ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ

This section of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s online tournament guide contains specific advice for parents and guardians of players who will compete at online quiz bowl tournaments.

As with the rest of this guide, this page assumes the tournament is following ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s recommendations for videoconferencing technologies, game format, rule changes, and tournament policies.

Before the Tournament

• Check with your child and/or their coach to make sure you know the tournament’s requirements in terms of videoconferencing equipment.
• Buy any videoconferencing equipment your child will need.
• Help your child install and test that hardware.
• Help your child (or the appropriate Zoom Mobile App). This is free, and your child will not need to make a Zoom account. Your child should not use the Zoom web client (which has worse audio and video quality and limited features).
• If your child will be playing from home, ensure they will have a room to themself during the tournament. In addition, ensure that the rest of the house is relatively quiet during the tournament.
• If your child will be playing from home, ensure that other family members will minimize their network usage during the tournament.
• If you are also acting as a coach or chaperone, there is a separate page of this guide dealing with the responsibilities for those roles.

Videoconferencing Information

• Your child will need a device (desktop, laptop, or mobile device) that can join Zoom meetings. ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ recommends that players compete using a desktop or laptop with a wired Internet connection.
• ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ strongly recommends that players use a headset when competing. If that is impossible, a combination of headphones/earbuds and a (quality) external microphone will provide the best quiz bowl experience. A player using a microphone built into their computer must use Zoom’s “push-to-talk” feature. This will allow participation, but is likely to be a worse experience. Players without a headset, headphones, or earbuds are at significant risk of causing audio feedback issues that may lead a moderator to remove them from the game. Audio quality is of the utmost importance to online quiz bowl; make sure your child has the appropriate equipment.

In-Game Procedures

• In an emergency, you should always feel free to interrupt a player in a quiz bowl match. Teammates and tournament directors will be understanding. Short of an emergency, you should wait to interact with your child preferably until they are between games, or at lesat until gameplay has been stopped. Quiz bowl can rely on split-second timing and players (on your child’s team and on opposing teams) will not want to be distracted.
• You are welcome to join the game rooms (Zoom meetings) in which games are being held as a spectator, but please read and follow the spectator guidelines.

ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ wants to hear about your experience with online quiz bowl—write to [email protected] with suggestions, questions, complaints, or any other comments.