Coaching an ARML Team

Denouement

2008-06-02T09:40:00.001-07:00

I got home from ARML around 4am Sunday, then slept for twelve hours. I made a couple of posts on AoPS and Facebook letting the students know how proud I was of their performance over the weekend and expressing my excitement about next year, and I sent an email to the coaches thanking them and reminding them to get their receipts to me so I can reimburse them for gas, food, and such. I have a few odds and ends to take care of, mostly in terms of sending out reimbursements and making sure prizes from the sponsors get distributed to the students, and then it's on to next year..

Looking back over the list of USAMO qualifiers from this year and the results from ARML, I am convinced that with some better recruiting SFBA should be able to have THREE teams in the top 15 each year, with our A team perennially among the top three nationally. Depending on how successful we are next year at recruiting the top students from the Bay Area, it might even make sense to field two A teams - one from Silicon Valley and one from the East Bay, for instance - that could BOTH be competitive for national awards. I'll try to get some input from the students to see what they would think of this scenario. I think the teams could benefit from a cross-Bay rivalry and it may even help our recruiting efforts among students outside the top 15, but I also want to be wary of depriving our top 15 of the chance to score as highly as they possibly could..

Tiebreakers and ETA

2008-05-31T23:19:00.001-07:00

We stopped for an hour to get dinner and refill the ice chest with water (the students were banned from eating or drinking anything other than water on the bus after leaving a mess Friday morning). Once we got back on the bus we administered a tiebreaker round to some of our students. We had eight students who got a score of 6 on the Individual round today, so the four coaches on the bus each wrote one question for the tiebreaker round, and we brought those eight students to the front of the bus to determine who our team champions are for this year. We gave ARML coffee mugs to the top three students as prizes. I will attempt to post the tiebreakers and solutions as a comment on this post if I can get the authors to write them up..

Right now my best estimate of a return time is 1:45 at Berkeley and 2:30 at Stanford. These are only estimates, of course, and students will be encouraged to call home if things change significantly from these figures. I don't anticipate any chance that we will arrive earlier than these times, but if we arrive in Berkeley before 1:45 we will stay at least until 1:45 for any parents who haven't shown up yet..

Final Results

2008-05-31T17:34:00.001-07:00

Well ARML is over and the SFBA team is on the bus home. Most of Arizona and Nevada is heading home as well, and New Mexico will return tomorrow. This was by far the most successful year I have had in fifteen years as an ARML coach, and I am very proud of all our students. All six of our teams were in the top half of teams nationally, and all five of the Division B teams were in the top 30% of that division. One of our Desert Southwest students won a medal for being the top individual scorer on the Alternate team, and of course the high scorers on each of our six teams received medals as well..

The Nevada/New Mexico team won the Division B site award, and each student was awarded a trophy and a book prize. SFBA(B) placed third in Division B, and each student was awarded a plaque and a list of prizes I haven't gotten to the bottom of yet. A really pleasant surprise was SFBA(F)'s score of 35 on the Power Question, a score that was beaten by only five teams nationwide - all of them in Division A..

The big story was SFBA(A), which achieved a perfect score of 40 on both the Team and Power rounds. One other team had a perfect Team round, and no other teams were perfect on the Power Question. Not only did Team A place fourth nationally (a significant improvement over last year), but they were the number one team in the nation on the team portion of the contest. Although there is no award or official recognition for this accomplishment, it speaks volumes about what we have been able to build in just a month and a half of working together. With such a young team and plans already underway to begin building our team earlier next year, I expect to do even better in 2009..

Testing is Over

2008-05-31T13:37:00.001-07:00

So the students have finished testing and have enjoyed a nice long lunch break. I love coming to ARML and getting a chance to meet people from all over, and it's nice to see our students making friends from other teams. That's one of the real strengths of face to face competitions and the biggest reason why I work so hard to promote them at all levels. We're getting ready for the super relay and the awards ceremony; I'll post again when I have final results..

