Top Rituals from the Top Teams

[quizbowlchamp1]

As me and my team work hard this off-season to become a nats playoffs contender, I thought I ask would ask those with experience for some guidance. So...

Top teams: What rituals/habits do you guys have that allows you to focus or play better in any way. I'm specifically looking for pregame/in-game/post game rituals. Your replies are greatly appreciated.

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

By far the most important thing is just to prepare before your events with study and practice - no specific ritual is going to benefit you more than this kind of preparation

[High Dependency Unit]

I recommend the haka to strike fear and intimidation into the hearts of your opponents.

[quizbowlcaptain]

I recommend the haka to strike fear and intimidation into the hearts of your opponents.

To maximize the efficiency of the haka show up wearing traditional Maori garments.

[alexdz]

I don't know your ethnic background, but I recommend not performing important ceremonial dances of a culture you do not belong to unless you've been invited to do so.

[Somewhere in the Stratosphere]

I recommend the haka to strike fear and intimidation into the hearts of your opponents.

To maximize the efficiency of the haka show up wearing traditional Maori garments.

Showed up to a regional, played against a team that did this, and lost 510-15

[quizbowlchamp1]

I don't know your ethnic background, but I recommend not performing important ceremonial dances of a culture you do not belong to unless you've been invited to do so.

As the creator of this post, I second this. Funny joke guys, but don't avidly engage in acts of cultural appropriation.

[Stinkweed Imp]

By far the most important thing is just to prepare before your events with study and practice - no specific ritual is going to benefit you more than this kind of preparation

I think everyone can benefit from the ritual of getting plenty of sleep before tournaments, staying hydrated, and eating breakfast (if that's your thing). Plus whenever I play a tournament near an active volcano I make sure to toss a few goats in, just to be safe.

[hexadecillion]

Last weekend before playoffs, I spent about half an hour meditating/resting my mind in general. I did it again right before our game against Centennial. Every time I did it, my state of alertness went from feeling dead tired to almost like having a full night's sleep. I don't know if it'll help for everyone, but focusing on my breathing and not thinking about the stats of our team or other players helped me focus a lot more during the game.

[Texas Über Alles]

I have worn the same pair of socks with Albert Einstein’s face on them for every single tournament I’ve played since freshman year. I don’t even know if they help calm me down, but at this point it’s firmly tradition.

[Somewhere in the Stratosphere]

During timeouts in close games, I stand up & pace around our team's side of the room

[quizbowlchamp1]

During timeouts in close games, I stand up & pace around our team's side of the room

I have done this before. I think my coach has a video of me pacing the room. We were at an HS tournament playing an HS team (West Point A) and we ended up with the W in that game so that worked.

Last weekend before playoffs, I spent about half an hour meditating/resting my mind in general. I did it again right before our game against Centennial. Every time I did it, my state of alertness went from feeling dead tired to almost like having a full night's sleep. I don't know if it'll help for everyone, but focusing on my breathing and not thinking about the stats of our team or other players helped me focus a lot more during the game.

Great idea. Definitely going to try this next year.

Thank you for the excellent advice! Keep it coming!

P.S. Try to keep the jokes infrequent. That way, they're funny.

[halle]

Mod stepping in here: On Tuesday, someone FZ'ed a post from this thread, naming the new thread "let's stop the derail here." I just had to move several more posts in that exact same vein that had been posted today, so the derail-stopping clearly didn't work. I'm going to call attention to the fact that these posts are being FZ'ed in the hope that it's more effective at stopping them.

As for the reason these posts are being FZ'ed: they're contentless, or borderline contentless. Honestly, Russ put it pretty well:

P.S. Try to keep the jokes infrequent. That way, they're funny.

