I have approximately ten years of experience, ranging from one tournament a year in high school to reading on occasion after moving on from playing. I liked my experience as a player, and I'd like other people to enjoy it. As a crusty 26-year old, I will do nothing to change the below save writing theme packets (mostly with a Simpsons bent), reading at the occasional tournament, and doing my remarkably small part to ensure US military might so that freedom and buzzer races can endure. In five years, I'd expect that the best "system" schools (Chicago, Maryland, and Michigan come to mind) will remain competitive and perennial powerhouses. Some programs will move to life support, and some will die out entirely. Some will also sprout and become competitive. I can't see much circuit growth (or decline, for that matter). NAQT, ACF, TRASH and CBI will all exist. ACF will remain hard and CBI will still be mocked. TRASH's efforts of late to reach out in a variety make me think that they will hit a point where their management may have to choose between writing tournaments for non-students and those for collegians. I think that TRASH might evolve to the first, which might make for an interesting non-standard definition of quiz bowl as most see it. NAQT, on the other hand, will be even more entrenched as "the circuit tournament". Five years hence may involve a major head that NAQT isn't listening to people (don't be surprised - the big dog always gets this). I think NAQT will be defined by how they address the concerns as they try to remain part of quizbowl while being as powerful as they are. Question range is much broader now than it was in the mid-1990s - the internet and more serious high school programs have spearheaded this. It's here to stay. I think that it creates barriers to entry, but you can't really stop it - it's harder to write easier questions than harder ones, particularly as you become more experienced. The internet has been revolutionary in giving everyone access to the same sets of questions and determining what is an easy clue as even new clubs have access to scores of packets. With that, I think that quizbowlers will increasingly come from better high school programs and that newer players who pick up the game in college will be less prevalent (fewer people are willing to devote the time to quizbowl as entry requirements rise). If so, then the real development and future will come on the high school circuit as students learn to be competitive players and arrive at college less and less raw. I can't see the high school circuit becoming less competitive, as every other American activity has become more so rather than less. If this comes true, it will be different that it was in 1993. It's your call as to whether it's better or worse.
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