Ineligible Teams at Regular-Season Tournaments

NAQT recommends that tournaments use its Eligibility Rules, but most regular-season tournaments are permitted to deviate from those rules.

The most common deviation from NAQT Eligibility Rules is allowing chimera teams (teams consisting of players who don’t all attend the same school). This includes, but is not limited to, allowing a player who attends a middle school to play with a team from a corresponding high school (without NAQT having granted permission for that) or combining players from multiple schools to form a team to help “round out” a pool.

Another situation in which a team may want to play despite being ineligible is if other players from the school have already heard the question set.

Tournament directors are never required (by NAQT) to allow ineligible teams to play. Prospective players or coaches of an ineligible team may request that a tournament director allow the team to play, but the tournament director is not required to say yes, and should make sure they fully understand the implications of doing so before they agree.

Tournament directors who permit ineligible teams to play should keep in mind the following:

Please send any questions about eligibility to eligibility@naqt.com.