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Eligibility and Qualification Changes for 2018–2019

For the 2018–2019 competition year, NAQT has made a number of relatively minor changes to its eligibility rules and rules governing qualification for some national championships.

The changes are highlighted on the corresponding web pages:

• Middle School Eligibility Rules
• High School Eligibility Rules
• Communtity College Eligibility Rules
• College Eligibility Rules
• Qualification for the Middle School National Championship Tournament
• Qualification for the Small School National Championship Tournament
• Qualification for the High School National Championship Tournament

Here is a summary of the changes:

• NAQT has adopted the following definition of “school” in the Middle School and High School Eligibility Rules:

  By default, a school is an accredited educational institution with a cohesive academic, activities, and administrative program on a single physical campus (contiguous parcel of land, notwithstanding minor auxiliary facilities like off-site athletic fields). If an institution claiming (or informally seeming) to be one school is split over multiple campuses, multiple institutions share a single campus but informally seem to be different schools, multiple institutions are closely intertwined in other fashions, or an institution has no physical campus, NAQT will determine the institution’s or institutions’ status by reference to their name(s), classification by government agencies and/or other relevant groups (such as athletic associations), public appearances (such as their website(s)), student atmosphere, the cohesiveness of the programs mentioned above, and other information that may be provided by the institutions or may be acquired otherwise.

  Previously the term “school” was not defined despite underpinning much of the rest of the rules.
• The following rule has been added to all four sets of Eligibility Rules:

  A player [who is affiliated with multiple schools in the same competition year] must notify NAQT at eligibility@naqt.com 14 calendar days before they compete for the second squad. Failure to do so will result in all appearances for the second squad being recorded as forfeit losses.

  This requirement will help NAQT maintain question security. The College Eligibility Rules previously had a similar rule without information about how to notify NAQT and without a specified penalty for noncompliance, and the Community College Eligibility Rules previously had a similar rule with only a seven-day period; those clauses have been replaced with this one, standardizing the rules.
• The following section has been added to all four sets of Eligibility Rules:

  At all tournaments using these Eligibility Rules…

  1. Players are responsible for knowing these Eligibility Rules and ensuring their own compliance with them.
  2. The person who registers a team is responsible for ensuring that all players on the team comply with these Eligibility Rules.
  3. If a nonpseudonymous team’s program has one or more coaches, the coach(es) is (are) responsible for ensuring that all players on the team comply with these Eligibility Rules.
  4. If a school is found to have used ineligible players, NAQT may take actions that may also affect eligible players, such as disqualifying results or rescinding invitations.

  In the College Eligibility Rules and Community College Eligibility rules, this replaces the previous stipulation that “All schools and players participating in NAQT events are expected to know these Eligibility Rules, and will be held responsible for violations thereof.”
• The following rule has been added to the Middle School and High School Eligibility Rules:

  When local standards make it untenable for a student to compete for the school they attend, NAQT may grant them an affiliation to the school they are locally permitted to compete for. This is primarily intended for districts in which magnet-school students are required to play for their “home school.” Requests, with detailed explanations of the situation, should be directed to eligibility@naqt.com at least 14 days in advance of the tournament the student wishes to play.

• The following rules have been added to the Middle School Eligibility Rules:
  • Individuals wishing to compete at middle school tournaments must be enrolled in grade 8 or below during the school year corresponding to the competition year of the tournament.
  • Individuals wishing to compete at middle school tournaments who are in homeschool programs, academic programs without grades, or academic programs that do not use standard American grades must not have turned 15 years old as of March 31 during the competition year—in other words, they must still be 14 or younger as of March 31.
  • Individuals with special circumstances of any kind may request an exception to these rules by writing to eligibility@naqt.com at least 14 days in advance of the first tournament for which they wish to be granted an exception.
  The following rules have been added to the High School Eligibility Rules:
  • Individuals wishing to compete at high school tournaments must be enrolled in grade 12 or below during the school year corresponding to the competition year of the tournament.
  • Individuals wishing to compete at high school tournaments who are in homeschool programs, academic programs without grades, or academic programs that do not use standard American grades must not have turned 19 years old as of March 31 during the competition year—in other words, they must still be 18 or younger as of March 31.
  • Individuals enrolled in GED programs are not eligible.
  • Individuals with special circumstances of any kind may request an exception to these rules by writing to eligibility@naqt.com at least 14 days in advance of the first tournament for which they wish to be granted an exception.
  In both cases these replace age-limit rules that were more general (and were in place for about a month) or limited to homeschooled students (which were in place for several years before that month).
• NAQT has documented its practice of basing qualification to the Middle School National Championship Tournament, Small School National Championship Tournament, and High School National Championship Tournament on the respectively applicable Eligibility Rules, even when the qualification is based on performance at a local event that used different eligibility rules. For example, a local tournament director may allow an ineligible player to participate, but that player’s team would not be eligible to qualify for a national championship no matter how well the team performs.
• NAQT has documented its practice of considering qualification based on other eligibility rules at its discretion. This primarily applies to events like state activities/athletic associations’ state championships on NAQT questions, for which NAQT has neither the opportunity nor the realistic ability to evaluate each team’s players’ eligibility status. However, if a school attends a national championship having qualified from such a tournament, their team at the national championship must still satisfy the applicable Eligibility Rules.
• NAQT has decided to start publishing all special rulings that grant additional eligibility to a player. These rulings will be posted on the corresponding Eligibility Rules page.

Questions about eligibility rules are always welcome at eligibility@naqt.com.