MACA

Hosting an Academic Tournament

RATIONAL

The state activities association is presently allowing participation in fourteen sanctioned tournaments not counting the state tournament or single subject area tournaments. Most schools in the state compete in six or fewer tournaments simply because there are not enough available in a reasonable distance from the school. Some schools travel over one hundred miles to compete in tournaments. Obviously, the more experience a team has, the better they will fare at the state tournament level.

TYPES OF TOURNAMENTS

A tournament, by the way MSHSAA defines it, may consist of two schools playing each other to as many schools as the host has facilities for - the number of games played is not a factor. Tournaments involving three to five games for each school are probably the most desirable. Too large a tournament, while much more significant, can take a great deal of time. Probably no more than ten games should be played in a single tournament by a single team. Pool play in which each school of the tournament plays every other school in the tournament is generally the most efficient and satisfying to the contestants. Single elimination or even double elimination bracket tournaments are much more suitable to athletics, not to academics. Many successful tournaments combine elements of both types of play (ie. teams divided into pools that play in the morning and the results are used to seed an afternoon bracket.)

WHY HOST A TOURNAMENT?

Not everyone needs to host a tournament and not necessarily every year, but if we are to make academic competitions work in Missouri we are all going to have to do our part. Most conferences now have conference tournaments in which the host rotates among conference schools, but these are closed tournaments. Opportunities must be made for varied competition by invitational or open tournaments. These may be designed to just meet costs (small tournaments) or be used as money making tournaments (usually larger) to purchase equipment and practice supplies which any winning team is going to need. (Unfortunately, academic team budgets are generally not too large in most schools at the present - and won’t be unless we make this as acceptable an activity as sports.[sorry about using the “S” word]) Small tournaments (3-6 schools) are relatively easy to host. The difficulty increases with the size of the tournament. Experience usually makes it easier. If you have never hosted a tournament start out small, obviously. Most experienced tournament coordinators are only too happy to help someone new get started and started successfully. Don’t hesitate to ask those people who have gone before you. Just expect to send their team an invitation to play.

Steps to a Successful Tournament

[I] DETERMINE FEASIBILITY FOR TOURNAMENT

Discuss hosting a tournament and its implications with your administration, your faculty, and your team members before proceeding. If they are not willing to support your effort you need go no further. If they are willing, other significant support and assistance may come from your PTO, team (or other) parents, retired teachers, former students, local professional people, or just the public at large. Some of your best help and biggest supporters may come from unexpected sources. Let it be known what you are trying to do and some people actually may volunteer! Wherever the help comes from, just make sure you don’t have to do it all. (Sanity rule #1)

[II] SET A DATE ON YOUR SCHOOL CALENDER

Unless yours is a very unusual school, you will not find a date for your contest that does not have a conflict with something else. At the earliest opportunity, set a date that minimizes conflicts for your school. If feasible, consider potential conflicts with schools that may be in your tournament. Just remember, you can’t satisfy everyone and its their problem - not yours. (Sanity rule #2) Small tournaments may easily be held during weekday evenings while larger tournaments will probably need a Saturday or multiple days. A tournament may run for parts of two or three separate days so long as it involves only one distinct contest with a champion. Keep in mind schools are only allowed two days to miss any part of a school day during the school year to attend a contest. Many reserve those days to make the most of them. Losing one of those days to leave a half hour before school is out to make your time schedule may discourage some teams from entering. Set a reasonable time schedule for your tournament. On a school night, your tournament should end before 10:00 PM.

[III] DETERMINE A SUITABLE GAME FORMAT

You may use any format or tournament scheme you like or are familiar with or can dream up at the present time. You should consider the following:

1. Simple is usually best. (KISS rule applies)
2. Don’t overextend yourself, your help, or your resources. Big is not necessarily better.
3. Consider the teams that you expect to participate and their experience.
4. Buy commercial questions! (Sanity rule #3)
5. If at all possible, run simultaneous games where each game will use the same set of questions. This saves expense and keeps the most teams playing. RULES - Don’t unduly complicate things but do make sure the rules are fair and easily understood by all participants. If in doubt, use the rules of the state tournament or a variation of them since these should be most familiar to most coaches in Missouri. These rules are, unfortunately, somewhat demanding on workers and may take more time for a game than you want. Following are some abbreviated possible formats that you may consider. More detailed rules are for the asking and there are many more possible formats.

