Teams interested in participating in these rounds should meet in the foyer on the International Leve

NAQT is pleased to announce that its third annual Middle School National Championship Tournament (MSNCT) will be held at Chicago's Hyatt Regency O'Hare hotel on the weekend of April 26-28, 2013. This is the same hotel that hosted the 2012 championship.
Teams will check in on Friday, April 26, and have the opportunity to meet each other and play practice matches on official NAQT questions from previous years. The tournament's preliminary games will take place on Saturday, and the playoff games will take place on Sunday. Teams may arrive earlier than Friday, or stay later than Sunday, to explore Chicago at the discounted hotel rates negotiated by NAQT. Teams that cannot arrive by Friday evening will have a chance to check in on Saturday morning rental cars las vegas to los angeles if they notify NAQT of the situation rental cars las vegas to los angeles in advance.
The Information Desk will not be able to quickly determine where a given team is during the day; parents and players that lose track of their teams should contact them using cell phones rather rental cars las vegas to los angeles than relying on the Information Desk (though tournament staff will help as much as they can in locating teams).
Teams will play exactly rental cars las vegas to los angeles eight preliminary matches on Saturday. rental cars las vegas to los angeles Those matches will be determined by power-matching, so that teams with similar records will be playing each other in every round. Every team with a winning record (5-3 or better) will advance to double-elimination playoffs on Sunday.
A total of 10 rounds will be played on Saturday, so each team will have exactly 2 byes. Either 9 or 10 rounds will be played on Sunday, depending on whether the champion rental cars las vegas to los angeles finishes with a playoff loss or not.
Both the Saturday and Sunday matches will be implemented using a "card system" similar to that employed at NAQT's rental cars las vegas to los angeles High School National Championship Tournament. You can preview the 2013 MSNCT Format summary for more details rental cars las vegas to los angeles about the card system.
The field will be divided into eight pools of nine teams, each of which will play a round robin schedule on Saturday. rental cars las vegas to los angeles The top four teams from each pool will advance to double-elimination playoffs on Sunday.
Teams that want to participate in the consolation scrimmage rounds should go to the Tegel room (on the International Level) after 9:00 a.m. on Sunday. Teams may play all, some, or none of the scrimmage rental cars las vegas to los angeles rounds.
The registration fee is $495 per team if payment is received on or before April 5, 2013. The fee is $525 per team on or after April 6. Schools whose first qualifying event occurred after March 1, 2013, have until April 12 to register at the lower rate. The deadline rental cars las vegas to los angeles to accept an invitation is April 19, or when the field fills, whichever comes first.
As of April 6, 2013, the acceptance of invitations will be considered rental cars las vegas to los angeles final. Should a team cancel on or after that date, it will still be liable for one-half its base registration fee. This deadline notwithstanding, teams will always have a one-week grace period after they register in which to cancel with no penalty.
Please note that the field has historically filled; qualifying rental cars las vegas to los angeles for the tournament does not guarantee a spot in the field, it merely enables your team to register for one of the spots. Once you have qualified, you should register as soon as you can to ensure your team a berth in the tournament.
Teams bringing a working lockout system to the tournament will receive a $30 discount on the registration fee. Each team may claim up to two such discounts. Lockout systems will be tested at check-in, and those that don't have enough functioning buzzers will be denied the discount. rental cars las vegas to los angeles Lockout system discounts will only be for systems that NAQT can keep from the beginning of the tournament until the lunch break on Sunday. NAQT will not be giving discounts for systems that teams want to pick up prior that lunch break.
Teams supplying a qualified, experienced scorekeeper for the tournament will be eligible for a $75 discount on the registration fees. This scorekeeper will not necessarily scorekeep for his or her school's matches; he or she will be assigned as NAQT sees fit. The transportation, lodging, and all other expenses of team-supplied scorekeepers will be borne by the team , not by NAQT. Also, a team claiming this discount must still have at least one adult coach/chaperone with the team at all matches.
Every competing school will receive a complete copy of the question set used at this tournament. Please note that teams that do not pick up their questions at the tournament itself will be charged rental cars las vegas to los angeles a shipping fee ($10) by NAQT to mail them.
