Southern California Quizbowl

[Updated 5/6 ]

If you know of any other high school quiz bowl tournaments in SoCal scheduled for this quarter, let us know.  Schools are always welcome to host a tournament of their own on open dates (let us know and we can help you get started!).

Attention graduating high school seniors who will be attending college in California: if you played quizbowl, Academic League, Knowledge Bowl, or the Super Quiz portion of Academic Decathlon and would be interested in continuing to play in college, let us know!

If you’re attending a school that already has a team, we’ll send you the contacts for that team. If you’re attending a school without a team, we’ll be glad to help you get a team set up at that school.

Simply comment in this thread or send an email to socalquizbowl@gmail.com and we’ll get you in touch with the right people.

After much delay, the statistics from the March 10th tournament can be found here.

Torrey Pines A defeated Irvine A (both missing a number of their top players as this was a novice-oriented tournament) in the final of the first-ever Westview Novice Tournament. Full stats are available here.

A few stray observations:

• Excellent job hosting by Westview, particularly for their first tournament. Their preparation beforehand paid off in getting things started on the right note and, despite some delays in the playoffs, finishing 12 rounds before 6 PM.
• San Dieguito showed off its breadth and depth today. Its well-balanced A-team notched a victory over Torrey in the playoffs and its B team made the top playoff bracket
•  Congrats to Mt. Carmel in playing in their first-ever quizbowl tournament.
• The Bishop’s School knows things. A sterling 31-6 Power to Neg ratio
• Torrey Pines, Bishop’s School, and Irvine teams did what they did without their best A team players. The players at this tournament are all the players that you’re going to need to watch out for next year. All three schools look like they’re definitely reloading next year, not rebuilding.

To new teams or players, the wealth of information tested in quizbowl may seem daunting. Yet unlike many other competitive activities, quizbowl is highly egalitarian in the wide varieties of free resources and information that can help teams and players improve. It’s entirely possible for even teams new to quizbowl to become tournament contenders over the course of a single season, but doing so requires knowing how to strategically study and prepare for competitions.

To help more teams down the path to improvement, SoCalQB is pleased to announce a new initiative:  ”How to Get Good” Workshops offered upon request at any school interested in improving.

This workshop is designed for newer teams who may not be as familiar with quizbowl and would like more information about how to improve and what resources are out there to help teams and players get better. All workshops will conclude with a few rounds of live question-reading with frequent stops to point out potential learning moments.

The first iteration of this workshop took place earlier this month at the Francis Parker School in San Diego and was very well-received by players and coaches alike.

If you’re a coach, principal, player, or parent who thinks that your school’s team could benefit from such a workshop, email us at socalquizbowl@gmail.com to set up a time. Each workshop should only take about an hour and thirty minutes and can easily be done during regular academic team practice times.

Full (and timely!) results from Irvine’s April 7th tournament are available here with a brief wrap-up here. Congrats to the Irvine team for hosting and to Canyon Crest for winning.

Irvine High School is hosting Operation Pandemonium I on Saturday, April 7. Details below.

Location
The address is 4321 Walnut Ave, Irvine, CA 92604. We will probably be using the Humanities building for our tournament with the central meetup area in a lecture hall-like room, HLG.

Registration
Registration will begin at 8:00AM with first rounds beginning at 8:45AM.

Tournament Format
We are hoping to run round robin divisions in the morning, rebracketing during lunch, and then playing playoff round-robins after lunch. Top 4 teams will probably compete in a double-elimination playoff after playoff round robins. (NOTE: this double-elimination playoff is a silly idea and will likely not be happening without good reason)

Questions
This tournament will run on NAQT IS-116 and top 15% of the field will qualify for HSNCT in May. This tournament will run on mACF rules (powers, 20/20, 30 point bonuses w/ 3 parts, no math calculation). This tournament is giving schools that have not qualified to HSNCT to do so and providing Orange County a solid Quiz Bowl experience.

