by tomoore » Mon Sep 03, 2018 1:13 am
What about the possibility of asking your superintendent/administration to lobby quiz bowl as being part of the 'all sports' competition that is put on by your athletics league, the Tri-Valley Conference? You mention that schools from the counties of the northerly and westerly directions, presumably most (if not all) of whom already participate in the TVC for sports, were in the league but left... any indication as to why?
I'm not familiar with the quiz bowl conference you currently participate in, the aforementioned 'MOVC'. However, from my experience as a player and my brief time as an 'assistant coach', having engaged with three different quiz bowl leagues who all act independent of an athletics body, the common theme across all three was the vast majority of the participating schools were apathetic (coaches, administration - not the players, mind you.) I saw schools that would join and/or leave year-to-year, schools that had constant coaching turnover year-to-year, and schools that made perfectly fine sense to join a given league but for one reason or another didn't accept invitations or return calls. It was also the case that some schools made the quiz bowl team the first on the chopping block when it came time to do the budget for next year. It's my opinion, for a few years now, that pretty much all of these schools didn't see anything to actually play for (and therefore actually care) and instead saw quiz bowl as being a 'gifted students club' or a low-cost, enriching extracurricular activity... in other words, something to do. There's something to be said for the heights, possibilities and support a high school quiz bowl team can attain if they have administrators who value the quiz team and their success even half as much as they do the football team and their respective success. Just ask Glasgow (KY) or Buckeye State compatriots Ottawa Hills.
I write the above so as not to indict you, your fellow coaches or for that matter any of your respective administrations as being "apathetic", yourselves. I understand that being a quiz bowl advisor is definitely a thankless task, particularly when it comes to incredibly small stipends as well as the personal sacrifice of your own time and energy to make it possible. I'm only writing from my own personal observations, that unless the schools see something to play for and bring home (something that can get people in the community excited for, like a hypothetical "TVC Quiz Bowl Champions" title) then the schools aren't going to really commit themselves into a consistent coach (let alone a competitive one) nor the bus rides (district dollars!!!) past one-or-two years. At best, they're just going to treat quiz bowl as something (to borrow your words) "they feel [it] helps build their players' confidence and helps them be successful." I understand that quote is in reference to the Gallia contingency's reluctance to deviate from the status quo, but it can apply here as well.
I'm sure your current league is a fine league, but if it becomes the "Meigs County Three" in the interim... well, the issue seems to be not so much getting schools interested in playing but rather keeping them interested. Which, given the short supply of possible candidate schools because of how sparsely populated Southeast Ohio is (therefore less volume of schools and greater distances between), sustainability and growth becomes difficult. If it were possible to unearth Meigs County, drop it along either side of the Delaware/Franklin County line and supplant the northern Columbus suburbs with Reedsville, Pomeroy and Racine instead, then voila - you'd have no trouble finding a good home for quiz bowl nor would you have as much difficulty in creating a league yourself. But, I'm stating the obvious at this point.
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Keep fighting the good fight, and good luck. What you and your Meigs Co colleagues are doing is admirable, respectable and worthy of recognition. The Ohio River area has great soil, and although it may take a couple years of patience, diligence and trust-building I am sure that quiz bowl can flourish and become an evergreen activity.
Keep us posted on this, and let us know what any of us can do to help (however possible.) We ourselves, as a community, are quite encouraged and excited for what you've already accomplished with your middle school tournaments and now the extension into the high school game. It's unbelievably hard to get the wheels moving, and continuously moving, when it comes to getting a circuit happening; just to give you an idea, the Cincinnati area itself pretty much has no circuit beyond local OAC (absent Little Miami and Walnut Hills) and that's an area filled to the brim with schools that could make a huge, sustained splash into quiz bowl. But you guys, you guys are doing great thusfar.
(P.S. This post is really long, but I only write about the potential athletics conference relationship because I do firmly believe that it can be am effective pathway to quiz bowl expansion and overall circuit health in a given area. I should emphasize, here, that I don't see it as bieng an "all-or-nothing" suggestion when it comes to aligning with sports or not - just simply something that can make even just a few more schools want to get involved, get active and get better... that's all.)
Moore, T;
reader, Southeast Region and statewide (2015-present);
ex-player, William V. Fisher Catholic HS... allegedly (2010-2014);