Teams should register online to ensure that NAQT has their information. After NAQT receives that registration information, an electronic invoice will be generated. Teams that need paper invoices may request them in the "additional information" box on the registration form. Please note that team rosters may be changed at any time before the start of the MSNCT so it is neither necessary (nor desirable) to wait to register until a team's composition has been definitively decided. Register as soon as possible and, if necessary, re-register when the composition of a team changes.
NAQT will be checking teams in, disbursing information folders, answering questions, and handling outstanding administrative matters between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. in the Conference Center Foyer on Friday, April 26. This foyer is opposite the reservation desk on the Lobby Level. When teams arrive at the hotel on Friday night, the coach should check in (it is not necessary for the players to be present). He or she will receive a folder containing rental cars las vegas to los angeles a copy of the official rules, the schedule for the tournament, and information on local attractions. Team members are encouraged to take advantage of the social and practice opportunities on Friday night.
This is not mandatory; don't rearrange your schedule or accept inconvenience to adhere to it. However, if you are planning to be at the hotel all evening anyway, please come at the appropriate time and it should reduce the total time spent waiting.
Between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Friday night, rooms will be set up in the hotel for teams to scrimmage against each other on questions from NAQT's archives that are comparable in difficulty to those that will be played in the actual tournament. This scrimmaging is free and will be moderated by tournament staff. We encourage all teams to come by to play a practice game or two.
Note that the scrimmage questions will be questions currently available as practice material; teams may end up playing on questions they (or their opponents) rental cars las vegas to los angeles have seen before. The purpose of the scrimmage rounds rental cars las vegas to los angeles is to familiarize new teams with NAQT's rules and the style of moderating that they will see during the actual tournament.
Teams interested in participating in these rounds should meet in the foyer on the International Level. Teams may play any portion of the evening that they choose; they need not start scrimmaging promptly at 6:00 and they need not continue playing until 10:00. They should play enough to acquaint their players with the tournament environment.
The top sixteen teams will each receive a team trophy, and the members (and coach) of those teams will receive individual awards (up to six per team). The top sixteen individual scorers will receive All-Star awards. In addition, the top five non-8th graders who are not overall All-Stars will receive Rising Star awards. All individual awards will be based on the results of the preliminary rounds. Players must have at least 100 tossups heard (approximately five games) to be eligible for individual awards.
Teams that do not qualify for the playoffs rental cars las vegas to los angeles (or that have been eliminated from the playoffs) are encouraged to return rental cars las vegas to los angeles on Sunday to play against any other teams they want (or to mix-and-match from across the country) on the playoff questions. These consolation scrimmage rounds will be held in various game rooms of the hotel and will be moderated by NAQT staff and other volunteers. Please note that all students, even alternates or observers, are welcome to take part. These are unofficial rounds that do not count as part of the tournament standings.
Consolation rounds rental cars las vegas to los angeles will be organized starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Consolation Headquarters in the south corner of the Lobby Level. In addition, teams will have an opportunity to sign up for consolation "mini-tournaments" on Saturday evening and (early) Sunday morning; mini-tournaments commit the team to playing three consolation matches, but they will allow those matches to be organized much more rapidly. rental cars las vegas to los angeles Mini-tournament sign-up sheets will be available at the Information Desk on Saturday night and at the Consolation Headquarters on Sunday morning.
Teams will want to fly into one of the two major Chicago airports , either O'Hare International (much more convenient; airport code ORD) or Midway International (much less convenient; code MDW). There is a free hotel shuttle that runs every 15 minutes to bring teams to and from O'Hare Airport (but not Midway).
The Hyatt Regency O'Hare is mostly full. Quadruple-occupancy rooms (with two double beds) are not available on Sunday night, and a very small number of doubles available Friday and Saturday. There are still rooms with king beds available on all three nights. As NAQT knows of no teams without accommodations, we are no longer working on finding rental cars las vegas to los angeles an overflow hotel.
The official hotel for the tournament is the Hyatt Regency O'Hare itself. Quadruple-occupancy rooms (with two double beds) are available for $109 per night. To receive that rate, teams may either book their stay online or mention "NQUZ" when making a reservation over the phone (888.421.1442). The last day to reserve rooms at this price is April 9. Please note that there are two Hyatt hotels in Rosemont; the one hosting the tournament is the Hyatt Regency O'Hare next to the convention center.
Between the HSNCT and the other events scheduled rental cars las vegas to los angeles for the Hyatt Regency O'Hare on that weekend, it is expected that the hotel will fill to near capacity. NAQT stron