Fee Structure
$80 for each team, $70 for each subsequent team from the same school
-$5 per working buzzer
-$5 every 50 miles traveled per school (as judged by Google Maps)
Minimum fee: $60/team

Please send registrations to irvinequizbowl at gmail with the following information.
1) Name of school
2) Number of teams
3) Number of buzzers
4) Roster(s) (at your convenience)
5) Total Fee

Westview High School is proud to announce its first tournament, the Westview Novice Tournament.

DATE/TIME: Sunday, 22 April 2012. Check-in shall begin at 8:00 A.M., and matches shall begin at approximately 9:00 A.M.

LOCATION: Westview High School, 13500 Camino del Sur, San Diego, CA 92129. Specific information about match locations will be presented at the tournament.

FEE STRUCTURE
$60 for first team
$50 for subsequent teams
-$10 (off total school cost) for each functioning buzzer system
-$10 (off total school cost) for each competent moderator
-$10 (off total school cost) for new schools (i.e. those that have not competed in a pyramidal tournament in the past year)
-$5 (off total school cost) for every 50 miles travelled, according to Google Maps
Minimum fee: $40 per team
Payment may be made via check or cash; please make checks payable to Westview Academic League.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The tournament shall adhere to the standard mACF format (20/20, powermarked, 30-point 3-part bonuses, no comp math), and shall use the Ladue Invitational Spring Tournament II (LIST II) set. Details can be found here. The tournament will be aimed more towards schools newer to Quizbowl and towards players with two or less years of Quizbowl experience. The tournament hopes to encourage participation for those who have not done Quizbowl before or have not been on top teams, or schools which do not normally have the opportunity to participate.

FOOD
A light breakfast will be provided in the morning. Though lunch will not be provided, there is a plethora of eateries within walking distance of the school. More information will be presented at the tournament.

REGISTRATION
Schools that are interested can register via an email to haiimpeddie at gmail. Please include the following information:
1) the school name
2) the number of teams coming
3) the number of buzzer systems being brought
4) the appropriate registration fee

With the end of Winter Quarter, it’s time for a new reshuffling of the SoCal quizbowl scene (for the outlook back in the fall, see here).

1. Arcadia A
Fall rank: 1
A collection of excellent experienced players and wily gamers who know all the tricks in the quizbowl gamemanship book. Not quite sure how they’ll do once the question difficulty and opponent experience levels ramp up at nationals, but they look like the best shot SoCal has for a deep nationals run if they study. Still a bit rusty this year, perhaps from a shifting lineup and lack of match experience as a team.
Tournament Wins: TWAIN, TPOT, SoCal State (co-champs)

2. North Hollywood A
Fall Rank: 5
Very strong deep-knowledge team whose improvement to a nationals contender has been impressive to see this year in SoCal. May be the best science team in SoCal and still good at history and current events. A bit weaker still on literature and some of the fine arts though they appear to still be working to cover those areas. Will be interesting to see how they fare at nationals on the tougher question sets.
Tournament Wins: Carnal Embrace

3. Canyon Crest A
Fall Rank: 4
It’s tough putting this team down at 3rd, but there’s a significant drop-off between these top three and the rest of the field so these teams might as well be considered co-number 1s. Aggressive buzzer speed and a nice collection of supporting staff behind Anthony make this team a threat to win any game, but if they get into a negstorm then things could get ugly fast. Also not sure how their knowledge will translate to higher-level questions at nationals, especially since nobody from this team (like NoHo) has been before.
Tournament Wins: Triton Winter

4. Santa Monica A
Fall Rank: N/A
A powerful team that has great potential if they decide to play quizbowl more often. They seem a step behind the teams above them at times, perhaps as a result of less experience (or missing a few players in their A-team lineup at times), but they’ve got the knowledge base to compete with anyone. Will be interesting to see if the rise of NoHo sets off a northern LA rivalry (and hopefully a rise in quizbowl participation up there…).
Tournament Wins: None (best finish 3rd at SoCal States)