End of the First Day

2008-05-31T00:45:00.001-07:00

Too busy to write much earlier today; it was a flurry of activity. After checking students in this morning, I dealt with getting the bus driver a better hotel when the one I booked for him turned out to be a total dump. Four hours of sleep later I began planning for the afternoon's meetings: SFBA team at 2, which was surprisingly efficient - I wrote out a list of things for students to take note of, then they rotated through the meeting room in a circle picking up t-shirts, literature, and pizza; coaches meeting at 3:30; Desert Southwest meeting at 5; meeting with Peter Shiue of UNLV at 6:45 to talk about TRML and some business ideas while the students were testing. Then we went to the quiz show contest sponsored by AMS and both SFBA and DSW ended up last in their brackets. But that was just for money; the ARML contest is for the glory of winning ARML, which is far more important. :) Supervised students in the dorm until midnight, and I finally have time to write now that the students are off to bed. They'll be up early for breakfast and the individual round; I'll try to find some results and post them as I get a chance..

Insomnia

2008-05-30T02:04:00.001-07:00

Remind me why I'm on an overnight bus that will get into Las Vegas around 6am, just in time for me to go sleep as the sun is rising? Seriously, we need to reconsider this for next year. Not only would leaving earlier in the day Thursday allow us substantial practice time both Thursday and Friday, but it would also allow students to maintain a reasonable sleep schedule. Drawbacks? Slight extra cost for the additional night of housing, but so worth it. I suppose there might be some difficulty with students who would have to miss school Thursday; I should take a survey and see what impact such a change would have (had) on participation. For now though, sleep. Most of the students are asleep, and even the student who was loudly philosophizing about Yu-gi-oh until about 1 has finally quieted down..

And We're Off...

2008-05-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm writing this from the SFBA bus. After starting at Stanford we picked up the last few students at Berkeley and are now on our way to Las Vegas. Two students rode with a parent and will meet us there, and we have 51 students on the bus (one became ill and couldn't make it). I'll try to send updates as frequently as I can for the benefit of parents watching this site for information..

Organizing and Disseminating Information

2008-05-29T18:46:00.001-07:00

I spent yesterday morning creating a comprehensive spreadsheet from our database that lists pertinent information (such as contact info and team status) for all our ARML participants this year. I sent this spreadsheet to all our coaches and used this to create nametags for all our participants; I don't know wy I never thought of this before..

I sent an email to the SFBA students Tuesday with transportation information and sent an email last night to everyone with information on where we are staying and how to contact me, along with packing tips and a few rules (don't leave campus, etc.)..

In an effort to facilitate communication on site, I have arranged to have meetings with all the teams and coaches in one of the lounges in the dorm tomorrow. I will also designate this lounge as the official team information center and will post notices there throughout the weekend. I have already printed a sign with room numbers of all the chaperones so students can find us if they need to..

Hopefully all this effort will facilitate communication; with over a hundred people in our group this year, we'll need it..

The Home Stretch

2008-05-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

I haven't updated in a while, but most of the past week I have just been on autopilot, responding to emails as they come in. Most everything else has been delegated or finalized already, and I am dealing with odds and ends of making sure everyone runs practices correctly and gets transportation organized. It's nice to have so many assistant coaches helping with things this year, and having Audra take care of a lot of the database maintenance has been great..

After going to practices a week ago both in Phoenix and the Bay Area, I spent this week confirming that our numbers match up in terms of people, payments, permission slips, etc. I confirmed the housing lists for our teams and split the SFBA students into the four teams - our A team has 14 USAMO qualifiers and our B team has 4, but I'd like to figure out a way to get a greater proportion of the Bay Area's USAMO qualifiers in the future. T-shirts have been ordered and I've sent trip details to the DSW students. I need to confirm pickup locations with the bus at Berkeley and Stanford before I can send that information out to the SFBA team..

It should be a busy week, but I don't anticipate any additional items to blog about before we leave for the trip. We'll make a Costco run at some point to get snacks for the bus, and at some point I will start processing refunds for students who canceled early enough that we did not have to pay for their housing. I'll try to post updates from ARML at this blog so parents and friends back home can stay informed during the trip. If anyone else is interested in having access to this blog to post about this year's ARML meet, just let me know..

