ASK THE COACHES: How is a "quiz meet" different from a practice?

We have a new feature here at Quiz Pad - ASK THE COACHES! Here we will take questions from quizzers on the Bible, the church, and quizzing in general. Please e-mail us if you have a question you'd like to see answered in this space.

QUESTION: How is one of the weekend Quiz Meets different from the Wednesday practices? - Curious Newbie

ANSWER: The good news, CN, is that there is not a whole lot of difference. We try to run our weekly practices like an actual quiz meet each week, including teams, the rules, and the rotating of teams. The primary differences are (1) who, (2) where, and (3) how.

1. Who: You will not only be quizzing against your teammates in the weekend quizzes, but against teens from other churches as well. This weekend, you will be seeing quizzers from Essex Fells, Cresskill, and possibly a few others. During weekend quizzes, you will probably also have at least one quiz against a Trumbull team. In October, we will have a much larger group and likely will be quizzing against teams from Pennsylvania as well. At Midwinter and Districts, you will likely only quiz against other teams.

2. Where: This is the easy one. Practices are in Trumbull, CT. Weekend quizzes are primarily in Essex Fells, NJ. We will have one weekend quiz meet in Trumbull in December. Midwinter Quiz is at Lancaster Church in Lititz, PA. Districts is at the Hershey Church in Hershey, PA.

3. How: This is the toughest one and the biggest difference. In our practices, a lot of grace is given to quizzers, because we want to encourage you to have fun as well as quiz. In Quiz Meets, the rules are more strict. There is no talking from the time a quizmaster says "Question" until a quizzer answers the question. You can not touch your chair while jumping for a question. And the general rules of quizzing will be more strictly enforced. At Midwinter and Districts, expect all the rules to be tightly enforced. Also, the wearing of team shirts is encouraged at Quiz Meets, and expected at Midwinter and Districts.

That is it! We hope to see most of you on Saturday for the meet!