Basic Information about Bible Bowl
and the Mid South Round Robin
What is Bible Bowl?
Bible Bowl is a ministry designed to promote spiritual growth, fellowship, knowledge of God's Word and a Christian attitude within a competitive atmosphere. It started over 40 years ago and is based on the old GE College Bowl. Teams, of 2 to 4 players each, play one another using a buzzer board to buzz in and answer questions about the selected text for that year that comes straight from the Bible. The students learn the text at the rate of about 1 chapter of scripture a week. Bible Bowlers learn the Bible, make friends from other churches, grow in their faith and have fun.
How do you start a Bible Bowl team?
Recruit 3 or more students in grades 6-12. Recruit at least 1 or more volunteers to serve as coaches. Schedule one or two 45 to 60 minute practices per week. Purchase a study text and other study aids from the National Bible Bowl Office.
When is the Bible Bowl Season?
Practices usually begin in late August or early September. The monthly round robins (where you will compete against other churches) will take place from October thru May. If your team chooses to, they can participate in college tournaments and also in the national tournament that takes place in late June or early July.
What book or books of the Bible will we be studying?
This year our Beginner Bowlers and our Bible Bowlers will be studying two different New Testament texts. Beginner Bowlers will study Acts Chapters 1 Entire Text 20 plus the Core Questions. Bible Bowlers will be studying 1 & 2 Corinthians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. The Mid South Bible Bowl League had 12 teams in their Bible Bowl league and 4 teams in our Beginner Bowl league in 2008 - 2009. We hope to add new teams this year to both our Bible Bowl and Beginner Bowl programs.
About Registration
There is a one-time Registration Fee of $110.00 per Bible Bowl team and $90 per Beginner Bowl team. This fee covers the costs of question fees to the National Bible Bowl Office, all the copies for the round robin, test supplies, awards and trophies for the year, and contributes toward gifts for graduating seniors at the end of the year. You may pay this in one payment or in two payments of $55.00. The first payment will be due on September 1, 2009 and the second payment on January 2, 2010. Enclosed you will find a Registration Form. Please return it with your Registration Fee as soon as possible. Make checks payable to Mid South Bible Bowl League. Please remember that your team is not registered until your Registration Fee is received. You will receive an email confirmation after September 1, 2009.
Please return the Registration Form with your Registration Fee as soon as possible. Make checks payable to Mid South Round Robin. Please remember that your team is not registered until your Registration Fee is received. You will receive a Confirmation letter with a listing of teams registered for the Round Robin after September 15, 2009.
We also ask for you to consider completing our Pictures on the Internet Permission Slip.
Where would we play?
We’re hoping that you will be a part of the forth season of the Mid South Round Robin. We meet at Franklin Christian Church in Franklin, TN, with the first round robin taking place on October 4, 2008. Franklin is about 30 minutes south of Nashville, Tennessee. Our meets begin at 9:30 a.m. central time. This gives distant teams the opportunity to make the trip in one day instead of two. We’ll meet once a month through May 2010.
-- Take I-65 South to the Franklin, Hwy 96 exit (exit #65) and go east 3/4 of a mile. Turn left on Clovercroft Road. Take the first right into the church parking lot. Go over the creek and park in the parking lot on the other side of the creek. Walk up the hill to the back entrance. Registration will be just inside the back entrance.
Round Robin Dates 
@ Franklin Christian Church
| Round Robin Date |
Which Saturday |
Beginner Bowl Text |
Senior Bowl Text |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 3, 2009 | 1st | Block 1 | 1 C 1 - 8 | |
| November 7, 2009 | 1st | Block 2 (review Block 1) | 1 C 9 - 14 | |
| December 5, 2009 | 1st | Block 3 (review B 1 & 2) | 1 C 15 - 2 C 4 | |
| January 2, 2010 | 1st | Blocks 1-3 | 1 C 1 - 2 C 7 | |
| February 13, 2010 | 2nd | Block 4 (review B 1-3) | 2 C 8 - 13 | |
| March 13, 2010 | 2nd | Block 5 (review B 1-4) | 1 T 1 - 6 | |
| April 10, 2010 | 2nd | Block 6 (review B 1-5) | 2 T 1 - T 3 | |
| May 8, 2010 | 2nd | Blocks 1-6 | Entire Text |
Dates were chosen due to the availability of the facilities and also to work around the Tennessee Christian Teen Convention which will take place on January 8 - 10, 2010.
