2009 National Tournament: Augusta State University

[sachleen]

never been to nats so I don't know what its like or what people do.. When do you guys get there, relative to the day of comp and how much free time do you usually have before comp. Does your team stay a day or something after competition or leave right after comp or what?

[blondmmgirl88]

I think it will be nice to have nationals in Georgia. I went to Wichita last year and DC this year, and although I had a blast at both competitions, Kansas was almost more fun because we just got to RELAX because there wasn't a ton to do. And I don't know about other schools, but May is pretty much the worst month of the entire school year with AP/IB tests, finals, and teachers trying to fit everything in at the last minute. So going on any vacation, no matter if there is a lot to do there, is nice.

As to answer your questions tehkubix, we usually leave Wednesday, do stuff around the area all day Thursday (it's really fun to have nothing to do that day!), Friday you have some free time and some competition stuff (opening ceremony, swap meet, etc.), and then Saturday is the competition, and then on Sunday we leave (we have to get back to school unfortunately).

[eak227]

The best Thursday I've ever had at a national competition was 7th grade. Why? Because it was at Ohio State... which if you've ever been to the area... it is the midwest. I mean, yeah if you looked hard enough I'm sure you could find a museum or something. But since there wasn't much to do, we all just hung out. The best part of it was the team going to this mini-golf area, where we just messed around and bonded forever. Minigolf, go karts, and laser tag, and we didn't pay for most of it, the school did.

How much fun you have at nationals has less to do with the location, and more to do with how much you love your team. Good teams will have fun no matter the conditions... though OSU did push it. On Friday all the teams tour the campus, check out the homeroom, and find events and such. Well, OSU is like the king of superhuge campuses. Very very spread out. While they kept the competition mostly in one area, the ceremonies and WS were wayyy out there (so was Bottle Rocket if I remember right). So one of the people on our team ended up fainting, because we were wandering around all day in the 95 degree blazing sun.


But really, nationals makes SO worth every minute you put into it. So so rewarding, even if you don't medal or anything.

[penclspinner]

So, you all said there was "lots to do" in Atlanta.

What are these activities exactly?

To name a few areas of interest....

1) Georgia Institute of Technology
2) Emory University
3) World of Coca-Cola
4) CNN headquarters
5) Georgia Aquarium
6) Centennial Park
7) Fox Theater
8) Atlanta Botanical Gardens
9) Underground Atlanta
10) Atlanta Zoo
etc...

[sachleen]

That sound like a lot of fun When we went to states at UC Merced this past year, we stayed at a hotel and it was pretty fun to just relax and have some fun even though I spent a few hours calibrating my EV which did pay off though

[starpug]

Is Augusta where they play the masters near Augusta, Georgia

[penclspinner]

Is Augusta where they play the masters near Augusta, Georgia

Yes Augusta, Georgia is where the PGA Augusta Masters is located.

[eak227]

So everyone who makes it to nationals gets a free round at the links down there???

[Mr. Cool]

So everyone who makes it to nationals gets a free round at the links down there???

haha. That would be cool. I like golf.

[starpug]

I wasn't thinking about playing golf I was thinking about kissing the ground Tiger Woods walked on, for good luck at nationals.