DCC Novice Tournament (October 19th-SCOP Novice)

[CGismondiCC]

Academic Team Coaches:

It is my pleasure to announce the Detroit Catholic Central Novice Tournament which will be held Saturday, October 19th at Detroit Catholic Central High School’s campus located at 27225 Wixom Road, Novi, MI, 48374.

The tournament will be using the SCOP Novice 10 set. Information about the set can be found at the following location: https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic ... 09&t=23056. The questions are intended for novice players, meaning only freshman and sophomore players are eligible to compete.

Each game will feature two halves with ten questions. Tournament bracketing and playoff format will be determined once a clearer picture of the size of the field is obtained.

The fee structure is as follows:
• $50 cost per team (-$10 per team beyond the 1st: $40 for the 2nd, $30 for the 3rd, etc. )
• $5 discount per buzzer
• $10 discount for teams travelling 100 miles or more for the tournament (one way)
• $25 discount for experienced readers

Please make all checks payable to Catholic Central Academic Team, 27225, Wixom Road, Novi, MI, 48374.

We look forward to your attendance at our tournament. Tournament registration can be made by emailing me at [email protected]. Please also feel free to email me with any questions at the same email address.

Registration opens at 8:00 A.M. until 8:30 A.M. followed by a brief meeting for coaches and player. We expect to begin play promptly at 9:00A.M.

Please forward this email to any and all coaches and teams that you know of who are not included in my contacts.

Sincerely,

Christopher J. Gismondi

[CGismondiCC]

Field (10/9):

Chelsea
Cranbrook
DCC A
DCC B
DCC C
DCC D
DCC E
DCC F
Detroit Country Day A
Detroit Country Day B
Detroit Country Day C
Mercy A
Mercy B
Mercy C
St. Michael A
St. Michael B
Troy A
Troy B
U of D Jesuit A
U of D Jesuit B

Buzzers:

Chelsea
Cranbrook
DCC x4
DCD x2
Mercy x2
St. Michael x1
U of D x2

[CGismondiCC]

DCC A defeated Detroit Country Day A in the finals 615-85.

Final stats are posted here: https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/5982/

[Ciorwrong]

Caveat: I did not attend this event.

It doesn't seem proper that there were so many strong teams playing at an ostensibly novice event. In the future, I'd recommend to teams hosting a novice event prevent teams of players who are going to score 26 ppb from defeating less-experienced teams. DCC is a very strong program with lots of elite players, and I can't imagine a 26 ppb team got a lot out of this tournament.

I am well-aware that Michigan does not have a long history of running novice tournaments, but I think this tournament should be a good example of what not to do. While it was good this tournament used a sophomore/freshman only eligibility rule, it is ultimately up to the coaches and players to make sure the field is balanced and teams of appropriate skill levels can enjoy the tournament. This will be what ultimately helps outreach.

[the return of AHAN]

Our state coaches association has eligibility criteria for what constitutes novice.

A player must have played fewer than 40 varsity-level matches for his or her school’s top team.
A player must have played fewer than 80 career high school matches at any level.
A player must NOT have scored more than 35 points per game at a varsity invitational tournament.
A player must never have scored more than 20 points per game at a high school national championship tournament.
A player must never have been named to an All-Tournament Team at a high school tournament.
A player must never have been named to the All-Tournament Team at NAQT’s Middle School National Championship Tournament.

I have thoughts on these criteria because they don't stop the Barringtons and Stevensons of the world from having teams of mostly freshmen that can still clobber newbie upperclassmen or casual players, even when MSNCT stars are removed. There were a number of teams with juniors and even seniors that qualified as novice at our mirror, but I wouldn't categorize them as threats to win, and it had everything to do with the fact that those other schools have little to no middle school participation in quizbowl. I don't know what the answer is, but it seems like the real work that needs to be done, outreach-wise, is to perhaps expand the game at the middle school levels.