Questions for first practices (Was Trivial Pursuit and Quizbowl)

andywehrm <*no_reply_at_yahoogroups.com*> · Thu, 11 Sep 2003 22:03:58 -0000

I won't comment on Jason Mueller's reign of terror at Missouri, as 
that has been done to death, but the University of Arkansas had many 
similarities to what Jason described in years past.  Three or four 
years ago in the Mike Wehrman days, we would often have 3 or 4 or 5 
players at practice maximum.  New players would not stick around past 
the first couple practices because of the question difficulty and the 
level of play.  But in the past two years we've seen a tremendous 
growth.  Last year we averaged about 8-10 people per practice, and so 
far this year we've been nearly 20 strong.  As far as the first 
practices go, I do think it is important not to make and loud noises 
or sudden moves that might scare of potential contributors to your 
club, but neither do I think they should be misled.  I would not use 
Trivial Pursuit questions, not so much for the material therein, but 
because of the lack of the standard quizbowl format.  The toughest 
thing for the new folks (we have a strong high school quizbowl 
program in Arkansas, but many of our players have little background) 
is getting them comfortable with the whole tossup-bonus thing.  

Albeit unpopular in some circles, I find that the best questions to 
use for those first practices are CBI. They're relatively quick, 
easy, and light hearted compared to the standard fare.  Start off 
with the sample rounds on their website for campus tournaments and 
increase with difficulty if need be.  I have also found that the NAQT 
invitational series questions from last year work pretty well, but 
you'll have to pay for those most likely, if you don't have them 
already.  I don't think you should dumb down the material any further 
than that.  Do what you can to ease the leap from inexperience to 
college quizbowl as possible, but it really isn't worth keeping those 
who aren't able to cut it on CBI campus questions.  I don't give the 
new guys any ACF regionals level questions until at least after their 
first couple juniorbird level tournaments, or until I know that they 
are firmly attached to the quizbowl realm.

I know this won't help Jason much, with his lack of power, but it 
might help thsoe other land-grant universities.

Andy Wehrman
President Emeritus, Arkansas Quizbowl