FAQs

Starting 2010, congregations who wish to enter the T-shirt contest will be asked to bring an extra T-shirt and drop it off as they pick up their registration packets. A committee will display the shirts and judge the designs.

Registration and Seating were side by side in 2009. In the future, Seating will be in another location to allow for registration packets to be picked up
in a timely manner.

Yes. The Bible Bowl Committee at Sycamore will make every effort to post changes and new items on our Website.

In 2009, Porta-Potties were located on the south side of Hooper Eblen. More will be added in 2010. Tennessee Tech officials stated we could not designate men’s restrooms as women’s due to fire marshall laws.

Sycamore Church of Christ cannot control the number of restrooms in the Hooper Eblen facility. Porta-Potties are the only alternative to lack of restrooms.

The number of Bible Bowl teams participating increases every year. It is difficult to get enough scorekeepers. With proper training, four teams can be done effectively.

Participants get settled down and then they are asked to do the WAVE. They drop their cards and it is hard to get them settled again.

As with all things, you have those who like the WAVE and those who do not. Each congregation has control over their participants and whether or not they participate in the WAVE.

A few years ago, a scoring device was tested on a small number of teams. Although the device was a good idea, there were some problems with its use. The Bible Bowl Committee will continue to research an economical method of scoring. Until then, the cards will still be used.

Anything associated with Hooper Eblen cannot be changed, such as number of
restrooms, sound system, comfort of seats, etc.

The Bible Bowl Committee apologizes for any distraction(s) caused by committee members. We will make every effort to address problems/concerns away from participants, especially during the rounds.

The official Bible Bowl questions are written by knowledgeable individuals who have studied the material. Another group reviews the questions carefully to insure all questions and answers are worded from the text. Answers should be taken from the exact words of the text. If there was oversight concerning this, we apologize and will do our best to correct this in the future.

The Hooper Eblen facility at Tennessee Tech University is the only facility in Cookeville large enough for Bible Bowl. The parking at Tech is not granted to us in our Hooper Eblen contract. So if there is another event happening, we must share the parking. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Bible Bowl Handbook states bonus points will be awarded when four participants answer all questions correctly. This is one of those situations that we have to draw the line. If we allowed a team of three to get the bonus, someone else would ask why not a team of two? It is more difficult to get all four answers correct than three, so the committee feels it would not be fair.

Tennessee Tech University leases Hooper Eblen to other organizations besides Sycamore Church of Christ. TTU also uses Hooper Eblen for their own activities, therefore, we are somewhat “locked in” as to the day of Bible Bowl. To avoid Tech’s summer camps and their basketball and volleyball practices, this is the best date for them and us. Tech is very gracious to work
around their schedule to give us the same date every year.

In 2010, the material will be released May 1st to facilitate preparation of curriculum for your congregation.

As you can see from questions 15 and 16, some want the text to be announced early, some later. Due to many congregations planning their summer curriculum based on the Bible Bowl text, the material will be announced May 1st. Each congregation can make the decision as to when they begin studying the material.

Sycamore Church of Christ does not have the technology available at this time to film and project on the screen, but we will look into it. Early check-in can allow you to sit closer to the stage.

The deadline is always posted on our postcard sent by late April and also on our website. If you sign up for the newsletter on the website, we will send you reminders on what is due.

The Bible Bowl Committee feels it is necessary to make important announcements before the last question. If announcements are made afterwards, everyone will be getting out of their seats and no one will be able to hear the announcements. We try to make the last question much easier, but we feel that the information we communicate to you is critical for the effectiveness of our Bible Bowl.

The best way to assure you can be seated next to another congregation is to go to the seating table together and tell the person at that table you want to sit next to each other.

Communication between scorekeepers, coaches, and participants is a must on the day of Bible Bowl. Using the clipboards and having scorekeepers sitting with the coaches was to facilitate communication between the scorekeeper and the coaches and to provide more room for team seating. Here are a few suggestions for optimal communication between coaches, scorekeepers, and participants on the day of Bible Bowl:

Scorekeeper: Before Bible Bowl begins that day, make sure the coaches in your area know to notify you before the next question is read if they do not agree with the score. Make sure the coaches know you have written down ALL scores before cards are lowered.

Coaches: Keep your mind on the task at hand. There is nothing more frustrating for a scorekeeper than a coach that waits until several questions have passed before “catching”
a mistake the scorekeeper has made. Coaches must keep an eye on their participants to timely catch mistakes and help Bible Bowl to flow smoothly.

Coaches: It is the responsibility of the coaches to tell their participants to keep the cards in the folders, keep the cards up until signaled to lower them, do not talk during the rounds, etc. Practicing during the summer is very beneficial, especially for new participants and younger participants.

Coaches: Set up a “lower your cards” signaling system for the team you are keeping individual scores for, such as lightly tapping the participant closest to you, and then they tap the one in front of them, and so on until all participants have been tapped. They can then lower their cards.

The Bible Bowl Committee is looking into this situation and will try to correct it, if possible.

It would be impossible to have a separate Bible Bowl for young achievers. It would also be difficult to put all young achievers in one area. This would separate congregations, which could be problematic. The Bible Bowl Committee does not want to discourage anyone from participating in Bible Bowl, but please keep in mind the child’s attention span, ability to sit through four rounds of 25 questions, etc. before allowing them to participate in Bible Bowl. Remind older participants in your congregation that they were young once also, and to be more patient with the younger participants. Holding your concentration all day for any age can be difficult, but it can be done, otherwise you would not have participants scoring 100.