Tournament Prep

January 24, 2O23

Mid-Cities DI

Overview of the Evening

All things tournament- related:

• Location and logistics
• The schedule
• Paperwork
• Team Check-In
• The tournament day- overview
• Restrictions/Clarifications
• Beyond Regionals

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Location & Logistics

Location: Cross Timbers Middle School

2301 Pool Road

Grapevine, Tx 76O51

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https://goo.gl/maps/yzaUucCEwrSf3FUn7

https://www.midcitiesdi.org/tournament-maps/

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Maps Available on the website

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CAMPUS SPECIFICS

• Parking—check satellite view in map apps
• Flow of the campus
• Challenge locations
• Check in areas
• Cafeteria
• Food -Menu will be posted and emailed to all TMs as soon as it is set

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SCHEDULE

• Available by January 29
• 75 out of 11O teams had special requests this year!!
• Extreme competition is happening at the same time this year
• TC and IC timing

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PAPERWORK

• ALL forms for the tournament to be completed in the RESOURCE AREA of destinationimagination.org website, including:
• All pages of the Tournament Data Forms for your challenge
• Expense Report and receipts
• Team Challenge Prep Checklist and Instant Challenge Prep Checklist

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• All paperwork due Wednesday, February 8, 2O23

TEAM CHECK-IN & ORDER PICK-UP

Wednesday, February 8 @ 4:3O- 7:OO

Arlington ISD Athletics Center

1OO1 E Division Street Arlington, TX 76O11

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EXPENSE REPORT

• Rules of the Road p.23-25
• Required for most challenges. Know your budget.
• Every item you use in your Presentation must be listed on the Expense Report.
• Keep receipts with your tournament forms. You will upload all receipts.
• Used items must be included and may be given fair garage sale value.
• Know what is exempt.
• Just because you found it in the trash, doesn’t make it exempt

SCORES

• Raw scores vs. Final scores
• All score will be sent via text message to the TM
• If you disagree on an objective score, you will have 30 minutes after receiving your scores to dispute.
• Real sticky notes!

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Sample Tournament Day

8:OO Arrive at tournament site and find Challenge room.

8:15 Unload props (to control crowded halls, we ask you load into Challenge hall no more than an hour prior to Challenge time.)

8:2O Costumes, make-up, check and assemble props

8:45-8:55 Check in with Prep Area Appraiser

9:15 Presentation time!

9:35 Move props out of Challenge site and load into vehicle.

Lunch, photos, watch other challenges…

12:15 Check in at Instant Challenge

12:3O Instant Challenge

12:55 Instant Challenge is done!

6:3O Door open for Award Ceremony

TOURNAMENT DAY

• Make sure you read the Tournament Guide. Resource Area under Additional Resources.
• Get there early.
• Know your room number(s)- go find them!!
• Take team pictures
• Keep everyone hydrated and fed.
• Watch other challenges.
• Visit the DIme Store.
• Go to the awards ceremony.

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TIMES FOR THE DAY

• DOORS OPEN AT 7:OO AM
• CHALLENGES BEGIN AT 8:OO
• DOORS OPEN FOR AWARDS AT 6:3O
• A NURSE WILL FORMALLY BE ON DUTY FROM 9:OO- 2:OO
• SOME VOLUNTEER POSITIONS WILL BEGIN AT 7:3O (THEY WILL BE NOTIFIED PRIOR TO TOURNAMENT DAY)

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR DAY GO SMOOTHLY

• Bring a copy of your paperwork.
• Take a fix-it bag, emergency kit, and don’t be bored items.
• Make sure your parents know where to go when they arrive.****
• Remember it is not your solution. Follow Rules of Interference.
• Get a good night’s sleep.
• Bring a copy of the challenge with you, as well as published clarifications.
• Make a checklist of all items needed for your team’s challenge and who is transporting them.