We are hoping that with a 9:30 start time and with Franklin, TN being in the Central time zone, that no one will have to stay overnight to participate in the round robin. This should help each of our teams to save time and money. Here is a tentative schedule for a Saturday at our round robin:
Typical Round Robin Schedule
We are hoping that with a 9:30 start time and with Franklin, TN being in the Central time zone, that no one will have to stay overnight to participate in the round robin. This should help each of our teams to save time and money. Here is a tentative schedule for a Saturday at our round robin:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 9:15 - 9:30 a.m. | Registration |
| 9:30 - 9:50 a.m. | Worship/Announcements |
| 9:50 - 10:30 a.m. | Test/Quizmaster Meeting |
| 10:40 - 11:00 a.m. | Round 1 |
| 11:00 - 11:20 a.m | Round 2 |
| 11:20 - 11:40 a.m. | Round 3 |
| 11:40 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Round 4 |
| 12:00 - 12:40 p.m. | Lunch - with Quoting Bee Competition |
| 12:40 - 1:00 p.m. | Round 5 |
| 1:00 - 1:20 p.m. | Round 6 |
| 1:20 - 1:40 p.m. | Round 7 |
| 1:40 - 2:00 p.m. | Round 8 |
| 2:00 - 2:20 p.m. | Round 9 |
| 2:20 - 2:40 p.m. | Round 10 |
| 2:40 - 3:00 p.m. | Round 11 |
| 3:00 - 3:15 p.m. | Round 12 |
| 3:15 - 3:45 p.m. | Awards |
Beginner Bowl will take place after lunch, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Their award ceremony will take place concurrently with the Bible Bowl award ceremony. The number of rounds played will depend on the number of teams registered.
Worship / Announcements
We will be taking up an offering on a monthly basis to support two items:
1) National Bible Bowl and
2) End of year gifts for our graduating seniors. National Bible Bowl is an independent ministry and relies fully on gifts to support its work.
Tests
Bible Bowlers (not Beginner Bowlers) will take a written test each month. We will be using the National Bible Bowl standardized monthly test. This will be a 150 question test with 30 minutes allowed for completion. The test must be taken with all the Bible Bowlers at the same time.
- Your players will need a #2 pencil with an eraser for the test because the test will be graded by a scantron machine.
- We will recognize the Top 10 scores by 6th - 8th graders and the Top 10 scores by 9th - 12th graders each month and also at the end of the year. Ties on the test will be broken by ascertaining which test taker has the higher accumulative test average. If there is still a tie, then the tie will be broken by ascertaining which test taker missed the first question on the test. The test taker that misses the first question loses the tie breaker. In the event of two or more perfect scores on the test, and the players have an identical accumulative test average, a written tiebreaker will be given.
- To determine the top test scores at the end of the year, the lowest test score will be dropped for each player.
- No make up tests will be given.
- We will post our test scores on the National Bible Bowl Webstats so you and your Bible Bowlers can see how they did compared to other Bible Bowlers from around the nation.
Some Church Responsibilities
QUIZMASTERS - Each church/homeschooling association will need to work toward providing one quizmaster for every two teams registered. We will have several new teams in our round robin and will work with you to train good Quizmasters for our round robin and for your teams. Quizmasters need to be prepared.
Each Quizmaster MUST attend the Quizmaster Meeting and take the monthly Quizmaster quiz at the start of our day.
Please read the Rule Book at least 2 times before each competition day. Also check the National Bible Bowl website for quizmaster and rules updates. Call someone and clarify anything you have questions about before the competition.
