NASAT 2021 @ The Internet, June 19-20

[trbenedict]

Dear Ohio quiz bowlers and coaches,

After being cancelled last year due to COVID-19, the IQBT National All-Star Academic Tournament (NASAT) will be run online this year. I will be serving as the coordinator of Team Ohio again this year, and I have invited Tegan Kapadia of Beavercreek to serve as the captain of this year's team (a position he has accepted—thanks, Tegan!).

NASAT is held on a question set written especially for the event to test the best high school quiz bowl players in the country. The set is geared to be a notch higher than PACE/HSNCT level. Past NASAT question sets are available at quizbowlpackets.com.

Players from throughout Ohio are invited to try out for this year's NASAT team. If you are interested in playing NASAT this year, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/QzNcUeAGRSy5VEfj9

Virtual tryouts will be held during the week of March 15 on whatever video platform is convenient for the registrants (if there is a platform you CANNOT use, please let me know). The registration form will collect your availability.

Tryouts will be held on WORKSHOP, a college-level question set. If you have already been exposed to WORKSHOP in any way and you want to try out for NASAT, please let me know.

Players are advised that our goal is to build the strongest team possible. The NASAT distribution is 4/4 for literature, science, and history, 3/3 for fine arts, 4/4 for RMPSS, and 1/1 geography/current events. We are therefore looking for the four players who can best cover literature, science, history, fine arts, and RMPSS. Note that these may not be the top four overall scorers! We are looking for players with deep knowledge in their categories who can buzz early on college-difficulty tossups.

If I make the team, what are my responsibilities?
If you make the Ohio NASAT team, you will be required to be available during the tournament on June 19-20. More info, including schedule, can be found here: https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24875.

Due to the online format this year, no travel will be required of participants, and players can participate at no cost to them.

If you are selected for the team, you will be expected to maintain and improve your quizbowl skills to help Ohio have the best possible performance at NASAT. Team practices will be held online at mutually agreeable dates and times, and additional independent study is expected.

How many players will make it? Will there be a B team?
For simplicity's sake, this year there will not be an Ohio B team. The roster for Team Ohio will contain no fewer than four and no more than six players.

Questions?
Please email tyler DOT benedict AT mvschool DOT com. I hope to see you at NASAT tryouts!

[trbenedict]

Currently, eight players from three different OAC regions have signed up for this year's NASAT tryouts. I will keep the form live until Wednesday, March 10, at 11:59 PM Eastern, after which I will send finalized tryout information to all players. Please sign up if you are interested!

[trbenedict]

Ohio NASAT Tryout Field

Elie Aoun (Western Reserve)
Ashrit Challa (Centerville)
William Groger (Miami Valley)
Nathan Hazlett (Copley)
Tegan Kapadia (Beavercreek)
Grant Maiorana (Solon)
Graham Pierce (Indian Hill)
Pranav Sivaram (Solon)
Samantha Street (Northmont)
Samuel Wang (Solon)
Alan Xie (Beavercreek)
Tiffany Zhou (Beavercreek)
Simon Zimmerman (Olentangy Berlin)

Thank you for signing up, and good luck to all!

[trbenedict]

Ohio NASAT Tryout Format

The following information was emailed to all participants on the morning of March 11.

In the interest of transparency, here is how the tryouts were arranged:

-The two best dates for the entire group were Monday and Friday of this coming week. I have structured the tryout to take place during those two dates, with an additional final round to take place the following week.

-The tryout field includes two past NASAT selectees, William and Nathan. They, along with team captain Tegan, were placed directly into the Friday group. This does not guarantee anything for the final grouping. It only helps facilitate an efficient splitting of the 13-person field to ensure Monday is not too crowded.

-Graham and Tiffany did not indicate availability for the Monday timeslot, so they were placed directly into the Friday group.

-Samuel indicated availability for Monday, but not Friday. If Samuel is selected to advance from the Monday group stage, he will be placed directly into the final tryout session (date TBD).

-If a player is trying out, but is not participating on a given day, they are allowed to spectate if they wish. Coaches may also choose to spectate if they wish. Non-quizbowl friends, family, and well-wishers are asked to not spectate in order to not clutter up the server.

Logistics

All tryouts will take place in the newly created Ohio NASAT 2021 Discord server (PM Tyler Benedict for invite link). It is in your best interest to join the server as soon as you can (that is, it does not behoove you to wait until the day of the tryout).

To buzz in during the tryout, we will use buzzin.live, an online buzzer system. If you've never used this buzzer, don't worry, we will walk through it before the tryout starts).

You will need to have a working webcam on at all times if you are actively playing in a tryout session. Please set your webcam placement so you can easily keep at least one hand visible on-screen at all times. This has been standard practice in online quiz bowl tournaments throughout the 2020-21 season. If you CANNOT use Discord for any reason, please let me know as soon as possible.

Tryout Dates & Groupings

Monday, March 15, 7:30-9:00 PM: Alan, Ashrit, Elie, Grant, Pranav, Samantha, Samuel, Simon

After Monday's session, some participants will be selected to move on to Friday. This decision will be made no later than 11:59 PM on Tuesday, March 16. In the meantime, please continue to hold time on Friday.

Friday, March 19, 6:30-8:00 PM: Graham, Nathan, Tegan, Tiffany, William, + those continuing from Monday.

After Friday's session, there will be a second cut. Some participants from Friday will be invited to participate in the final tryout on a date TBD (watch for another survey).

Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback about this process. I'm looking forward to the first tryout session on Monday!

[trbenedict]

Congratulations to the following players (listed alphabetically by last name), who will be representing Team Ohio at the 2021 NASAT:

William Groger (Miami Valley)
Tegan Kapadia (Beavercreek)
Grant Maiorana (Solon)
Samantha Street (Northmont)
Pranav Sivaram (Solon)

The tryout process was very competitive and I was deeply impressed by the play of all participants. Thank you to everyone who tried out for this year's NASAT team!