Finalizing Rosters

2008-05-15T00:38:00.001-07:00

This blog entry will be deceptively short relative to the dozens of hours I have spent on working on ARML preparations over the last week. Things are coming together with the teams, and I submitted all the information about our teams to the ARML website on Tuesday. I am still waiting on a couple of checks from Arizona, and hoping to accommodate a couple more students off the SFBA waiting list, but these students have all been submitted to ARML in the hope that they will all make it to ARML. The toughest part was figuring out exactly which adults would be going, and I hope to have a better plan in place to deal with that next year. I set up mailing lists for the coaches of both regions (SFBA and Desert Southwest), and sent them information tonight about team composition, lodging, t-shirts and so forth. We have designs for both t-shirts now, and I have delegated ordering the t-shirts to assistant coaches. I'm calling my DSW teams A (for Arizona) and N (for Nevada/New Mexico); the SFBA teams are conveniently named S, F, B, and A. Still waiting on a few permission slips and bus reservations from the students, but the most urgent details have been taken care of. I'll be running practices in Tempe and Palo Alto this weekend, so that should be fun. There will be more later, but I need some sleep now..

A Modest Proposal

2008-05-08T03:48:00.001-07:00

As I look at the way things are likely to shape up in the Bay Area for next year, I notice a number of obstacles that will need to be overcome, and I think I have come up with a solution that will address all these concerns. I would be very interested in hearing any comments and suggestions from other coaches (particularly with respect to team selection) as well as affected students and parents..

First, I am concerned about costs rising again next year. The bus we are using this year costs about 50% more than the bus we used from the same company two years ago, and I expect fuel prices to continue to rise. I am holding out hope that the $275 we are charging students this year will be sufficient to cover our costs, but I am seriously worried that even $300 may not be enough next year. Given that, I think it might be a good idea to start looking into sustainable fundraising opportunities for the future..

Next, the transportation situation is always tight on the bus. The bus we have this year can accommodate three full teams of 15 students and a full coaching staff, and the only way we have been able to accommodate more than that the last three years is because some parents have volunteered to fly with their students in order to open up additional space on the bus for more team members. We obviously can't rely on this as a long-term solution, but I do think we can continue to count on there being sufficient interest from the Bay Area to field three full teams as long as costs do not increase substantially. As such, it might be worth looking into a system where we can implement a fair and objective method of selecting 45 students to represent the Bay Area at ARML each year..

This leads right into the issue of team selection. In addition to having to choose which 45 students can go to ARML, we will be faced next year with the issue we have every year, namely that of selecting which students go on which team. We have been administering team selection tests at our Sunday practices, but this method ends up taking up more than half our time at each practice, when I feel we should be spending more time on content and team building. In addition, because we have only four of these tests and take each student's top three scores, a student who has more than one conflict with our practices is in trouble. On top of this is the fact that team selection is occurring so late in the year we won't have our rosters finalized until less than two weeks before ARML..

We also run a risk in the future of being unable to provide fresh tests this late in the year. We obviously can't use old ARML tests for team selection, as those are all accessible to students who search for them. This year we have been using tests from mathleague.org, NYSML, and TRML, all of which are similar enough to ARML that it makes sense to use their individual rounds even if they are easier than ARML tests to varying extents. While the mathleague.org tests have been given out the same weekend they are officially released, we had a three or four week lag between the date the NYSML tests were released and when we administered them; the TRML lag is several months. This strategy worked fine for this year, but NYSML and TRML will dry up as problem sources once students realize we are using them and that they can get their hands on copies in advance. All this suggests a need for some sort of team selection mechanism that is independent of our team practices, that concludes earlier in the year, that offers students more opportunities to participate, and that can ensure fresh tests..

With that in mind, I propose that the SFBA team employ a team selection mechanism that ranks students based on their performance at various math contests throughout the year. I have no problem incorporating a mandatory AIME score into this mix, because the importance of the AMC contests is such that no ARML student should miss out on that contest. I hesitate to include AMC 10/12 scores for two reasons: first, I have yet to see a valid metric that allows scores from those two tests to be compared; second, I find it unreasonable that any student accepted onto our ARML teams would not have qualified for the AIME, so in that sense an appropriately weighted AIME score should serve as an even more reliable proxy for a student's AMC index..

As for other contests, it makes sense to allow students to attend a number of contests and to take the top three or four performances. The biggest problem here is that my students only reported about three or four contests that currently exist in the Bay Area, and to require students to attend all of these does nothing to alleviate the schedule conflict problem I identified above. So to implement my proposal we will need to increase significantly the number of contests in the Bay Area. The other big problem is that it will be difficult to assign some sort of composite score to students given the diverse nature of the contests that currently exist, unless we can find some way to normalize the scores or to impose some sort of standardization on the contests..