GAME FORMAT SUGGESTIONS

[1] Simplest and easiest is a straight all toss-up (single answer) game. Use a specified number of questions per game - not by time. Typically, a fifty toss-up question game can be completed in under thirty minutes. It puts a minimum of responsibility on your moderator and workers (no bonuses to distinguish, time, or score). It will be the cheapest kind of tournament to run in terms of purchasing questions. (You should be able to obtain questions for five games of 50 toss-ups for $60 -$75; a set of state format questions for five games would cost a minimum of $125, a decent set probably much more.) You can simplify timing - 5 seconds to respond, 5 seconds to answer, 5 seconds for for opposing team response etc. for example. These are best earliest in the season when players need to work on speed and anticipation.

[2] Use the same rules as are used in the state tournament. Everyone should already have a copy of these rules and need to be familiar with them anyway. These are most desirable later in the season as the state tournament approaches. Problems with these rules involve:

1. longer playing time (allow at least 45 minutes per game) necessitating smaller tournaments
2. the questions will be more expensive to purchase
3. you will need experienced help for the tournament to run smoothly. You will need to train your workers well in rules and procedures.

[3] Use virtually the same rules as are used in the state tournament but delete the fourth period bonus round. By playing only the first three regular periods the game can be played in less than 30 minutes and most playing rules need not be changed. (Hockey fans particularly like this one.) We have successfully used this format at Lockwood for years now and it has been well received by the teams involved. If you would like a set of rules specific for it, just write or call. Some simplification to the rules that may be useful are to:

1. Eliminate the “three seconds to begin response” rule - this simplifies timing considerably. Late season (Spring) tournaments need to keep it .
2. Time limit challenges to one minute or less - if they can’t be resolved, the answer provided stands. If you have previewed your questions and feel confident, eliminate challenges altogether.
3. Reduce or eliminate the time outs or the time allowed for time outs.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT:

The primary rule here is to not allow teams to sit idle if at all possible. They came to play, keep them playing as much as possible. If they aren’t playing, they should have been eliminated and are on their way home. The players will like it better and you won’t have to worry as much about discipline problems - especially with junior high or below (Sanity rule #4 is minimize potential behavior problems whenever possible). Only if you are using a money making concession stand is idle time desirable. It is desirable to have several rooms playing at the same time. Here is where you have to consider the equipment (responders, stopwatches, etc.), available rooms, number of workers , and other factors. Simultaneous games ideally should use the same questions to save on expense and also make the games uniform - everyone has the same opportunities. Avoid any situation in which a team sits out for more than one game. Round robin play where every team in the tournament plays every other team is probably the most desirable format. No seeding or drawing for placement are necessary but tie breaker procedures are a must. This is best for contests of four to no more than eight teams. For an eight team event even half hour games would make a four hour tournament; complete state rules would run about five and a half hours minimum. It is the least cost effective because of the number of question sets per team ratio. For larger tournaments a hybrid system such as the state tournament uses is probably best. A team would play two to four other teams chosen by some unbiased means in a preliminary round and their record and points would then be used to seed them on a, usually, single elimination bracket. This would afford every entrant at least three (preferably more) games for their effort . For example, a 16 team tournament might have four random preliminary games followed by a single elimination bracket seeded by the preliminary games. This would give every team a minimum five games, would require eight sets of questions, eight rooms with workers and equipment (at least through the first five games), and, if you used a half hour game format, about five hours to run.

[IV] DETERMINE COSTS

1. Use commercial questions! Lists of vendors and information about them are available on the MACA organization web site on the vendors page. Talk to the vendors and people that have used them. Most question vendors will provide you with sample questions for free. Look them over, find three or four vendors that you like, and ask for bids for your tournament. Not everyone will like the same style of questions. Suit yourself first. You may not like what someone else likes and vice versa but its your tournament. Be careful to not let expense outweigh decent questions. If a large number of questions have wrong answers (some are inevitable, greater than 2% is large) or are repeated within a tournament, then I would consider eliminating that vendor from future consideration. Avoid questions that are wordy, lengthy, or “chase rabbits” by including material not relevant to the question being asked. Questions that intentionally mislead the quick players (usually good anticipators) are frustrating and should be avoided. Direct and to the point generally makes the best question but those that make a player truly think are a prize. Be sure the vendor sticks mostly to academic topics and core subjects. Some trivia is fun for the players but these tournaments should never be “trivial pursuit” contests. Cost for full Missouri Format questions will run between $30 and $80, depending on the source and what your requirements are. Often you can work with a vendor to use question sets that are not new but haven’t (supposedly) been heard by your participants and get a better price. Order questions as much in advance of your tournament date as possible but figure most vendors will need a minimum of two months notice, much more if you have many topic requirements on your questions. Only for random topic toss-up can you expect service in less than a week.