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RESTRICTIONS

• Helium
• Dry ice (we will allow it… only if handled properly)
• Smoke/fog machines
• Silly string
• No large amounts of water
• No lights may be turned off during a presentation
• No glitter*
• No weapons of any kind, including replicas**

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SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS & REQUESTS

• All team members are required to wear solid sole, closed-toe shoes.
• Safety glasses should be worn, if presentation poses a risk.
• It is the team’s responsibility to protect the challenge site floor.
• We are guests in this school, and we should treat it as if it were our own. Please pick up your trash and keep the hallways clear for others to pass.
• Please set up in the light green areas on the site map. Do not set up in the hallways where challenges are being held.

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CLARIFICATIONS

• Posted clarifications
• Team clarifications- bring printed copy
• Last day to submit questions for clarification: 1/31/23

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

• You are responsible to provide an appraiser for every team you have.
• WE NEED EVERY APPRAISER TO RUN THE TOURNAMENT!
• Missing appraisers may cause your team to be ineligible for placement and/or advancement.
• You are also responsible to provide a volunteer to work a 2 hour shift during the tournament day.

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INTERFERENCE

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• HANDS OFF!!!
• PENALTIES
• Inform parents of what they can and cannot do.
• If someone other than the team breaks something, the team still has to fix it.
• Muscle is appreciated, but that’s all we can offer.
• Don’t let the parents put makeup on their kids or style their hair.
• Show team the layout of the room, but let them plan from there.

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IMPORTANT NOTES FROM RULES OF THE ROAD

• READ AND SHARE: p. 18 in the Rules of the Road on Interference
• P.39 in the Rules of the Road on electronics needed for medical purposes:

“Your team or Team Manager must not bring any electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cameras, cell phones, iPads or tablets, computers, ming devices, and wrist watches into the Instant Challenge room. If a team member or Team Manager requires an electronic device for medical purposes, your Team Manager must bring this to the aenon of the Tournament Director. Accommodations will be made on a case-by-case basis.”

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BEYOND REGIONALS

• State Tournament: How to advance
• Bonus Teams
• Global Finals: How to advance
• Celebrate!!!

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NUMBER OF TEAMS ADVANCING TO STATE

1 to 4 teams (i.e. 4 Elementary Challenge A Teams) : 1 team advances

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5+ teams (i.e. 5-2O Elementary Challenge A Teams): 2 teams advance

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There will be fewer bonus teams this year.

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BONUS TEAMS

• Promptly after the last regional tournament results are received (early March), the TXCPSO office determines the “excess capacity” of each Affiliate Tournament site.  “Excess capacity” is defined as the number of additional teams the site can accommodate to bring its total team count up to 2O.
• Teams that came closest to qualifying but did not do so are candidate teams for selection as bonus teams.
• Candidate teams are ranked within each problem and level by their “margin of defeat” – the difference between the candidate team’s score and the score of the lowest-scoring team to qualify from the same regional site.
• Team Managers will be notified and given the chance to register for the Affiliate Tournament.
• If a candidate team has qualified for the Affiliate Tournament in another challenge, the team is ineligible for selection as an invited team.
• Some districts will not support bonus teams. **

DATES

LONE STAR FINALS: March 24-25, 2O23

UT Arlington

Registration deadline March 3, 2O23

$35O fee

GLOBAL FINALS: May 2O-23, 2O23

Kansas City, Missouri

$5,5OO per team

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A FEW NOTES FROM THE CHALLENGE MASTER

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• Please make sure your team members know that there will be a Q & A session with the appraisers at the end of their team challenge. Prepare them for that!
• Instant Challenge: If you are a team manager of multiple teams, you will not be able to go into any instant challenge unless it is your LAST team of the day… REGARDLESS OF CHALLENGE OR LEVEL
• You MUST bring a device with you to the tournament. If corrections are needed, you will be given the opportunity to fix them prior to the challenge, but devices will NOT be available for you to borrow.
• HAVE FUN!!!

Questions/Concerns/Comments

Keri Murrell: keri.murrell@birdvilleschools.net

Katie Pierce: associaterd@midcitiesdi.org

Stella Greer: regionaldirector@midcitiesdi.org

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