General NHBB/IHBB/IHO/USABB Update

[Great Bustard]

The first Saturday of February is one of our traditionally busiest days of the year, and 2016 was no exception, with 7 NHBB tournaments going on across the USA. I was fortunate that we had directors for all of these, which allowed me to read at Wolf War III at River Trail Middle School in Johns Creek, GA - many thanks to Scott Fowler and his crew for a great tournament! Two weeks in, I am very pleased with the response to USABB so far - we're up to 6 confirmed tournaments, and I expect we'll have about 15 for this school year, which was right about where I thought we should be. The first USABB registrations have come in as well (thanks to Westwood Middle in West Virginia!) and I am very confident that USABB will be a catalyst for years to come in spreading good quizbowl throughout the USA for the younger grades. If your school or university is interested in hosting for USABB or NHBB this year, please contact me as soon as possible - see www.usacademicbowl.com in particular for more details on the perks of hosting and how it can be a great fundraiser for your team.

Nolwenn and I are off to Asia this week, but we'll be back in the USA by the end of the month, to do outreach trips where it makes sense for USABB. As of this past Friday, we have given up our apartment in Washington, DC and are now living on the road full time. We expect to do this through at least the end of June 2017. This gives us added flexibility to go wherever we are needed most, including Australia and New Zealand (where we will debut an IHBB championship tournament in fall 2016) and India, where we are planning on a 2 week outreach trip with other NHBB/IHBB staffers in June. We are also delighted to be launching the International Academic Bowl in conjunction with our Canadian, European, and Asian championship tournaments this year, and hope that will also contribute to the growth of good quizbowl around the world. We're already looking at a world championships within maybe a 3-5 year time horizon, once we've built sufficient capacity in enough countries to make this worthwhile.

At the same time, Nolwenn and I are looking to spend most of October and November of 2016 doing outreach in the USA, particularly for USABB. There is so much that good quizbowl has going for it, that we are both convinced that the more we can get the word out, the more new schools will come into the fold, and new circuits will get launched, with those students then continuing to play and start new teams once they enter high school. Taking a longer view, if the period of 2000-2010 saw good quizbowl work out its philosophical underpinnings, we want to help make 2010-2025 the period when quizbowl went way beyond its traditional core of schools in the US to become a standard activity for high schools and middle schools throughout USA and the world. We are eager to invest whatever it takes in terms of time, money, and commitment to make that happen, and if anyone has advice, suggestions, or can help partner with us to further the spread of NHBB/IHBB or all-subject quizbowl, we're interested to hear what you have to say. Thanks for your continued support!