2. Awards: If your tournament consists of six or more teams, you should have some type of awards to recognize teams and players. Trophies are, for the most part, dust collectors. Players like individual medals. (They like jingle stuff on their letter jackets just like the athletic types.) Consider having only a first place trophy (many people, including us, prefer plaques) or just first and second for a large tournament. Use the money saved to purchase individual medals. Limit medal awards to six (or eight) per team but award down to fourth or fifth place if possible. (A trophy can easily cost $40, for that amount you should be able to purchase 16 to 20 medals.) There is a myriad of possibilities in terms of awards. The trick is to find something the players like and will ask to come back for. Chances are, if your players like the awards, the other players will too - so ask them to help select them. T-shirts are a favorite. (It helps to have a T-shirt business in your community like we do.) Be very cautious on awarding material items such as calculators or reference books. The total merchandise value of your awards may not exceed $25 per person and that includes medals. Whether or not they were donated makes no difference - it’s the market value of the item. Scholarships in any form are forbidden and obviously not cash. Nice idea but MSHSAA is very adamant about students not playing for scholarships or cash. Obtain bids from several awards vendors if possible. Make sure your awards are ordered in time to arrive at least two weeks before the tournament. You will not make a favorable impression at your awards presentation telling the recipients that you will mail their awards to them later.
3. Materials: Most tournaments provide pencils and paper for their players. These can usually be obtained by donation from local businesses (especially WalMart, Banks, and publishing firms). Schools will normally carry the cost of duplication of the question sets, letters of invitation, rules, etc. but your situation may be different. Postage and mailing costs may also have to be considered. Remember to arrange for a sufficient number of responder units for the games you will play plus at least one or two extras. Offer a discounted entry fee for schools that will bring a working responder for use. If you do not have or cannot borrow enough responders from participating schools, they may be rented (Zee Craft and others) but here is an additional expense.The same would be true of stopwatches, extension cords, and the like. Try to build up your own supplies to reduce your dependence on others.
4. If you plan to operate a hospitality room or concession stand you will need to take these costs into consideration as well. Sum the cost of purchasing questions, awards, materials, and anything else that your situation may dictate in order to arrive at total tournament costs. If you will ask, many community businesses and organizations will help you to offset these costs or may cover them altogether. If this is a non-profit tournament, then take the remaining cost and divide by the number of teams in the contest to determine your minimum entry fee (allow some extra obviously). If the contest is to turn a profit, you will need to set your entry fee accordingly. Depending on the size and purpose of the tournament, entry fees may reasonably vary from $30 to $60 - some are more.

[V] SEND OUT INVITATIONS

*** Make sure all entries have registered with MSHSAA for academic competition and paid the registration fee ***. Playing a non-member school could technically disqualify all teams in your tournament from the state tournament, among other things. Send out invitations six to eight weeks before the tournament and set a deadline date for return of not more than two weeks after they are sent. Usually, if a school is going to respond they will do so within a week of receipt. Unless you are reasonably sure of your schools, send more invitations than you have slots for in your tournament and enter them by the postmark on their entry complete with a school purchase order, check for the entry fee, or the equivalent. Try to have one or two stand-by teams in case a team cannot show at the last moment (many schools can provide two teams). If at all possible, do not let a “bye” show up in your tournament - teams came to play somebody. Make sure your invitation includes the date(s), time schedule, size of the tournament, entry fee, general format you plan to play, your telephone number and best time to call, FAX number, your email address, and your return address. We’ve been quite successful doing everything by email. As soon as practical, send out a confirmation to the schools who are entered along with a complete set of rules (if necessary or post them on a school web site) and a schedule of play with exact playing times and (unless you are going to draw for positions) who their opponents will be. This is also a good time to start your publicity for your tournament. Send the information to local newspapers, especially, but don’t forget your radio stations and TV stations. Stations may broadcast Page #4 some of your games and this could create considerable excitement among the participants. Encourage parents and school patrons to attend by letting them know who, what, where, and when.

