Re: Circuit Future

grapesmoker <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Mon, 21 Oct 2002 06:14:32 -0000

I wish I had time to post the reply that this excellent post 
deserves. Tim brings up some excellent points, and I wish I had time 
and patience right now to address them. What I'd like to do instead 
is to present the view from the West Coast.

When I began playing collegiate quiz bowl in my freshman year 
(2000), the circuit out here seemed to be thriving. The first 
tournament I attended was the eminently excellent Technophobia, run 
by CalTech, and I remember that there were at least 10 or 12 teams 
there. Now this might not seem like much if you're in the Northeast, 
but out here, 10 or 12 teams is a lot sicne the density of 
universities out here is much lower. Cardinal Classic at Stanford 
that academic year also drew a large number of teams, with folks 
from UC Davis and U of Oregon showing up.

Since then, I'm sad to say that many clubs have simply died. I 
haven't heard a peep from USC in ages. Harvey Mudd/Scripps, which 
ran several tournaments during the 2001/2002 academic year, has also 
gone MIA. UC Riverside: nothing. UC Irvine has shown a little 
activity but the one tournament they ran this year drew a mere 5 
teams, 2 of which were from Berkeley. Even CalTech, which has been a 
steady program for many years, has recently been on the blink in 
terms of tournament attendance. Our (Berkeley's) WIT X tournament 
drew 13 teams this year, but four of those teams were from Stanford, 
five were from Berkeley, and another was a composite team made up of 
a U Oregon player, a player from UC Santa Cruz, and two non-
students. Two other teams were from out of state (Texas A&M and U of 
Chicago). The only other in-state team at WIT was UCLA. At this 
point, Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA seem to be the most, indeed, 
almost the only, active programs on the West Coast. I think that's a 
great shame.

I don't have a solution to this problem. On the one hand, I think 
Tim is partially right in his assessment of the effect of ultra-
experienced players on the circuit. Yes, I think it may be 
discouraging to some beginning players to get pounded by four grad 
students 500-0. On the other hand, I don't have a whole lot of 
sympathy for people who just whine about how hard it is to play 
against experienced teams. Sure, it's hard. But you have to remember 
that these people did not spring forth from their mother's womb with 
the knowledge that made them great quiz bowl players. They put in a 
lot of time and effort in terms of practices and question writing to 
become as good as they are. Yes, I agree that it may be discouraging 
to play against these teams sometimes. However, I would advise newer 
players to look at these games as an example of how good you can get 
if you practice. Our club practices twice a week for three hours 
each time, we write a lot of questions, and we attend a lot of 
tournaments. I would say that clubs who want to develop successful 
programs should do similar things.

It's time to end this rant. My advice for maintaining the vitality 
of the circuit is to run some tournaments for less experienced 
players (preferrably packet submission) but also to let less 
experienced players play against tougher teams. At the club level, 
practice more, write more questions, and attend more tournaments. 
That more than anything else will help build the strength of your 
club.

Jerry Vinokurov