As things stand, mathleague.org is currently equipped to solve both of these problems by supplying tests for as many as eight additional contests per year in a consistent format that will allow scores from one contest to be compared to scores from all the other contests. Eight of these contests will provide students ample opportunity to register three or four valid scores for team selection. Furthermore, while some of these contests could be hosted by schools or colleges, the ARML team could host contests on any of the unclaimed dates and operate these contests as fundraisers for the team. I estimate that for $10 per student we could host contests that would provide nice awards and lunch for the students while still raising a significant amount of funds for the ARML team. In addition, we could sweeten the deal by offering students who are accepted onto the team a $10 rebate off their ARML fees for each contest they attended. This would create a situation where students on the team would incur no net cost to participate in these contests while realizing the benefit of a further discount based on the revenue generated by the contests..

I do think it is important to be able to include results from other contests as well, so I would like to start a dialogue with the extant contests in the Bay Area to see if we could find a way to incorporate them into the team selection process, either by using mathleague.org contests or by coming up with an approprite way to scale the results from the contests in their current format..

The biggest problem I anticipate with this setup will be what to do about students who claim to find out about this process too late in the year (realistically, in March) to participate in the team selection process. I would plan to advertise heavily at other contests, on AoPS, over the team mailing list, and through a direct mailing to schools across the region. However, there is still a chance a student could slip through the cracks. To be fair, even this year I have had some students claim that they found out about ARML too late to attend the first few practices, but this issue will become more acute as we move to an earlier process. I'll have to give some thought to how to deal with this fairly; any suggestions are certainly welcome..

Another Busy Week

2008-05-08T03:46:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I spent some time taking care of some financial items for my teams. I went to Office Max to get a deposit only stamp before going to the bank to deposit several dozen checks. I also paid for the bus for the Bay Area teams and started a spreadsheet to track finances for each state where I have teams. I'll take a look at the end of the season to see how the final numbers worked out and whether we need to raise or lower fees for next year in any of the states (or come up with innovative fundraising ideas - see my next post)..

I also sent out emails over the weekend to the students letting them know whether we received their payments and permission slips on time. We had 53 Bay Area students who made it by the deadline, and I am compiling a waiting list of additional students who are interested in going. I have registered four SFBA teams with ARML, so I'm hoping to take an additional seven students off the waiting list if we have sufficient transportation for them. A lot of this will depend on how many students are traveling with their parents, which will free up some additional space on the bus. I've sent a letter to the SFBA list asking students to let us know whether they are planning to board the bus in Berkeley or Stanford or arranging alternate transportation with their parents. I've hired some part time help to take care of organizing things like this, and it's one of the best administrative decisions I've made this year..

I've also sent a letter to my presumed assistant coaches outlining my commitment to pay their way in exchange for their duties organizing practices and transportation in their areas, proctoring and grading at the contest, and chaperoning their group of 15 on the trip. I expect I will also recruit some parents to help drive from Reno, Albuquerque and various parts of Arizona, and/or to fulfill some of the assistant coach duties..

Practice in Reno

2008-05-02T14:02:00.000-07:00

I took a day trip to Reno yesterday to run our first practice in Nevada. Despite only being in the state for a few hours, I had a fabulous time. My primary contact in Reno is affiliated with the Davidson Academy (http://www.davidsonacademy.unr.edu), a fascinating new public school in Nevada that serves only profoundly gifted students. Apparently this school has some incredible drawing power, with families moving from all over the country to Reno so that their students can attend this school. Since I arrived a little early for the practice, I had a chance to meet with several of the teachers and administrators and to find out a lot more about the school..

Our practice was held on the UNR campus. Five of the six students were from the Davidson Academy, and there was one senior from another local high school. We went over logistics and then spent some time practicing power questions and relay rounds. I used mathleague.org tests, since they are designed for smaller groups; I find that these tests work well for practices with a smaller number of students, particularly when the group is young and/or has no ARML experience..