[elyne road]

To the OP--know that I am working on an extensive post with most of the actionable advice I have accrued over the course of my career. Since the thread got derailed rather quickly, I might make open a new thread in order to address all of the points I want to get out. The reason I am taking my time with this is because I want to add citations and examples from my own career (and, when it comes to things I am not as qualified to speak about, from other excellent posts and guides) in order to make the post as comprehensive as possible. For now, just know that it's really refreshing to see people ask about improving at the non-studying components of quizbowl since those are the skills which tend to help people play this game in a healthy and sustainable manner. This isn't meant to be the post to read to magically address all potential concerns, but rather my best shot based on my career and advice from peers which has helped tremendously, especially as it pertains to the challenges one may encounter along the path of trying to "get good."

[quizbowlchamp1]

To the OP--know that I am working on an extensive post with most of the actionable advice I have accrued over the course of my career.

This would be extremely helpful. I'm open to any advice (especially from an ICT winner).

Since the thread got derailed rather quickly, I might make open a new thread in order to address all of the points I want to get out.

That would be preferable. I don't want this thread to explode. Once you create said post, PM me with the link!

The reason I am taking my time with this is because I want to add citations and examples from my own career (and, when it comes to things I am not as qualified to speak about, from other excellent posts and guides) in order to make the post as comprehensive as possible.

No rush. I'm very excited to see what you have to say.

If there are any other extremely experienced quizbowlers out there (ex. you have an ICT, CCCT, IPNCT, HSNCT, SSNCT, or MSNCT win), feel free to make a post similar to the one mentioned above.

[Sit Quietly, Alone]

in imitation of david bass, i've been known to get the blood pumping before the odd match with a few pushups. i also wear the same green pants to most tournaments, having once been complimented on them by jim fan.

[PadraigF]

I always get like a Gatorade or Mountain Dew when rounds start to get tough... I don't assume this is a preference for everyone lol.

[jzlau2]

At Uni Lab our coach always encouraged us to drink plenty of refreshing, cold water. I probably had a full gallon of water over the entire Sunday of our 2019 HSNCT run.

[quizbowlchamp1]

Here is a better way to phrase my question:

How do top teams/NCT winners practice? Which packets do you play? How long are your practices? And what do you do in practice?

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

I'm going to be real with you buddy, that's not rephrasing the question, that's a completely different question. If you want to succeed at a nationals level you should practice and play on material that's at the minimum equal to or harder than the sets you plan on playing on though. Length of practice is irrelevant since a lot of studying is done outside of practice, and besides certain situations if you're planning on playing something on the clock there's nothing special people need to do for practices.

[Sit Quietly, Alone]

Length of practice is irrelevant since a lot of studying is done outside of practice

yeah, getting better at quizbowl isn't primarily done at practice. i still wouldn't call practices, their length, or their format "irrelevant." in most clubs, practices are one of the main things, if not the main thing, teams do together on a consistent basis. also, just about every player comes to one or more practices before they start competing with the team/taking quizbowl seriously. it's thus quite important that practices present the game in an accurate, welcoming, and fun context such that new and existing members are motivated to do the sort of studying that will make the team successful. that's mainly relevant for longer-term questions of program-building, though, rather than shorter-term questions about how to get an a-team ready for nationals. the latter comes down to knowledge accumulation.

[elyne road]

I'm going to be real with you buddy, that's not rephrasing the question, that's a completely different question. If you want to succeed at a nationals level you should practice and play on material that's at the minimum equal to or harder than the sets you plan on playing on though. Length of practice is irrelevant since a lot of studying is done outside of practice, and besides certain situations if you're planning on playing something on the clock there's nothing special people need to do for practices.

As I'm still drafting up my thread about the non-knowledge components of this game, I wanted to echo what both Andrew and Joseph have posted in this thread. While it's likely that teams with the most knowledge will place well at high-stakes tournaments, it's also critical to approach this game with a healthy attitude, especially one that's conducive to playing long spells of close games.

