The member schools of the Missouri River Valley Conference are governed by the MRVC East-West Constitution and Bylaws.
The MRVC Season consists of four (4) Quads and a Conference Tournament at both the Varsity and Junior Varsity levels simultaneously. Each school is expected to host a Quad or the Conference Tournament each year. Coaches need to find workers for the matches as outlined in the MSHSAA Rules Book. Each room will need a Moderator (or Reader), a timer, and a scorekeeper. A Quad will consist of a total of four (4) rooms; two (2) for Varsity and two (2) for Junior Varsity. The Tournament will need up to 12 rooms for Prelims and four (4) rooms for Finals.
Quads are historically played on Wednesday evenings starting at 5:00 PM and consist of three matches. Across the Conference, there are three (3) Quads happening simultaneously. With an odd number of schools, one Quad will be designated as the "Expanded Quad" and will consist of five (5) total schools and will have prescribed matchups. Three (3) schools will have a BYE Round in the "Expanded Quad." The schedule will be made to evenly distribute the BYE Rounds as fairly and equally as possible. Every school except one (1) will have a BYE Round. That school will face every other school exactly once. [This was established by convention as new schools/new coaches sometimes have difficulty fielding a team consistently. By setting the schedule so that the team plays every other team exactly once provides parity of potential additional bonus BYE Rounds. If a school was placed in this position, they would need to successfully field a Varsity Team at every MRVC competition for two (2) years consecutively to be removed from this position.] The Coaches will determine which team is placed in the "Plays Everyone Once" position. Suggestions include the No Call, No Show school; the Tournament Host; the previous year's Varsity Champion; the previous year's Junior Varsity Champion; etc.
The Conference Secretary is responsible for purchasing the Question packets from the same question provider as MSHSAA and will send the packets to be printed to your AD or AD Secretary prior to your Quad. Currently, thar provider is NAQT. There is a variety of helpful information and study materials available on their website. It is imperative that your readers read the correct packet at the correct time. NAQT provides 18 question packets each year. Packets 1-12 are used at the Quads and 13-17 are used in the Tournament.
The Top Four (4) teams from the Quads are seeded to enter the tournament. The Top 4 will not play each other in the prelims of the Tournament and the top three (3) will have a BYE round [if necessary]. The remaining seeds are drawn at the tournament. The Tournament consists of a three (3) match Preliminary Round (Prelims). The top four (4) schools from Prelims advance to Semi-finals, followed by Third Place and Championship Matches happening simultaneously.
Seniors are not allowed to play on JV, even if it is their first year participating. (Foreign Exchange Students can be appealed to the Coaches Committee).
Underclassmen may play on Varsity, but it they play on half or more of their Quad matches on Varsity, they CANNOT play on JV for the Tournament.
We make the best attempt to maximize the number of opponents each school faces during the season.
We try to keep the travel distance to 60 miles or less for Quads as a courtesy.
New coaches will NOT be expected to host on the first Quad Night. We want you to see at least one in action before you are expected to host.
Scores from the Quads and Tournament are submitted to the Website Admin rphillips@ogr6.org and will be updated throughout the year. Scores will be submitted to NAQT at the end of the Season. Quad Hosts do not need to submit scores to NAQT.
L. Scholar Bowl By-Laws
By-Law 1L All MRVC academic bowl competitions will be administered within the guidelines and regulations established by the MSHSAA.
By-Law 2L The general supervision of any MRVC academic tournament will be the responsibility of the MRVC Academic Competition Advisory Committee consisting of all MRVC Academic Coaches.
By-Law 3L MRVC Academic Tournament
Section 1 The annual MRVC Academic Bowl will be held prior to the MSHSAA District Academic Bowl competition with the date being approved annually by the executive board. All twelve [thirteen] schools will compete against each other.
Section 2 The tournament will be hosted by each conference school on an alphabetical rotational basis.
Section 3 Competition will follow the format used in district and state competition.
Section 4 A double tournament will be held with competition for both varsity and junior varsity divisions. A junior varsity player will be defined as a player in grades 9, 10 or 11 who does not regularly play on the varsity team. A junior varsity player can appear in no more than 49 % of a varsity team’s competitions during a given season. Varsity and junior varsity designation will be based on the proficiency of the player as determined by the player’s coach.
Section 5 Questions for the tournament will be purchased from the same company that provides questions for district and state competition. If the same company is unable to supply questions for the MRVC tournament, a committee of the current host coach, the preceding year’s host coach, and the next year’s host coach will select a question company by December 1 of that academic year. Final approval of the selected question company will be made by the conference secretary. The host coach will notify all MRVC coaches of the company supply the questions.
Section 6 The host school will provide officials for the tournament, although member schools will be expected to provide helpers for the tournament.
By-Law 4L Awards
Section 1 Conference tournament champions in both the varsity division and the junior varsity division will be determined, and plaques will be presented.
Section 2 Plaques will be awarded to the first and second place teams in the varsity division and to the first place team in the junior varsity division.
Section 3 All-conference players will be designated in the varsity division based on individual players’ performances in the tournament. All-conference medals will be presented to the top eight players in the varsity division. Determination of all conference status will follow the Missouri Academic Coaches Association’s guidelines for all tournament selections.
By-Law 5L The MRVC will schedule four (4) mini, round robin quad competitions among member schools for both varsity and junior varsity to be scheduled by the MRVC Academic Competition Advisory Committee in consultation with the activities directors. Quads will be held from late November through February and will include all thirteen (13) schools. The MRVC tournament will continue to be held in March.
By-Law 6L Fees
Section 1 No entry fees will be charged for MRVC academic competitions.
Section 2 The conference will provide money for the cost of questions, awards, judges and basic administration of the tournament.