2023 Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT", Online, May 20)

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CPiGuy
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2023 Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT", Online, May 20)

Post by CPiGuy »

I am excited to announce the third (annual) Middle School Interstate National Tournament (MINT), to be held online May 20, 2023. 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 2022-2023 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 (and are likely not eligible for another state simply because they attend an online school headquartered in that state); contact me to work out specific details.

Schedule and Format

The tournament will start at 10am Eastern / 9am Central / 7am Pacific on May 20th. The format will depend on the number of teams, but all teams will be guaranteed eight games (and ideally nine, but some field sizes -- such as 2021's field of 9 teams -- make this very difficult to achieve).

The tournament will likely be run on Zoom using buzzin.live, unless I am unable to obtain enough premier Zoom credentials to facilitate a smoothly-run tournament, in which case it will use Discord. This will be announced well in advance of the tournament; regardless of the gameplay platform I will likely use a Discord server for back end coordination and live communication with teams (which will be open to all participants, but which only one representative from each team will need to join).

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.

If 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. This tournament is being held online in order to limit the costs and logistics challenges that accompany an in-person national event.

The tournament will be using the DART III question set produced by the Detroit Country Day School team and associates. 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. Players, coaches, and other tournament participants may also contact me directly if they have any concerns about their safety or comfort at the event.

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 will contact staffers with more information a few weeks before the tournament.

Current field and interested teams

Indiana (1 team)
Massachusetts (1-2 teams)
Washington (1 team)
Conor Thompson (he/it)
Bangor High School '16
University of Michigan '20
Iowa State University '25
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Joshua Li
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Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2023 4:08 pm

Re: 2023 Middle School Interstate National Tournament ("MS NASAT", Online, May 20)

Post by Joshua Li »

ignore that
accidental post my bad
Joshua Li
GAQBC
Johns Creek High School
Email: [email protected]
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