[VI] WORKERS

You can never arrange your workers too early but, generally speaking, contact your workers about a month in advance. Two weeks before the contest you should have a schedule you can give your workers stating who will be doing what duty at what time and where. It also won’t hurt to remind them a day or two before the contest, especially if they are students. If you are just starting a tournament, don’t schedule yourself in any official duty. Keep yourself as tournament director and backup of last resort. It would be well to have a few people that could fill in on short notice if some of your officials become ill or have emergencies at the last minute (heaven forbid). If your team is playing in your tournament and you are the only coach, it would be nice to be with them.

1. Moderators (or readers) are the most critical personnel for a successful tournament. Make sure they can read fluently orally - do not assume anything, especially based on their education. (I have found high school graduates that are much better oral readers than some college professors.) This person needs to be an adult. Avoid using high school students to read for high school competitions - junior high competitions are OK if the student is mature and responsible. Your fellow teachers are the most obvious pool for this position but don’t depend solely on them. Most communities contain many people that will help if they are asked: pastors, retired teachers (retirees in general), nurses, business people, professional people, administrators, teacher aids, interested parents, former members of your academic team to just suggest a few. If your team is competing, avoid using recent former team members or parents of team members as moderators for their games. There should be no problem in using them for other duties however. If the moderator is inexperienced, provide a time to meet with them to explain the rules, conduct of the game, and answer questions well in advance of the competition date. If possible, have them read for your team in a practice simulation. Good for your team as well as the moderator. Try to get copies of the questions to the moderator several days in advance of the contest so they have time to go over them and find questionable pronunciations. Arrange for all the moderators to have a meeting just prior to the beginning of the contest to go over the questions and cover last minute details. (Pay attention to question security - the questions can’t be available in any way to anyone who will participate in the contest. This is the best way to destroy your integrity and future of your tournament.)
2. Scorekeepers should be an adult if at all possible but a very reliable and competent senior student would be sufficient. This is a very important position and the person needs to be someone whose mind will not wander. Encourage both coaches to keep score as well and check the scores frequently, especially if they are not displayed on a screen or chalkboard in full view of everyone (most ideal situation.) Have prepared score sheets that fit your game format and instruct your scorekeepers on how to use them.
3. Timekeepers can be adults or reliable students. Training depends on the type of format you use. For inexperienced workers in new tournaments keep the timing requirements minimal. If you use the “three second to begin response” rule, you will need to practice your timekeepers in exactly when to begin and stop in order to be consistent. A 1/2 second error out of ten seconds is negligible but out of three seconds is significant (~20%) and this is the best you can expect out of an experienced timekeeper! You can wind up with some rooms having a “long” three seconds and others a very “short” three seconds with considerable frustration and confusion in the players. Stopwatches can be borrowed from track coaches and science teachers among others. Radio Shack sells an inexpensive (~$12) countdown timer that is ideal for use in these contests. If you have a decent computer programmer, they should be able to write a program using computers to simplify the timing requirements and also display the time on a monitor in view of the students. (Ours is also used to keep an unofficial score in view of the players.)
4. Spotters are usually students who volunteer to help or academic team members who aren’t playing. This position usually requires a minimum of instruction if you have a decent set of responders. If you have an experienced moderator they can handle this duty as well although it is not recommended.
5. Statisticians are a luxury in most tournaments but players will appreciate them. They all like to know how they did. If you use them, provide them with an easily understandable stat sheet without a lot of detail to record. These may be used to determine “all tournament” teams which is a nice touch. Many schools have their own statisticians who keep detailed records. Do not impose this duty on your scorekeeper unless they are very experienced and competent.
6. Other workers are needed for various duties depending on the size and scope of your tournament. You may need a receptionist to register teams and direct them to the proper locations. This is also a good person to keep at a central location known to all if questions arise during the course of the tournament. “Gophers” can be used to distribute and pick up game question as well as post game scores on a central bracket or grid. If you have a concession stand, you must have workers to run it. (Don’t forget those team parents.) You will need to assign workers to set up your rooms (move tables, chairs, set up responders, put out pencil and paper, set up team name plate, etc.) prior to the tournament and to tear them down (figuratively) afterward. Provide detailed instructions (preferably in a diagram) as to how you want the room laid out. It is highly recommended you position the teams facing away from the audience. This minimizes actual or perceived attempts of members of the audience to aid the participants. Tape down your responders if they are loose - players actually do get excited at these things and may pull them off the table. (Don’t forget to lay in enough extension cords.) Your team members are prime candidates for this job but remember - if you are using borrowed responder systems, which most of us do, you need to have people who will handle them properly. These things are expensive. Have an assigned team with assigned tasks, otherwise you and a chosen few will wind up doing most of it. (Delegate duties - Sanity rule # 5 - don’t try and do it all yourself even if it does seem easier at times.)

