PHAT XII (12/7 at Essex HS, VT)

[kcommo]

The Vermont-NEA Scholars’ Bowl is pleased to announce it will hold its 12th annual Pre-Holiday Academic Tournament (PHAT) on Friday, December 7th, at Essex High School. This tournament is the largest in New England with typically more than 50 teams attending, and we hope your school will consider joining us for an exciting night of competition.

The tournament will be played on NAQT question set IS-180A. This is the same set that will be used at AMSA in Massachusetts the following week so schools wanting to attend should plan their schedule accordingly.

Our tournament format will follow official NAQT rules (http://www.naqt.com/rules.html), including timed rounds. The schedule will include eight rounds of matches and, if the number of teams allows it, all teams will play in every round.

We plan to run a separate novice bracket for less-experienced players. Teams in this bracket will be ineligible for the overall championship but will play all their games against other teams of newcomers, including separate playoffs. The novice bracket is primarily intended for freshmen and sophomores, though upperclassmen may participate if they are not part of your school's regular varsity lineup and they have not played in a tossup-bonus tournament prior to this school year.

The entry fee is $35 per team for out-of-state teams and schools will be initially limited to a maximum of two teams, varsity and/or novice. Additional teams will be accepted if the number of rooms and readers allows it, with preference given to schools that can bring extra volunteers to help read matches and/or keep score.

To simplify the registration process we are taking sign-ups via Google Form. Visit the following link to submit your information: https://goo.gl/forms/09PdGzoAWpl7mLrk1

The registration deadline is December 4th.

Interested teams should note that participation Will require them to leave school early. Check-in will be held from 3:30 to 3:40 pm and matches will begin as close to 4 pm as possible. The competition will end at approximately 9 pm.

A dinner break will be included in the schedule and the host team from Essex will be organizing a pizza pre-order, with details to be provided soon. Schools not participating in the pre-order will be responsible for bringing their own food or visiting one of the several nearby restaurants. Teams leaving campus for dinner must return on time or risk forfeiting their first playoff match.

Because we are unable to hire readers for this tournament, the coaches of all participating teams will be expected to moderate matches so that we can keep all teams playing in all rounds. We will have a quick rules meeting to go over the basics and answer questions, but if you are new to NAQT format please familiarize yourself and your team with the rules (http://www.naqt.com/rules.html) ahead of time. Also, if you know of anyone (players' parents, teachers, former players, etc.) who might be willing to volunteer to read matches or keep score, please let me know and invite them to come. The more staffers we have, the smoother things will run.

We also ask teams that have buzzer systems to bring them along to help us make sure we have buzzers for every room.

Finally, please note that all payment is due on the date of the tournament and that we do not accept purchase orders. Checks should be made out to the Vermont-NEA Scholars' Bowl.

If you have any questions or you cannot register using the Google form, please contact me at kcommo (at) scholarsbowl (dot) org.

[kcommo]

Registrations have been a bit slow coming in this year but with Thanksgiving a week early I expect we will see a lot more this week. Either way here's how the field currently looks (updated 12/4):

Schuylerville (NY) - 1 varsity
CVU (VT) - 2 varsity, 1-2 novice
Colton-Pierrepont (NY) - 2 varsity
Mt. Mansfield (VT) - 2 varsity
Portsmouth Christian (NH) - 1 varsity, 1 novice
Westport (NY) - 1 varsity, 1 novice
John Stark (NH) - 1 varsity
Ticonderoga (NY) - 2 varsity
Essex (VT) - 2 varsity, 1 novice
Burlington (VT) - 2 varsity, 1 novice
Frances Richmond Middle (NH) - 2 novice
BFA-St. Albans (VT) - 1 varsity, 2 novice
Montpelier (VT) - 2 varsity
Middlebury (VT) - 2 varsity, 2 novice
Rice Memorial (VT) - 1 novice
South Burlington (VT) - 2 varsity, 2 novice
BFA-Fairfax (VT) - 1 varsity
Boston Latin (MA) - 1 varsity
Cabot (VT) - 2 varsity
Mt. Abraham (VT) - 1 varsity
Winooski (VT) - 2 novice
Hanover (NH) - 2 varsity
Lamoille (VT) - 1 varsity
Total 31 varsity, 15-17 novice

[kcommo]

Today was the registration deadline so the field above should be more or less final.

[kcommo]

We had 32 varsity and 16 novice teams in this and the final results were a Hanover sweep.

Hanover claimed the varsity title, capping an undefeated run with a 505-135 victory over South Burlington A in the final. Boston Latin was third, losing only to South Burlington in the semifinals.

Frances Richmond A (the middle school in Hanover) won the novice title, topping Rice Memorial 270-195 in the final to cap an undefeated run of its own.

I've started plowing through the stats and posted the preliminary-round data online here: http://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/53 ... s/prelims/
I'll add the rest of the stats either tomorrow night or Sunday.