by DukeDJA » Mon May 05, 2003 2:13 am
I'd have to say that during my high school days, Brookwood was without any doubt the most professional, most well-run, and funnest tournament year after year.
The canon of questions, whether written in-house or purchased elsewhere, was always superb in that the questions were accessible to the very inexperienced teams while rewarding the knowledge and speed of the powerhouses. The playoff rounds always seemed particularly exciting as well, in that the question difficulty was augmented along with the quality of the teams as it should be.
The field size was always the largest in the country (somewhere between 160-180 teams from a multitude of states [upwards of 15] and even territories), yet there were no timing issues that seem endemic at times to even the smallest of tournament fields. For a tournament whose playoff bracket of 64 is bigger than the total field size of most other tournaments, the speedy turn-around between the preliminary rounds and the playoffs was extremely appreciated by all involved--whether players, coaches, parents, or readers/timers.
The top 8 teams all received trophies at the end of the day, and deservedly so, as finishing in the top percentile of a tournament of that size and national team quality is worthy of recognition.
The minute details made the tournament great as well...printed standings were diffused to all teams throughout the day. The worksheet part of each round and the bounce-back bonus made the games seem more fast-paced and gave teams a vested interest in each moment of the round, even if they didn't get the tossup. Lunch was always cheap and easy, never requiring students to hop back on the bus to eat, as food was brought en masse to BHS.
And lastly, Brookwood had the graciousness to always give each team a copy of the tournament questions.
Always an enjoyable Saturday.
dja