After the practice I went to a math circle meeting with a couple of students from the team. I bought pizza for the group, and one of the professors from UNR went over Diophantine equations with us, which was great because that's one of the areas in which I feel least competent mathematically. One of the other students at the circle expressed an interest in ARML and may be joining the team as well. I also found out a little about a math contest UNR runs and got the contact information for the organizer..

All in all, it was quite a productive day. I'm particularly excited about working with the Davidson Academy students over the next few years, and I'm still holding out hope that we might be able to field a full team from Nevada this year..

Dozens of Emails, and Organizing Chaperones

2008-04-30T17:25:00.001-07:00

I've spent a good portion of my last two days answering questions that have come in from prospective participants. The net result is that I think I should develop some sort of FAQ for next year. I hope to be able to go through all the emails I respond to this year and prepare some stock answers for publication next year. While this won't eliminate all the idiosyncratic travel requests I get, I hope it will at least cut down on some of the more common questions I get asked..

The Paypal option seems to be working nicely. I will be hiring some part time help to get all the payments, permission slips, and practice results synchronized in the database. I'll try to get a full list of practice dates and locations pinned down for AZ/NM/NV soon..

So it turns out organizing our chaperones is far less straightfoward than giving the students deadlines for getting their paperwork in. Most of this is my own doing, because I won't have a clear picture of how many parents I need (and will therefore pay for) until I know to some degree of certainty how many students we have from each state. I'm not really sure how to simplify this process, but I will give it some thought and am certainly open to suggestions. Now that I am using our application form to sign up chaperones as well, I am coming to realize I should either modify the form for next year or create a separate form for chaperones..

Setting Up Paypal

2008-04-28T23:20:00.001-07:00

Today I got everything set up to take payments for ARML online through Paypal. I also extended the permission slip deadline to May 15 - realistically, as long as I have payments by May 1, there is really no urgency to get the permission slips in. This also gives additional time to get the permission slips notarized, and gives almost everyone a chance to hand the permission slips to me personally if they prefer. By the way, I've confirmed a trip to Reno this Thursday to visit the math circle there and run an ARML practice..

Bay Area Practice

2008-04-28T00:20:00.001-07:00

Today was our third practice at Stanford. Last week I couldn't make it, but my assistant coaches did a fine job doing some testing and going over power questions. Same thing this week, but I noticed that the individual testing took up over half of our practice time, leaving not nearly enough time to get through what I wanted to. So looking ahead to next year, I'd like to start thinking of ways to get team selection out of the way earlier so we can use our practices for more productive teamwork rather than so much testing. I'm thinking it may be productive to have some sort of system based on contest performance where students can accumulate points throughout the year. I'll give it some thought and solicit feedback from students and coaches, but this might be a way to make our team practices more productive while also encouraging more participation in local contests. My only concern is whether this would disadvantage students who find out late (a shame) or who think they are too good to compete in local contests (not so much a shame). I'd be interested to hear what other coaches do to decide who is on A and B teams and so forth. I remember when I was in charge of Missouri we used mathleague.org results from the state and regional championships, but nothing similar exists in California. Yet..

The other big frustration I've been dealing with is students who just don't get why I need their permission slips notarized. Beyond the legal ramifications that these students probably haven't thought about, I find it disturbing that one of the big arguments against notarized permission slips is because they weren't required in the past. I guess the mentality is that I'm supposed to perpetuate the oversights of previous years..

Dealing with Applications

2008-04-26T21:56:00.001-07:00

Busy week, as I anticipated. So I've annexed New Mexico, and amid dealing with inane questions from the Bay Area this week that are already answered on our website, I spent a lot of time corresponding with my contacts in Reno and Albuquerque to pin down some details about how students from Nevada and New Mexico will get involved. So at this point it looks like we'll have slightly more than two teams from the region I've officially designated on the ARML site as "Desert Southwest". I'm thinking of splitting this vast region into sub-regions and putting an assistant coach in charge of each; this is already how things are working de facto, and it will be nice to have local people on the ground running practices and organizing transportation..

