Red Tape

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Lefty734
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Red Tape

Post by Lefty734 »

My school system has decided to enforce new rules regarding transportation to club-related activities. All students must be driven by their own parent (carpool not allowed), including quizbowl tournaments. This is obviously a problem for my school's team seeing as we will never be able to get 4+ parents to wake up at 6 on a Saturday to drive to tournaments. We really can't get a bus unless we have at least 12 people (which is not a normal occurrence) and even so we probably wouldn't get one very often. So, my question is, what should we do? I know that a lot of schools in other states have to deal with stuff like this all the time, and most of you know the normal eligibility requirements better than I, so is there a workaround for this? For example, can we got to tournaments unaffiliated if we all still attend the same school? Thanks for any suggestions.
Nick Pinto
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Re: Red Tape

Post by RexSueciae »

Your team(s) could play under pseudonyms. Take a weekend to represent Browery Flanch High School at a tournament and carpool to your heart's content. Individual players don't really have to change their names unless your team faces legal trouble or something (which I doubt is the case), and not changing player names helps make Fred Morlan's job a bit easier. Competing under a nonexistent school is fine, so long as you're consistent with your pseudonyms and you don't call yourself something utterly ridiculous.

Eligibility shouldn't be a problem. It's good form to let the tournament host know what school you're actually from so that the prelim bracketing is accurate. NAQT's official eligibility requirements state that "students may only compete at high school tournaments for schools with which they have an affiliation," which may be an issue if you intend to go to HSNCT or SSNCT. Regular tournaments that use NAQT questions may or may not enforce all of NAQT's rules, so I'd ask for clarification from the tournament director and/or someone who works with NAQT. Given that the players on your team would be all from the same school (and given the conditions that have led you to adopt pseudonyms), I'm sure that most people will be understanding.

Or you could go to whoever thought up such a massively stupid rule as to forbid carpooling and carefully explain to them that the rule as it stands would hinder your club's operations to a great degree. Whichever works.
Vasa Clarke

Maggie Walker '14
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pajaro bobo
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Re: Red Tape

Post by pajaro bobo »

Pretty much everything Vasa said.

I'm 99% sure GATA and every other tournament in Georgia would be willing to let you guys play under fake team names, so no worries about no affilition. (Not sure how that would affect what division you guys get put in for state, though.) Just make sure that the fake team name you come up with is a good one.
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Re: Red Tape

Post by Important Bird Area »

RexSueciae wrote:NAQT's official eligibility requirements state that "students may only compete at high school tournaments for schools with which they have an affiliation," which may be an issue if you intend to go to HSNCT or SSNCT. ... Given that the players on your team would be all from the same school (and given the conditions that have led you to adopt pseudonyms), I'm sure that most people will be understanding.
In general, NAQT prefers that teams play under the names of their schools. We have, however, tried to make reasonable accommodations for teams that were not able to do so (in terms of national championship qualification, etc.).
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Re: Red Tape

Post by Great Bustard »

NHBB policy allows pseudonyms at all tournaments, including Nationals. Where possible, try and get the school to provide buses (I'd like to see a school's sports teams compete where everyone's own parent(s) had to drive them to games...), but feel free to play under whatever name you want, as long as it's not offensive/an attempt to mislead people into thinking you're from a different school.
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CSQuizJags
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Re: Red Tape

Post by CSQuizJags »

Fida wrote:Pretty much everything Vasa said.

I'm 99% sure GATA and every other tournament in Georgia would be willing to let you guys play under fake team names, so no worries about no affilition. (Not sure how that would affect what division you guys get put in for state, though.) Just make sure that the fake team name you come up with is a good one.
My events, yes. GATA, not so certain. We've never had an issue like this before. I'll poll the board and email you back.

Also we (Cedar Shoals) never have to deal with a "bus quota" for in-state stuff. I've ridden with five players in a 50 passenger bus when a small one would've been better. You would think your glorious Hall County would like to protect their students and all. Dave's right, only those who can toss a perfect spiral get that right.
Cedar Shoals HS Academic Team:
2011, 2012, and 2013 Classic City Academic Team Champions
2014 Region 8-AAAAA Varsity and JV Champions
2013 GATA Class AAAAA JV State Champions
2014 WSB-TV HighQ Tournament Champions
Arthur Banks, Advisor
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Lefty734
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Re: Red Tape

Post by Lefty734 »

CSQuizJags wrote:
Fida wrote:Pretty much everything Vasa said.

I'm 99% sure GATA and every other tournament in Georgia would be willing to let you guys play under fake team names, so no worries about no affilition. (Not sure how that would affect what division you guys get put in for state, though.) Just make sure that the fake team name you come up with is a good one.
My events, yes. GATA, not so certain. We've never had an issue like this before. I'll poll the board and email you back.

Also we (Cedar Shoals) never have to deal with a "bus quota" for in-state stuff. I've ridden with five players in a 50 passenger bus when a small one would've been better. You would think your glorious Hall County would like to protect their students and all. Dave's right, only those who can toss a perfect spiral get that right.
I don't think that you need to do that because the GATA tournaments will probably be the only ones that we will have enough people to get a bus for as we have in years past. Mrs. Grindle said that she wants us to go as FBHS to those, so we will probably find a way.
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Re: Red Tape

Post by Rococo A Go Go »

Great Bustard wrote:feel free to play under whatever name you want, as long as it's not offensive
Getting more strict than the NFL I see...
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Re: Red Tape

Post by CSQuizJags »

Lefty734 wrote:
CSQuizJags wrote:
Fida wrote:Pretty much everything Vasa said.

I'm 99% sure GATA and every other tournament in Georgia would be willing to let you guys play under fake team names, so no worries about no affilition. (Not sure how that would affect what division you guys get put in for state, though.) Just make sure that the fake team name you come up with is a good one.
My events, yes. GATA, not so certain. We've never had an issue like this before. I'll poll the board and email you back.

Also we (Cedar Shoals) never have to deal with a "bus quota" for in-state stuff. I've ridden with five players in a 50 passenger bus when a small one would've been better. You would think your glorious Hall County would like to protect their students and all. Dave's right, only those who can toss a perfect spiral get that right.
I don't think that you need to do that because the GATA tournaments will probably be the only ones that we will have enough people to get a bus for as we have in years past. Mrs. Grindle said that she wants us to go as FBHS to those, so we will probably find a way.
Still need to ask because, as mentioned above, we're talking what division you'd be in at state and I'd like to have this in the file in case we need to use it down the road. I am willing to say now that most GATA folks won't have a problem with an official/unofficial team and we'd still use your FTE/Enrollment count to determine division placement (it IS the STATE tournament so I'd think your county would allow a bus for that). I mean, if Hall County wants to forfeit a state title, by all means...

Also I've changed your team name for the SSNCT Mirror. I hope you like it.
Cedar Shoals HS Academic Team:
2011, 2012, and 2013 Classic City Academic Team Champions
2014 Region 8-AAAAA Varsity and JV Champions
2013 GATA Class AAAAA JV State Champions
2014 WSB-TV HighQ Tournament Champions
Arthur Banks, Advisor
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