Knowing each other before going to Nationals is so important. Texas never started winning until 2005 when I happened to have all 4 of the kids from my program. The next year State Mathcounts flew two of the kids into my school for 4 consecutive weekends. The parents of these two kids also took it upon themselves to drive the kids to Sugar Land every Tuesday evening for a 2 1/2 hour practice. When the kids were flown in for the weekend they all stayed with my kids. For two days each week they did everything together. They really got to know each other by spending so much time together. We ended up having almost 25 practices before Nationals. They got to really know the strengths and weaknesses of each other and they trusted each other. It has been the same for 2007, 2008 and 2009.

It used to be that the coach traveled all over Texas to meet with the kids for just one day of practice, normally at the airport. I hope that they continue the practice of flying the kids into the school of the winning coach. It make a tremendous difference!

Another advantage was that I had all my materials and equipment at my school and I did not have to haul it all over the state.

It all boils down to who is going to put in the most QUALITY time. That has alway been my philosophy. If some team is going to practice 2 hours a week, we are going to practice 10 hours or more. If you put in more quality time than every one else you should be somewhat better than the competition.

The support for the Texas Mathcounts team does not come from the school districts. It is coming from the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. It is their people who are devoting time and energy to make sure that we do the best we can at nationals. There is some monetary support (grudgingly though) from the state. The money is there but the state (TEA) is trying to get control of it. They do not like the fact that TSPE has control of the money.

About high school programs, I have complained for years about the same things that you mentioned. There does not seem to be any effort to have any kind of continuity from middle school to high school. For the last 10 years, I have sent some of the strongest math kids out to local high schools only to see them not do as much in high school math contests as they should. With the calibre of kids that I have sent them they should be winning everything in sight.

Part of the problem is that middle school kids are a captive audience. They don't drive and most have not discovered the opposite sex. In high school their time is so divided that you just do not see the level of dedication that you have in middle school.

The other major reason is that these programs seem to be coach driven. A lot of high schools to not have a sponsor who is highly motivated and enthusiastic and who runs organized practices and makes sure that the best kids get to contests and helps in setting up the contest schedule and does fund raising. Most everything is done by 2-4 students who do not have any real support from the administration.

If the truth be known, when I leave or retire, my program (which I think is one of the best) will be dead in two years. There might be a little carry over the first year but the second year it would be like taking your finger out of a bucket of water. Once the ripples die you could never tell that there was ever a finger in the bucket. I am really concerned about that happening to my program in 5 years.

But if you look at the other side of the coin, it is hard for someone to devote the time and effort that is needed. They have familes. They have work and other job responsibilities. They have kids of their own. Their kids have obligations that drain time away and the biggie is that schools will not pay good money to have a full time sponsor. I n the ten years that I have been at my present position, my kids have won over 400 math championships and I am still getting the same stipend that I got on the first year. My position is unique in that my full time job revolves around preparing kids for math contests. I do not have any other job responsibilities. I do not have to worry about standardized tests. Plus my wife is my assistant coach. If my wife was not on board I could never do what I need to do to be successful.

I don't think that most school systems get it!