ACF Division II

Steinhice · Tue, 17 Apr 2001 01:45:25 -0700

Since I was one of those who touched on the idea
of a Division II for ACF tournaments, and since
several responses have expressed concerned that playing
on watered-down questions was not really good
preparation for ACF proper, I wanted to reiterate how we've
approached it at UTC. When we run an ACF Lite tournament
with 2 divisions, all matches are played on the same
questions regardless of division. It's only the opposition
that's softened (and in some cases there are Division II
teams just as tough as most in Division I.) In fact,
when the field has been lopsided toward one division
or the other, we've had a limited number of
cross-division matches for each team, which worked out OK.

While I'm at it, I'll throw in another reason for
letting folks cut their teeth at a Division II level
where possible. Some of the top Division I teams are so
good that they answer most tossups early, meaning the
less experienced team may never get a feel for what a
full tossup sounds like.

Anyway, all my
mumbling is done in hopes of broadening participation in
ACF without undermining its goal of rewarding depth
of knowledge more than buzzer speed. I've been
pleased that most posts have been on topic and offered
useful observations or suggestions. From what I read
from the leaders of ACF, I think things are headed in
the right direction and look forward to next year's
ACF tournaments.