So last night I sent out my letter to applicants. In AZ/NM/NV I accepted all the students who applied, as I anticipated. The letter I sent out basically gave instructions for where and when to send the permission slip and payment, explained the nature of our multi-state organization and how students might be shuffled around or designated as alternates, and asked for ideas for our t-shirt design for this year. The Bay Area letter was a little different; I acknowledged that there are probably a lot of names in the application database of students who aren't planning to go to ARML, and that as such things are really up in the air given the transportation situation. The problem is if I get more students than I can fit on one bus but not enough to fit on two buses, I will have to cut some students. So I told students to send in their checks and permission slips, and I would tell them by the end of next week whether we could accommodate them. As usual, I anticipate there will be some students who ask about making alternate transportation arrangements, and this may increase slightly the number of students I am able to take..

For anyone who is interested, I am using the same permission slip for all teams in the organization, and it can be found at http://mathleague.org/permission.php. I have been hearing grumblings on the AoPS Forum about the fact that I am requiring the permission slips to be notarized, but I guess that just means I'm doing the right thing. It'll be interesting to see whether any parents complain; my guess is that parents will be pleased that we are taking extra precautions like this. Either way, it would be irresponsible for me or any coach not to require permission slips to be notarized..

Full Speed Ahead

2008-04-23T14:18:00.001-07:00

Looks like things are really starting to pick up. Applications were due yesterday, and I've spent most of today fielding ARML-related calls and emails. Ted Alper is taking care of the t-shirt design process, and my assistant coaches in the Bay Area are doing a great job with practices. We have more than enough for a team from Arizona if everyone commits, as well as a few from Nevada, and I have almost 80 Bay Area students who have indicated an interest..

I called the bus company today to check on options, and things could be a little tricky numbers-wise if we have more than three full teams from SFBA. I'll see how it goes. As for practices, we're on for most Sundays in the Bay Area, and I bought a ticket last night to fly to Phoenix two weeks before ARML for a Saturday practice. I'll have local coaches run all the other practices, but I haven't decided yet whether I'll also go to Phoenix the weekend of the 24th. Things are shaping up for a practice in Reno next Thursday; I'll be heading up there for a practice in the afternoon and then will check out their math circle in the evening if they're meeting..

Over the next two or three days I'll be updating the website with additional information like permission slips and the like, and I'll touch base with all our applicants to give them further details. Hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep by the time the weekend rolls around..

More Recruiting

2008-04-19T21:57:00.001-07:00

I did some more recruiting in Arizona this weekend in an effort to ensure that we have a full team this year. I went to the Arizona state meet today and made a pitch for ARML, giving out $150 in ARML scholarships to the winners. I also sent emails to all the team alums who are still in high school but have not yet applied to be on this year's team. A couple of applications have started coming in from Nevada as well, so I'll see how things shape on that front as things move forward..

Team Boundary Details

2008-04-16T13:17:00.001-07:00

Today I updated the website to include a section for Nevada students, including the appropriate updates to the application form. Still waiting to hear from New Mexico about whether they're planning to join with the Arizona team this year. Meanwhile, I created a second profile on the ARML website for my "Arizona" group, which includes one team with boundaries of "The entire states of Arizona and Nevada". I'll add New Mexico to these boundaries if it becomes appropriate. After hearing back from the group from UC Davis I went back to update my profile for the "San Francisco Bay Area" group, which includes three teams with boundaries of "All counties in California north of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernadino Counties, except for the counties of Yolo, Solano, Sacramento, Placer, and El Dorado". There's a possibility that we may bring four teams from SFBA, but I won't know until closer to the end of the month. I have inquired with the UC Davis group about coordinating transportation in the event that the number of passengers on the buses warrants it..

Transportation Preliminaries

2008-04-15T18:23:00.001-07:00

I sent an inquiry yesterday to the bus company that handled our transportation to ARML from the Bay Area two years ago, and they responded with a quote about 50% higher than the quote we got two years ago. I'm guessing that reflects the much higher gas costs these days, but I will inquire further with them. I am also concerned about some of the uncertainty surrounding how many Bay Area students we will have, because if we have more than about 50 students I will have to get a second bus which could be cost prohibitive unless we can achieve a critical mass of students on the second bus..

In other news, I sent invitations today the dozen or so Nevada students who qualified for the AIME, and I will be updating the website tonight to include a Nevada section. I'll also try to track down Nevada's MATHCOUNTS winners if possible..