Length of practice is irrelevant since a lot of studying is done outside of practice

yeah, getting better at quizbowl isn't primarily done at practice. i still wouldn't call practices, their length, or their format "irrelevant." in most clubs, practices are one of the main things, if not the main thing, teams do together on a consistent basis. also, just about every player comes to one or more practices before they start competing with the team/taking quizbowl seriously. it's thus quite important that practices present the game in an accurate, welcoming, and fun context such that new and existing members are motivated to do the sort of studying that will make the team successful. that's mainly relevant for longer-term questions of program-building, though rather than shorter-term questions about how to get an a-team ready for nationals. the latter comes down to knowledge accumulation.

This for me is the true purpose of practices. Without a solid team dynamic, it's very unlikely that you'll actually enjoy these tense games. Getting to a point where you can play games that go to the final cycle and still walk away satisfied regardless of the result will take time and effort, but it will be well worth the struggle. Besides, it's important to center the people at the heart of this community, especially your teammates, before venturing on the road to achieve an arbitrary goal like performing well at an NCT.

Thank you for your patience and understanding--I hope to make my post within the next two weeks.

[Somewhere in the Stratosphere]

I agree with a lot of the sentiments presented here. At the end of the day, I don't do quizbowl just because I know a lot of cool facts. I wouldn't even say I got into quizbowl because I wanted to necessarily be good at the game. I started quizbowl because I enjoyed it. I enjoy practices and I enjoy the company of my teammates, and that enjoyment is the basis of me wanting to win and be the best player I can now. Yes, I know that most of the national players on this board would run circles around me because I've always played on 2-3 line questions and these people were grinding 2.5 dot college questions when they were my age, but I still have experience at the state level with the game.

[The Blind Prophet]

Although certainly the best players in the game at any level are going to do most of their improvement outside of practice, I do think even on a very functional game-centric level practice can be quite important. Selecting which personnel to put on which team and what a team's overall strengths and weaknesses are is something primarily assessed by seeing players play during practice, in my experience.

[joshxu]

In my experience, the most important function of practice is to familiarize newer players with the game. You can come into quiz bowl with an exceptional knowledge base, but it requires actual gameplay to learn which answerlines are canon, get used to pyramidality, not neg with the wrong indicator, etc. That is obviously less relevant for nationals prep purposes, but I concur with Joseph, S.A., and everyone else that consistent practice is important for team-building purposes. Not only should you want to have fun playing quiz bowl, but have fun playing quiz bowl with your teammates!

[quizbowlchamp1]

Thank you to all you have replied. Your insight is greatly helpful.

[geoff]

As me and my team work hard this off-season to become a nats playoffs contender, I thought I ask would ask those with experience for some guidance. So...

Top teams: What rituals/habits do you guys have that allows you to focus or play better in any way. I'm specifically looking for pregame/in-game/post game rituals. Your replies are greatly appreciated.

We mostly just don't think about it. Right before I played MSNCT finals I talked to the kids on the other team. Talk to the other team and build a relationship because at the end of the day it's just a game, so have fun with it and don't stress too much

[a Joe]

As me and my team work hard this off-season to become a nats playoffs contender, I thought I ask would ask those with experience for some guidance. So...

Top teams: What rituals/habits do you guys have that allows you to focus or play better in any way. I'm specifically looking for pregame/in-game/post game rituals. Your replies are greatly appreciated.

As many of the posters here have said, the best way to play better is to know more things.

However, that's not what you're asking! These are all things I've taught to teams, some of whom made some pretty insane runs at nationals:

1) If you're getting distracted a lot during the game, close your eyes. Just listen to the words of the moderator and ignore all the other visual stimuli. Focus on just their voice and tune out everything else. This also helps prevent psychological ploys on the part of the opponents, since you don't know what you can't see.
2) If you're getting nervous or starting to panic, pause for a moment that allows it (like, don't do this during a question, but in between time, halftime, timeout, etc is fine). Then, focus on your breathing: deep breath in, slow exhale, as if you're trying to flicker the flame of a candle without blowing it out.
3) Some people swear by it, but try and avoid caffeine or anything else that gets you hopped-up or overstimulated. Being calm is key; that's when you perform at your best.
4) Make sure everything else is okay, or tune it out. Make sure you're not hungry, thirsty, or dealing with the fact that your girlfriend just dumped you. If you can't avoid something like that, then put it out of mind the best you can. One of my best HS performances came after my history-nerd great uncle passed away and I decided to "win in his honor". We did.
5) Playing Quizbowl is exhausting! If you're super-tired, take a nap at lunch.

