Middle School Quizbowl

Middle school quizbowl in Missouri primarily involves students in grades 6-8, and some middle school tournaments offer an elementary division for students in younger grades. Middle schools and junior highs that are members of the Missouri State High School Activities Association are subject to MSHSAA's rules and regulations for students in grades 6 and older. Non-member schools are not subject to the same restrictions but generally may not compete against MSHSAA member schools; some tournaments offer non-MSHSAA divisions for these schools to compete against each other.

The Missouri Quizbowl Alliance believes that one of the best investments to improve the state of high school quizbowl in Missouri is to promote best practices to middle school teams. Therefore, our support of middle school quizbowl is based on the following fundamental principles:

• Consistency is important to sustain the growth of a program. Students exposed to similar question styles and tournament structures will be more likely to continue their participation as they progress through high school.
• Students build crucial skills while playing tournament matches. A student who begins playing competitive quizbowl for three years during middle school earns the opportunity to compete in 33 additional tournaments, gaining valuable skills in gamesmanship and teamwork as well as question content.
• Academic topics build on earlier knowledge. A student who gains a working knowledge of a subject area during middle school has significantly more time to refine that knowledge. The addition of more details during high school can make a topic more time-consuming to learn if attempted at a later stage.

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