[VII] SHORTLY BEFORE GAME DAY

A week or two before the tournament, have students prepare a pool grid and/or play bracket that can be posted in a central location and updated at the end of each game so all the teams can chart their success. Have students prepare team name plates to be placed on the tables to identify the teams during games. Individual player names are nice too if it you can get the them from the coaches well enough in advance. It is easiest to ask the individual teams to provide their players with their own. Prepare a diagram of your school if it is very large or complicated for teams to get around in. Note plainly which rooms will have what games. Give one to each team on arrival. (Don’t send them out in advance - coaches always forget them.) Prepare an evaluation form to allow the coaches to tell you how you did. This is the only way you can get better. You don’t have to follow all the advise but you need to know if there is a problem. If you haven’t already done so, you need to run off and collate sufficient copies of the questions for the games to be played. NEVER have students do this whether they are on the team or not and no matter how reliable. It doesn’t have to be you but you are the best candidate to maintain question security.

[VIII] GAME DAY (ALSO KNOWN AS JUDGMENT DAY)

1. If at all possible, make sure everything runs on time. In your rules, provide a specific time limit for a team to be late to a game before forfeiting and stay with it. Limit the maximum amount of time that can be used on challenges so they won’t throw you off schedule. If you are running multiple concurrent games (which almost all tournaments do these days) make sure all games start at the same time even if they are late. You can’t have a game started while teams are changing rooms - they may overhear questions soon to be asked them. Most schools have intercom systems that can be used to take care of this coordination problem - games don’t start without a signal over the intercom.
2. If you are having an opening assembly with the teams, keep it as brief and to the point as possible. The teams came to play - not to be introduced to a bunch of strangers who they will never remember. We have dispensed with this practice through handouts from our receptionist and by using our moderators (or other workers) as greeters. Page #6
3. Have a meeting with all your moderators to answer last minute questions or make clarifications as mentioned previously.
4. Have set up crews get the rooms ready at the earliest opportunity, well before any team arrives. Murphy’s law will operate at maximum at this time so be prepared but don’t let it frustrate you. Don’t let small things bother you. If it doesn’t directly effect the running of the games, its a small thing. (Having your spouse throw out all the tournament questions in the morning trash is not a small thing.)
5. Try, as tournament director, to get around to several different games and talk to the coaches as opportunity presents itself. Have some fun.
6. Post signs on the game room doors forbidding entry while play is in progress. Have the doors locked at the beginning of games if necessary. This is more of a problem in some areas than others and in big tournaments as opposed to smaller ones. The point is to not let players become distracted unnecessarily.
7. Make your awards ceremony meaningful but short. Most everyone will be anxious to get home.

[IX] AFTER THE TOURNAMENT

1. Unless you had a round robin tournament, send out a follow up letter (email) letting all the contestants know how the tournament finished. If a team was eliminated before the end of the contest, chances are good they didn’t stay for the awards ceremony. If you had an “all tournament team” selected this is how some who weren’t on a winning team find out they made it. A follow up letter is not a necessity but is often appreciated by the coaches and teams attending your tournament. It also shows an extra degree of competence which may influence teams to return to your tournament in favor of perhaps others.
2. Make sure you have returned all borrowed equipment. If you borrowed responders from participating schools, the best time to return them is before they leave. Have a check list of all borrowed equipment that is to be marked off and initialized by the person who returned it. If you are a small school this is usually not necessary but still not a bad idea.
3. Have your take down crew dismantle the rooms and return them to their original state immediately after the contest if possible. Those whose rooms you have borrowed will appreciate it.
4. Send thank you notes to the people in the community who donated time, money, or materials to make the tournament work. It’s easier to get them to do it again if they feel that what they did was appreciated. Especially, don’t forget your fellow teachers and educators who gave up even more of their time to help.
5. If there was not media coverage of the tournament, write a news article for an area newspaper, radio station, and/or TV station. This would be a good project for a budding journalism major but make sure you know what is being said about your tournament. You don’t want to create any antagonism by poorly chosen words about “losers” and “winners”. It is well to have a particular person or set of persons responsible for reporting all of your academic events.

Thank you to Larry Dixon of Lockwood for this tournament information.