The key, as you've seen, is to stay calm, tuned-in, and collected. If you do this, you'll be just fine, and you can rest easy knowing that, should you lose, you lost because of a knowledge gap and not some psychological crap.

[Somewhere in the Stratosphere]

Random bit of advice I'm throwing out here later (something I do in the morning at the tourney venues): splash cold water on your face in the bathroom before the first game or before you play a stronger team (etc. going into game 5 of a tournament playing a 4-0 team next up). In my experience this takes you out of any mundane state of ho-hum you might be in between games and helps rejuvenate focus

Gotta agree with Joe here. Caffeine is not a great idea before tournaments. If I'm gonna consume caffeine on a tournament day, I'm going to have it at lunch when I'm actually tired.

Gonna echo another sentiment I saw earlier. Don't practice during lunch. That's your rest period, and in Arkansas state tournaments (which only a few people on this board care about), tournament playoffs kick off right after lunch. You need mental clarity heading into playoffs. I don't care if you're the #1 seed about to play a wildcard team.

At lunch if you're still hanging around the school, take a run or hit a couple pushups or something. Get some adrenaline going again. Get the blood flowing ahead of the first afternoon game.

In contrast to lunch, bye periods are the PERFECT time to go through questions and packets. Play a scrimmage within your own team, that way you've gone through just as many questions and played just as much quizbowl as the team sitting across from you on the day.

[quizbowlchamp1]

As me and my team work hard this off-season to become a nats playoffs contender, I thought I ask would ask those with experience for some guidance. So...

Top teams: What rituals/habits do you guys have that allows you to focus or play better in any way. I'm specifically looking for pregame/in-game/post game rituals. Your replies are greatly appreciated.

As many of the posters here have said, the best way to play better is to know more things.

However, that's not what you're asking! These are all things I've taught to teams, some of whom made some pretty insane runs at nationals:

1) If you're getting distracted a lot during the game, close your eyes. Just listen to the words of the moderator and ignore all the other visual stimuli. Focus on just their voice and tune out everything else. This also helps prevent psychological ploys on the part of the opponents, since you don't know what you can't see.
2) If you're getting nervous or starting to panic, pause for a moment that allows it (like, don't do this during a question, but in between time, halftime, timeout, etc is fine). Then, focus on your breathing: deep breath in, slow exhale, as if you're trying to flicker the flame of a candle without blowing it out.
3) Some people swear by it, but try and avoid caffeine or anything else that gets you hopped-up or overstimulated. Being calm is key; that's when you perform at your best.
4) Make sure everything else is okay, or tune it out. Make sure you're not hungry, thirsty, or dealing with the fact that your girlfriend just dumped you. If you can't avoid something like that, then put it out of mind the best you can. One of my best HS performances came after my history-nerd great uncle passed away and I decided to "win in his honor". We did.
5) Playing Quizbowl is exhausting! If you're super-tired, take a nap at lunch.

The key, as you've seen, is to stay calm, tuned-in, and collected. If you do this, you'll be just fine, and you can rest easy knowing that, should you lose, you lost because of a knowledge gap and not some psychological crap.

Answers my question exactly!! Thank you so much. If anyone else has more advice similar to this, then feel free to submit it.

[msqb]

Riverwatch always has a lucky charm. Helps them win and one of the peak reasons they conquered Georgia. Just a thought...