Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), June 12, 2021, Online

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CPiGuy
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Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), June 12, 2021, Online

Post by CPiGuy »

I am excited to announce the Middle School Interstate National Tournament (MINT), to be held June 12, 2021. I will be directing.

Eligibility

This tournament will be open to all-star teams representing all states, the District of Columbia, and all US territories. Non-American countries may enter as a country-wide team. Each state or equivalent may enter multiple teams, with up to six players on its roster, up to four of whom may be playing at any one time. Any player who was enrolled in the 8th grade or below in a school physically located in that state during the 2020-2021 academic year is eligible to play on their state's team. Students who are not enrolled in a physical school are generally also eligible for their home state; contact me to work out specific details.

Schedule and Format

The tournament will start at 10am Eastern / 9am Central / 7am Pacific on June 12th. The exact format will be dependent on the field size, but will be a typical quizbowl tournament format.

The tournament will likely be run on Zoom. I will likely use a Discord server for back end coordination and communication with teams. Because of this tournament's status as a high-level all-star tournament, there will be more stringent anti-cheating measures than a regular online tournament; players should expect to be required to have their hands visible on camera at all times, whether by using multiple cameras or by using an external device such as a mouse, phone, or game controller to buzz. The precise details of these measures are TBD but will be announced well in advance of the tournament to ensure that students are prepared.

If public health conditions in June make it possible and teams are willing to, they may travel to play the tournament together, in part or in whole, but no physical travel will be required on the part of any participants.

The tournament will be using the BHSAT question set produced by the Yale quizbowl team. It is targeting a "regular-plus" high school difficulty; as such, it will be more difficult than middle school nationals but still accessible and meaningfully playable by strong middle school players. Both tossups and bonuses will be read, and the tournament will conform to ACF rules for online play.

Players are also reminded that they may avail themselves of the quizbowl misconduct form and that they will be expected to abide by the PACE Code of Conduct.

Fees and Registration

The entry fee for this tournament will be $100 for the first team from a given state and $80 for subsequent teams from that state.

To register, please email me at [email protected] with the subject line "MINT Registration for [State]". You need not have officially selected your roster(s) at the time of registration. In the email, please indicate the organization (if any) choosing the team(s), and the number of teams that your state expects to bring. If your registration includes a roster, please include the full names, grade level, and school affiliation of each of the named players.

I will accept all registrations presented by official state quizbowl organizations (cf. ASCA, MOQBA) automatically, unless I am presented with an extremely strong reason not to accept that registration. I will behave similarly towards registrations presented by individuals or organizations that are also currently or historically the sponsors for their state's high school NASAT team. If you are not a representative of an official state organization or an established NASAT sponsor, I recommend you include at least a provisional roster with your registration. If I receive two or more registrations representing the same state, I will consult with regional circuit figures and determine the best course of action, which may be to reject one of the registrations outright or to ask the sponsors to work together.

Staffing

Staffers will be paid $40. If you are interested in staffing, please fill out this form; I'll get in touch with you closer to the tournament.

Current Field

Alabama (1)
California (1)
Connecticut (2)
Florida (1)
Georgia (1)
Kentucky (1-2)
New Jersey (1-2)
Texas (1)
Virginia (1)

Interested: Arizona
Last edited by CPiGuy on Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:47 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Conor Thompson (he/it)
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Re: Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), July 10, 2021, Online

Post by CPiGuy »

Based on community feedback and results from the first mirrors of SMH, I will reconsider the choice of question set for this tournament. I will have a final decision on the set by March 1.

I may also change the date of the tournament to a date in June if this occurs (potentially the same weekend as NASAT, since I imagine there will be no overlap in team compositions and NASAT has a much lower staff burden than other major year-end tournaments, so running another tournament concurrently is more viable).
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Re: Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), June 12, 2021, Online

Post by CPiGuy »

This tournament will be using BHSAT, a "regular-plus" high school housewrite.

The tournament has also been moved to June 12th (the Saturday after PACE NSC) because that set does not represent scheduling conflicts with the AQBL ONCT.
Conor Thompson (he/it)
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Re: Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), June 12, 2021, Online

Post by nicole. »

Is this tournament still happening?
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Re: Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), June 12, 2021, Online

Post by CPiGuy »

nicole. wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 9:02 am Is this tournament still happening?
Yes. You can expect more information from me in the next couple days.
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Re: Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT"), June 12, 2021, Online

Post by CPiGuy »

Updates on this tournament:

It is, in fact, still happening. I will be reaching out to interested/registered parties directly to confirm their participation and give them a link to the back end Discord server. I will be doing the same for staffers. Additional information about logistics will follow.

The tournament will start at 9am Central Time. The exact format will be dependent on the number of teams.

The tournament will use, effectively, the NAQT Integrity Policy that was used at NAQT's national championships. This means that players will be expected to have their face and two hands visible on camera at all times. If this presents a problem, please contact me.
Conor Thompson (he/it)
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University of Michigan '20
Iowa State University '25
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