BUZZER BOARDS - Each church/homeschooling association will need to provide one buzzer board for every two teams competing.
If you have an extra reliable buzzer board, please bring them. We would rather have some waiting in reserve just in case we would need them. Please mark your board(s) main control box and the outside of the case with your church name for easy identification. Remember, many buzzer boards look alike! Buzzer boards are available from National Bible Bowl.
OUTREACH - One of the purposes of this round robin is to get more young people involved in Bible Bowl. This is a great program and we need your help to get the word out. Invite people to come and watch your team at the round robin. Invite area churches/homeschooling groups to come and check it out. We will be talking about having a designated round robin that will be an Open House where we will invite several churches to "see" what Bible Bowl is all about. We want to grow this round robin and in years to come, perhaps plant new round robins all so more young people can be immersed in the Word of God through Bible Bowl. Help us!
Who would we play?
It looks like we will have two to three divisions of Bible Bowl at the Mid South Round Robin. We will also have a Beginner Bowl division. I will update you on this after I receive everyone's registrations. Depending on the outcome of division play each month and also the number of teams we have at each round robin, your team may move up or down one division.
Ties will be broken by head to head competition.
If each team won one game against each other, then the team scoring the most points against the other will win the tie.
If a "Mix it Up" team or a visiting team wins Division II one month, the registered team finishing highest in Division II will play in Division I the next month.
If a "Mix it Up" team or a visiting team is in last place in Division I one month, the registered team finishing just above them will play in Division II the next month.
Traveling trophies will be awarded monthly in each division.
Cumulative standings will be available after the Round Robin awards are announced, available on the Internet, and E:Mailed to the coaches on a monthly basis.
TEAMS - It is extremely important that each registered team be at each meet. When a team does not come to a meet, it affects the entire day of play.
Please emphasize the importance of coming to each meet to your players. This being said, we know that everyone lives very busy lives and that everyone has multiple commitments. If your team has to miss a meet, please let Carie Turner know as soon as possible. She will try to put together a "Mix it Up" team to fill your team's slot for the month so the round robin can run smoothly. Please E:Mail Carie Turner by Monday night prior to a Saturday meet if your team will be unable to attend a round robin so that the necessary arrangements can be made.
The Round Robin also needs to know who will be playing on each of your teams each month. Please E:Mail any changes to your team's roster to Carie Turner on the Monday night prior to the Round Robin so that this information can be updated in the Round Robin computer.
Lunch
Lunches will be $5 a person. We will need a headcount on how many people to expect for lunch from your team the Monday night before the round robin in order to ensure that we have the right amount of food.
Please E:Mail the headcounts to me by Monday night before the Round Robin.
If I do not receive a headcount from you by Monday night, we will use the headcount from the prior month and you will be charged for that amount of lunches. Don't forget to count parents, brothers and sisters, coaches and other guests in your counts. Lunches will be paid for at the registration table each month.
Year End Team Awards
This year, year end trophies will be decided as follows:
If we have 2 Divisions, points will be awarded as follows:
- A team receives a point for each game played in Division 1
- A Division 1 win will be worth 2 points
- A Division 2 win will be worth 1 point
If there is a 3rd Division then the following points will be awarded for wins in each division:
- A team receives 2 points for each game played in Division 1
- A team receives 1 point for each game played in Division 2
- A Division 1 win will be worth 3 points
- A Division 2 win will be worth 2 points
- A Division 3 win will be worth 1 point
If a team misses a meet, they will be considered as playing in Division I for the meet they missed.
Each Division II win counts half of a Division I win.
If teams are tied at year end by total weighted wins (each Division II win counts half of a Division I win), then the total points scored each month will break the tie.
Where can I get more information?
For more information about Bible Bowl go to http://www.biblebowl.com
If you would like to visit one of our February - May 2010 round robins or for more information about the Mid South Round Robin E:Mail Carie Turner - turner82 a t comcast.net
You can also check out our website at http://www.dfamily.com/bb/