Initial treatise (to Amber)

• From: shawn_pickrell
• Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 08:31:22 -0800
• Message-ID: <000T8AR6Q.001AJ09OC.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

Hi Amber,

It all depends on what you view
quizbowl as. 

If you view it as a gentleman's game
where you play other gentlemen on the odd Saturday,
then view it simply as that. Do not worry about
preparation, view it simply as a fun endeavour where you give
your natural best and you win or lose magnanimously
(Well change genders where appropriate.)

If you
view it, however, as an endeavour where you wish to
improve as rapidly as possible and attempt to win and
become one of the elite then certain measures are
required. Among these measures are 

(1) Constant
training, both official and unofficial. Players have three
major factors in their development: current talent,
innate talent and professionalism (the rate at which
their talent can be increased and their
committment.)
(2) Appropriate exposure to first-team quizbowl
(freshmen should see limited runs, whereas other players
esp. the team captain should play every single game)
If a promising freshman is stuck on the second or
third team with several other freshmen who do not
exhibit similar promise, he will be bound to get (a)
frustrated or (b) develop a messiah complex where he
believes he has to 'carry' the team. Neither is a good
thing to have develop in a promising freshman.
(3)
Attempting to instill in your teammates a similar attitude.
Several programs have risen and fallen on the basis of
one dominant player being unable to instill this
attitude in their teammates (I was the head coach for 2
years at Randolph-Macon while a student and was unable
to do this. I was able to do this somewhat at George
Mason.)

By official and unofficial training I mean the
following: 

1. Writing practise questions and
practising them with your teammates
2. Reading reference
texts in areas where you are weak and in areas where
you and your team decide you need to be stronger
in.
3. Taking notes any time you are watching
question-heavy material (Discovery, TLC, etc.) 

All
players should achieve a certain level of competence in
all areas, to deal with buzzer races that become
inevitable with poor question writing and with the end of
tossup giveaway. 

When four people are buzzing in
on a buzzer race as opposed to one or two, the
chances of your team getting the tossup as opposed to the
the other team are much greater. 

>From there,
the team needs to divy up areas of responsibility and
an 'image' for itself. Is the team a balanced team
or a team dominated by one or two people? If the
former, areas of knowledge need to be divided naturally
and evenly. If the former, the dominant players need
to pick a broad area of knowledge, and the sidemen
need to develop areas where they become better and are
able to cover the gaps in the dominant player's
knowledge.

Shawn Pickrell
Virginia High School League
Scholastic Bowl Commissioner, 2000-
Coach, George Mason
University, 1998-99
Coach, Randolph-Macon Academy,
1997-98
Coach, Randolph-Macon College, 1996-97