5. Torrey Pines A
Fall Rank: 2
Fast on the buzzers but definitely a step behind the other top teams in total knowledge base. They seem to have overcome their neg problem that’s hurt them at some points this year, but it’s not clear if they can take down any of the teams above them on a consistent basis. Certainly dedicated though and have the organizational structure to keep attending tournaments and improving.
Tournament Wins: Triton Fall

6. La Jolla A
Fall Rank: 3
We haven’t seen a full La Jolla A team much, if at all this year, but they still hold some pretty strong components that probably could use more match experience to come together for a nationals run. Not as big of a threat as they seemed at the start of the year, but perhaps a wild card if they decide to harness their talent for a run at the Spring tournaments.
Tournament Wins: None (best finish 2nd at Triton Fall)

7. University 
Fall Rank: WL
Another relatively young team that’s coalesced nicely this year after some early hiccups. A bit of a fortunate overachiever at some times (they sport a 270-120 victory over Canyon Crest A, albeit after Canyon Crest negged 8 TUs that game), they’ve also been absent from a good number of tournaments so it’s hard to get a bead on their relative standing.
Tournament Wins: None (best finish 3rd at Carnal Embrace)

8. Arcadia B
Fall Rank: N/A
It’s never quite clear what Arcadia B is going to look like from tournament to tournament or if it’ll feature any A or C team guest stars, but it’s clear that Arcadia has a surfeit of quizbowl talent that spills over from its A team to its B team. If they load it with their best players not on the A team, don’t over look ‘em at nats just because of that B next to their name.
Tournament Wins: None (best finish 2nd at TWAIN)

9. Rancho Bernardo  A
Fall Rank: 6
They’ve had a bit of a changing lineup since Fall, but they’ve done quite well for their experience level when they have their best lineup together and seem to be improving. Still somewhat of an overachieving team, but they’ve got good potential for the future with experienced B and C teams (if those players decide to improve).
Tournament Wins: None (best finish 4th at Triton Fall)

10. Irvine A
Fall Rank: 7
Strong on the bonuses, but sometimes frustratingly inconsistent on the TUs. Still a relatively young team that seems to be getting more established and integrated into the upper echelons of the circuit. Shares a good amount of strength with its B team.

11. San Dieguito
Fall Rank: WL
A solid, well-balanced team that has a good bit of a basic level knowledge in every subject but  needs more practice on quizbowl questions to get to a higher level.

12. Bishop’s School
Fall Rank: 8
Good potential, wish they played more often and had more organization to attend tournaments farther afield.

On the cusp: Francis Parker, Westview, Southwest, NoHo B, Santa Monica B, Arcadia C

Here’s a field update for the SoCal NAQT State Championship tournament. Very good field thus far, though some usual suspects are still missing. Still plenty of room, so all interested teams should email Erica (ericax1 at yahoo dot com) to sign up:

Now Updated 3/9:

UPDATE: Stats available here. Refer to the final order in the “playoff” brackets for final ranking. Note that the championship match was not entered into the stats.

A group of rocks from LA won the second-annual Torrey Pines Open Tournament over Canyon Crest “A.” Though the LA group had lost earlier in the day to CCA “A”, they won the final round of the playoffs to force a final and then claimed the championship after a nerve-wracking final match.

In an impressive display of depth, three of the top 6 teams were from Canyon Crest, who split their normal A team across three teams. While Anthony may get the lion’s share of the credit (and in putting up a +130 Point Per Game individual performance in the prelims, deserves much of  it), Canyon Crest definitely is more than a one-man team.

Note that few of the top teams were at full strength here. I’d especially like to commend San Dieguito for making the top playoff bracket in only their second pyramidal tournament all year. I’d also like to recognize Del Norte High School, a young school competing against a number of established teams, for making its pyramidal format debut at this tournament and looking quite enthusiastic throughout.