Practices

JR JR - 1 to 1 1/2 hours
JR - 1 1/2 hours
SR - 2 hours

About first 20 minutes of practice discuss highlights & key information from material to be studied in this practice. Ask if anyone has any questions about category to be studied or how to pronounce words. This will give anyone who has not studied very much at least an opportunity to answer some questions during the practice & reinforce important information to those whom has studied.

Assign one category per week depending on the size & difficulty of that category. Some categories will take 2 or more practices or combine a small category & the previously studied one for the next week if time does not permit more than a week per category. Starting practices early in the season allows the team to learn without having to cram, feel rushed or unprepared. Remind the team that no one will know all of the answers so they just need to make sure they know the material that they have covered very well.

Break for 10 minutes in middle of practice to let all of the information to settle into their brains. Have snacks available some of the times for breaks. Allow team members to talk about things other than horses or horse bowl during break. Get to know the team members as individuals & build a relationship with them.

Having all questions & answers typed on index cards is recommended because:

• Easier to sort by category
  
• Put bonus questions on colored cards
  
• Can separate piles for visual impact of right & wrong answers
  
• Can have keywords highlighted or in ALL CAPS
  
• Set up in practice games of 18 or 32 questions
  
• Can easily keep incorrectly answered questions separate for next week
  
• Ensure important questions are asked during practice

Early in the season, give team members 15 seconds to discuss bonus questions and about a third of the way through the season, change to the correct 10-second time limit. This encourages more discussion in the beginning but get everyone tuned up before the contest. Try to cover about 200 questions a practice for JR & SR levels.

Keep score at every practice. Write down everyone's highest score for a single practice. Check this highest score sheet before ending the practice & make sure to compliment anyone who exceeds their highest score or if they come close to matching it & do this in front of the entire team. This will create a sense of accomplishment in the individual, lessens the competition between team members & lets everyone compliment the member who achieved the goal. Some coaches will reward anyone who doubles their previously highest score with a gift certificate for an ice cream cone, colored gel pen or etc. Determine chair positions by points accumulated during practices before a contest. Start points over after each contest. This allows members who may have started studying harder at the end of the season a chance to excel & advance to a higher chair position for the next contest.

It is OK to change the rules to give some variety in the practices. Just make sure all team members know that this is different than the real contest rules. Suggestions are:

1. Do one-on-one practice against team members
2. Do blocks on floor. Ask contestants questions individually with everyone lined up at the back of room, let each member advance one block at a time for each correctly answered question & go backwards for each incorrectly answered question. See who reaches the goal line first.
3. Ask questions individually & go around the table & see how many times they can complete the circle without missing a question.
4. Do a mock contest with the same number of questions in an actual contest. If they get over half of the total points, they win. (Have a parent keep score - this trains them to do it in an actual contest) Increase the percentage of correct answers, as they become better players.
5. If there is one very good player, play that one player against the rest of the team in one-on-one format - use this only for short periods of time & do not let it affect any point standing for chair positions.
6. If one player has a lot more points than the rest of the team, have that player read questions while the coach does some other duties. Make sure coach is still seated at the practice table, to answer any questions that may arise. This also trains for new moderators at contests.
7. If an incorrect answer is given, the player who answered it is out of the competition. Allow all other team members to have a chance to answer the question by re-reading to them only. This will keep other members paying attention & acquiring some points.
8. If an incorrect answer is given, the player who answered it is out of the competition. Ask for correct answer from anyone else. Then with both of the contestants that have buzzed in already out of the competition, ask remaining contestants why the incorrect answer was wrong.
9. If a question as numerous answers but the question only asks for 2 of them, ask the remaining contestants if they can name another correct answer for another point..continue awarding additional points until no one else can answer.
10. On bonus questions, ask an individual if they want to try to answer the question by themselves for 3 points or get help from the team as a whole where each contestant gets 1 point added to the individual practice score.
11. Sometimes bring a variety of small candy (Smartees, suckers, chocolate kisses, and sweet tarts) to a practice & when a contestant gets15 points, they get to go into the candy bag & choose whatever one item that they want. Keep asking questions to the remaining contestant while they are making their selection of candy. This allows others to score some additional points without too much competition. At the end of the practice, let everyone select something because they had such a good practice.
12. Play "tell me what you know about.." Go around the table, starting with the lowest scoring contestant & pick a subject. (Tell me what you know about parasites, bones, breeds & etc.) Each contestant can only give one answer at a time, go around the table until no one can name anything else. Give each contestant one point for each fact that they can name. Then select another subject & repeat.

Make sure to cover mostly the currently assigned category at a practice but also include about 50 previously studied questions & any missed questions mixed in with the current material. Reviewing previously studied questions is necessary to make sure that contestants remember the material & it keeps them on their toes because they won't be able to just memorize this week category. Code the questions by difficulty level. Everyone must know the level 1 questions. Bonus questions are a level 5 & worth 3 points.

Ask a question backward with the answer as the question. Ask why? Tell me more about .. Why isn't this the answer? What is .. (fill in the wrong answer)? This will make contestants think & not memorize the questions and answers. Rote memorizing is not desirable. Learning to think quickly is a goal.

In the JR JR & JR divisions, assign categories to each team member. Ask if they have a preference for a category. Start with the least experienced member when selecting categories. Offer least experienced member an easy category to help build confidence. Tell them that they are going to be the team expert in this subject. Returning contestants from last year must take 1 or 2 new categories that they did not have in any previous years. This will make more well rounded & knowledgeable individuals. It is OK to assign more categories to older or more experienced contestants. Give each category to 2 different contestants to make sure the team has it covered in case of an illness & also helps to eliminate some of the pressure if a question is missed because 2 contestants should know the answer. About 6 practices before the contest, re-evaluate the contestants & categories. If the team is weak in a certain area, ask for someone else to help learn that category. In the SR division, everyone has to know everything.

On bonus questions, assign different parts of an answer to each contestant; make sure 2 contestants cover each part of the answer. This helps create more teamwork & doesn't require the contestants to know all of the answers to the bonus questions.

To sharpen skills just prior to the contest - meet twice a week for 2 - 3 weeks before the contest. During this time, do not introduce any more new questions. Make sure they know the ones they have studied. It is better to know 200 questions for sure than 400 just so-so.