Is it too late now?
Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2015 9:06 am
Here's my story:
This summer, I posted here asking how hard it would be to start a team at my high school and got some good advice. I sent emails to several teachers asking if they'd be interested in coaching. One teacher responded right away and said it was a good idea, but he was too busy. Another teacher told me later that I could use her room, but she wouldn't want to actually coach a team. The other teachers never responded. The first week of school, I got involved with a production of Les Miserables that most of the students who had expressed interest over the summer were also involved in. The director said that due to the nature of the production, we weren't allowed to do any other extracurriculars if they interfered with rehearsals, so I decided to hold off on starting a team, maybe until next year. Les Mis just recently ended, and I'm in that state of post-musical depression where I'm wondering what I should do with my life now. A few people online suggested I should return to trying to start up a quizbowl team.
Here are my issues:
1. Is it too late now to start a team? It's already November and likely by the time I got it going, it would already be January. Would it be better to just wait until next year?
2. My school is small, with maybe 300-400 kids in the entire high school. Our guidance counselor is overworked and it's almost impossible to get anything done through her (and if you do, it takes a long time). The teachers care about the students, but they're rarely there before or after school, and most of them didn't even respond to my original email where I asked for coaches. We have very little funding and our only real, permanent clubs are theatre, speech & debate, environmental club, and the National Honor Society. We don't even have sports. I'm worried that those things will make it hard to find support for a team at the administrative level and actually get one going. (EDIT: there are two teachers who run a math team for freshmen and sophomores. I feel like, of all the teachers at the school, they would be the most likely to say yes to something like this. The issue is that the math team does not run very many practices; last year we had a tryout and two practices before the competition, and I'm not sure they'd be willing to put in the time.)
3. I get the feeling that if I do start up a team, I'll just graduate in a year and a half and the team will dissolve because I'm the only one who cares enough to keep it going, and I'm not sure if it's worth it to start up a team for the express reason of enabling me to play quizbowl, especially since I'm already a junior.
I decided to ask for help from people who actually know the system. Should I try to start up a team this year, wait until next year and try to get one going at the beginning of the year, or just abandon the idea entirely and learn trivia on my own?
This summer, I posted here asking how hard it would be to start a team at my high school and got some good advice. I sent emails to several teachers asking if they'd be interested in coaching. One teacher responded right away and said it was a good idea, but he was too busy. Another teacher told me later that I could use her room, but she wouldn't want to actually coach a team. The other teachers never responded. The first week of school, I got involved with a production of Les Miserables that most of the students who had expressed interest over the summer were also involved in. The director said that due to the nature of the production, we weren't allowed to do any other extracurriculars if they interfered with rehearsals, so I decided to hold off on starting a team, maybe until next year. Les Mis just recently ended, and I'm in that state of post-musical depression where I'm wondering what I should do with my life now. A few people online suggested I should return to trying to start up a quizbowl team.
Here are my issues:
1. Is it too late now to start a team? It's already November and likely by the time I got it going, it would already be January. Would it be better to just wait until next year?
2. My school is small, with maybe 300-400 kids in the entire high school. Our guidance counselor is overworked and it's almost impossible to get anything done through her (and if you do, it takes a long time). The teachers care about the students, but they're rarely there before or after school, and most of them didn't even respond to my original email where I asked for coaches. We have very little funding and our only real, permanent clubs are theatre, speech & debate, environmental club, and the National Honor Society. We don't even have sports. I'm worried that those things will make it hard to find support for a team at the administrative level and actually get one going. (EDIT: there are two teachers who run a math team for freshmen and sophomores. I feel like, of all the teachers at the school, they would be the most likely to say yes to something like this. The issue is that the math team does not run very many practices; last year we had a tryout and two practices before the competition, and I'm not sure they'd be willing to put in the time.)
3. I get the feeling that if I do start up a team, I'll just graduate in a year and a half and the team will dissolve because I'm the only one who cares enough to keep it going, and I'm not sure if it's worth it to start up a team for the express reason of enabling me to play quizbowl, especially since I'm already a junior.
I decided to ask for help from people who actually know the system. Should I try to start up a team this year, wait until next year and try to get one going at the beginning of the year, or just abandon the idea entirely and learn trivia on my own?