First Practice

2008-04-13T23:58:00.001-07:00

We had our first Bay Area ARML practice today; we've got practices scheduled at Stanford for practically every Sunday between now and ARML. We had about 70 students show up, many of whom are new to ARML and many of whom brought their parents. I gave about 45 minutes of orientation to what ARML is, how we run practices, and the logistics of the trip; then we went through three pairs of individual round questions and a power question - all from ARML 2005 (incidentally the only ARML I've missed since 1991). We'll follow up next Sunday with the team and relay from 2005, and we will also begin the testing to determine who is on which team..

As for getting new material for testing, I will be pulling from a few different sources. First I will use the state and regional level target rounds from mathleague.org this year. I plan to make these available for sale to ARML coaches once they are in a presentable form. Anyone who is interested in this option should check here or email me sometime around Mother's Day. I will also be using some questions we have borrowed from the Taiwan Regions Math League (TRML), and am trying to negotiate a plan to make those available to a wider audience. Check back later on that too if you're interested. Finally, I will be using this year's New York State Math League (NYSML) tests. I have purchased NYSML's tests for several years, and they are usually sold for $30. Tests can be ordered through Mike Curry, NYSML's treasurer; his email address is yyoda@concentric.net..

Odds and Ends

2008-04-11T15:21:00.001-07:00

Spent some time this morning reading some of the discussion by the coaches regarding ARML's rule change for the relays this year. Discussion has taken place on the mailing list I set up at http://lists.mathleague.org/mailman/listinfo/armlcoaches; it's good to see some activity on this list finally..

Also sent an email to coaches asking the California coaches to contact me regarding our team boundaries. Kent Merryfield and I agreed that he'll claim the counties of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernadino, which leaves everything to the north for me to split with the group from Davis. I hope to hear from them soon, because I've already begun fielding inquiries from Sacramento County..

As for the Arizona team, I'll claim the states of Arizona and Nevada. I think the best way to get Nevada involved is to start by recruiting some Nevada students onto the Arizona team, then splitting off a separate team once it can stand on its own. This plan worked well for Missouri and Kansas when I did it in the 90s. I sent an email to the primary AMC contact yesterday and will follow up with the other addresses today..

Finally, Mathew Crawford sent me a link today to his blog that contains some information about his own ARML coaching experience, along with other information about math contests and the innovative things he's doing in Alabama. It's located at http://www.mistacademy.com/blog/..

ARML Website Updated; USAMO Qualifiers Announced

2008-04-10T00:24:00.001-07:00

Today I got word that ARML has updated its website with information about the 2008 contest, so I spent some time there tonight looking over what's new. The website has a new look, and it's important to note that they are dropping calculators and adding a pair of individual questions for next year (but not this year). I registered on their site tonight and started looking into what tasks I will need to do. I went ahead and signed up three Bay Area teams and one Arizona team, but of course I will have to wait to input student and coach names until all my applications have come in..

In other news, Ted Alper sent me this link of students who have qualified for the USAMO this year: http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e8-usamo/e8-1-usamoarchive/2008-ua/2008usamoqual.shtml

Mailing Lists and Practices

2008-04-01T14:28:00.001-07:00

I got two main things done today: First, I set up mailing lists for both of my teams. This is pretty easy to do because I have mailman installed on my domain. In fact, if any coaches would like, I can set you up with a mailing list for your teams (we could also talk about web space if you need a place to host a website for your teams). I have instructed students applying for my teams to sign up for the mailing lists, and I populated the Arizona list with last year's students. The Bay Area list has over 500 subscribers, because for several years the former coaches ran a yahoo group for the team from which I imported all the contacts..

I also set up a web page giving practice details for the Bay Area. The undergrad math group at Stanford helps us secure space, so getting practices set up is just a matter of sending them an email. We will be practicing on Sundays from April 13 through May 25, with the exception of May 4. We'll see about adding Berkeley practices if it is feasible given the makeup of our team and the coaching staff. I haven't set up practices for Arizona yet, because I won't know where the team members live until applications close on the 22nd. I'll try to set up at least two practices each in Tucson and Phoenix during May, and will see about organizing at least one practice where the whole team can meet together before we leave for Las Vegas. Last year I had pretty good success getting meeting space at the main Mesa library, and I have used libraries extensively for practices during my 15 years as an ARML coach whenever I didn't have a school building to use..

Still no information on the ARML website about this year's contest, but I'll post here as soon as I see it..