PHAT VII, 12/6 at South Burlington (VT) HS

[kcommo]

The Vermont-NEA Scholars’ Bowl is excited to announce it will be holding its seventh annual Pre-Holiday Academic Tournament (PHAT VII) on Friday, December 6, at South Burlington High School in South Burlington, Vt. This tournament is open to all high school academic teams and will be played on NAQT questions (Set IS-127A), making it an opportunity to qualify your school for NAQT’s national tournament in Chicago.

This event is New England's largest quiz bowl tournament and last year's field featuring a record 66 teams from Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We're seeking to further extend our geographic reach this season, so we hope your school will consider joining us for this regional meeting of the minds.

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

If there is sufficient interest, we will again 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 $30 per team for out-of-state schools 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. The registration deadline is December 2.

Interested teams should note that participation might require them to leave school early. Check-in will be held from 3:45 to 3:55 p.m. and matches will begin promptly at 4:15 p.m. The competition will end at approximately 9:15 p.m.

A dinner break will be included in the schedule and the host team from South Burlington is organizing a pizza pre-order at a price of $20 for a large pizza, four sodas and four desserts. However, pizza will not be sold on the day of the tournament so schools not participating in the pre-order will be responsible for bringing their own food or visiting one of the several nearby restaurants.

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 your team plans to participate or if you have questions, please contact me, Kevin Commo, at kcommo (at) scholarsbowl (dot) org.

*If you’re writing to register please include the following information*

School:______________________________
Number of varsity teams (not more than two varsity/novice combined): ________
Number of novice teams (not more than two varsity/novice combined): ________
Number of additional varsity teams you'd like to put on the waitlist: ________
Number of additional novice teams you'd like to put on the waitlist: ________
Number of coaches/volunteers who will be attending: ________
Number of buzzer systems you can bring: ________
Total payment due ($30 per team):________
Contact phone number:_________________

[dvanschaack]

Hi Kevin,

We'd like to register for the PHAT. Here's the info:

* Mt. Abraham Union High School
* 2 teams (one varsity and one novice)
* please place us on waitlist for an additional novice team
* 2 coaches (Justin Bouvier and Deb Van Schaack). We work well as a team if possible (Justin scores and Deb reads)
* we have one buzzer system we'll bring
* we'll bring a check for $60
* contact number: 453-2333 ext 2067 or 777-1499 (cell)

Thanks!

[kcommo]

Field update as of 12/3/13:

Vermont schools
South Burlington, 7 varsity, 1 JV
Essex, 2 varsity, 2 JV
CVU, 3 varsity, 1 JV
Rice, 1 varsity, 1-2 JV
North Country, 1 varsity, 1 JV
Montpelier, 1 varsity, 1 JV
Fair Haven, 3 varsity, 0 JV
Mt. Mansfield, 2 varsity, 0 JV
Mt. Abraham, 1 varsity, 1 JV
Middlebury, 2 varsity, 3 JV
Missisquoi, 2 varsity, 0 JV
Burlington, 1 varsity, 1 JV
Lamoille, 2 varsity, 0 JV
Woodstock, 1 varsity, 0 JV
Winooski, 0 varsity, 1 JV

Out-of-state schools
Ticonderoga (NY), 1 varsity, 1 JV
Portsmouth Christian (NH), 1 varsity, 0 JV
Northampton (MA), 2 varsity, 0 JV
Colton Pierrepont (NY), 2 varsity, 0 JV
Colebrook (NH), 1 varsity, 1 JV
Crown Point (NY), 2 varsity, 0 JV
Westport (NY), 1 varsity, 1 JV
John Stark (NH), 3 varsity, 0 JV
South Glens Falls (NY), 1 varsity, 1 JV
Emma Willard (NY), 1 varsity, 0 JV
Hanover (NH), 1 varsity, 1 JV
Queensbury (NY), 1 varsity, 1 JV

Approximate totals: Varsity, 46 teams, JV 20 teams

[vgundlah]

Is this tournament a PACE qualifier as well?

[kcommo]

Is this tournament a PACE qualifier as well?

I did receive an invite from PACE, so I believe we will be affiliated.

[kcommo]

Just to confirm, this tournament has received PACE Gold Certification. So the top 20 percent of our varsity field will qualify for NSC.

[kcommo]

After a few last-minute drop outs we ended up with 60 teams for this, 42 varsity and 18 JV.

Essex A won the title, edging Portsmouth Christian 325-305 in the final to finish 8-0. Champlain Valley C finished third and Champlain Valley D was the JV champion.

Full stats will be posted later on tonight.

[kcommo]

Full results are now posted here: http://www.scholarsbowl.org/PHAT13_standings.html

Our top nine teams have qualified for the NAQT and PACE national tournaments, so congratuations to Essex A, Portsmouth Christian, CVU C, Hanover, South Burlington A, Burlington A, CVU A, South Glens Falls A, and Rice A.

Figuring out SSNCT qualifiers is a little tougher, but I'm pretty sure we get four spots: Middlebury A, Middlebury B, Montpelier A and Mt. Abraham A.

Phil Holt from South Burlington A ended up being the top overall scorer.

My thanks to the South Burlington crew for doing a great job helping organize things and to all the coaches and volunteers who helped out. I hope everyone had a good time.