chance to play if there is a space available on another high school team. However, if those are the rules, we'll have to abide by them.

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.
by centralhs
Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)
Replies: 74
Views: 23684

Re: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)

Thanks for getting back to me about that. I am not even sure if Southside (or any other high school teams) will want to form a team with my player, but I can assure you that he is only interested in participating in this event for the experience and has no illusions of actually winning the tournamen...
by centralhs
Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:14 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)
Replies: 74
Views: 23684

Re: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)

Could someone confirm for me whether or not ACF rules allow a team to be made up of players from more than one school? I was in attendance at last year's ACF Winter at UGA and I'm pretty sure that a few "mixed" teams participated at that event. I would love for my student to get a chance t...
by centralhs
Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:34 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)
Replies: 74
Views: 23684

Re: ACF Winter Southeast at UGA (1/16)

Ben -- Does Southside have two full teams of players going to the tournament this weekend? I am asking because I have a student (possibly two students) very interested in playing at this event. He/they would love to play on a team with other high school players if you have don't have full teams goin...
by centralhs
Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:59 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Savannah Country Day Tournament (1/9/10)
Replies: 4
Views: 1003

Re: Savannah Country Day Tournament (1/9/10)

How did this tournament go? Who won it?

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.
by centralhs
Wed Jan 06, 2010 9:51 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Sorry... I didn't remember the playoffs involving 8 teams. In my memory, there was just a semifinal followed by a final (and a consolation) round. I must have mixed it up with the Gwinnett County Championships where only the top 4 teams make the playoffs (although my memory of that event may be faul...
by centralhs
Tue Jan 05, 2010 2:58 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Georgia 2009-2010
Replies: 299
Views: 69032

Re: Georgia 2009-2010

Kevin, Please feel free to contact me directly if you ever need information or help with anything. I know how overwhelming it can feel when you are new to quiz bowl and don't know about what tournaments to go to, etc. I am thrilled that Marist has an active team now. I have wondered for years why we...
by centralhs
Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:46 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion
Replies: 29
Views: 5381

Re: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion

Is there any chance of a "Spring Novice" set of questions being produced? Everyone seems to be in agreement that this is an excellent set and that it satisfies a particular need/audience in a fashion that few (if any) other sets do.

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.
by centralhs
Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:34 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion
Replies: 29
Views: 5381

Re: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion

High schoolers better love Nernst Equation and Gibbs Free Energy as they seem to come up at pretty much every tournament -- I'm not sure whether these concepts are taught in high school science classes or not, but tournament writers certainly seem to view them as highly important. Lately the Bose-Ei...
by centralhs
Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:17 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion
Replies: 29
Views: 5381

Re: Fall Novice Tournament Discussion

Out of curiosity... who was the target audience for whom this set of questions was written? I assumed by the term "novice" that it was intended for students with little experience playing at the high school level. However, if there were students at the 11th or 12th grade level playing on i...
by centralhs
Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:39 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Harvard Fall Tournament in Georgia (12/5/09)
Replies: 28
Views: 6582

Re: Harvard Fall Tournament in Georgia (12/5/09)

I can say definitively that the questions were NOT too difficult. The scores look low because our field of teams was extremely, extremely weak. Had we had a stronger field, the scores would have been totally different. My own team (certainly not anywhere near the level of Maggie Walker or State Coll...
by centralhs
Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Harvard Fall Tournament in Georgia (12/5/09)
Replies: 28
Views: 6582

Re: Harvard Fall Tournament in Georgia (12/5/09)

A few words of clarification about these stats, in case anyone wonders, because they looked strange even to me when I first opened them. Three teams (Southwest Macon A, SW Macon B and Etowah) had to leave after playing only the first 5 rounds, so I guess that is why they are listed separately. The C...
by centralhs
Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:48 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Weekend of Quizbowl (3/6+7/10)
Replies: 44
Views: 11383

Re: Weekend of Quizbowl (3/6+7/10)

Can a team participate in just the Saturday or Sunday portions of this tournament? If so, Central Gwinnett would definitely be interested in participating in the timed NAQT rounds on Sunday.

Cathy Hirsch
Coach
Central Gwinnett H.S.