Tournament Policies

Please be sure to review the following policies before tournament day.

Eligibility

• Schools must be registered with their home state Science Olympiad organization and must have paid all applicable state and national fees prior to competing in the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament.
• All teams must conform to the Science Olympiad Division C membership rules specified here.
• All competitors must meet the requirements for competition per the eligibility rules specified here.
• Competing in the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament does not qualify schools or teams to participate in the Massachusetts Science Olympiad state competition.
• All teams must complete the required forms prior to attending the competition. See Required Forms for more information.

Rules

• Unless otherwise stated, the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament will follow all national-level rules as stated in the official rule book and the official, national-level rule clarifications regardless of state-level rule changes or clarifications adopted by Massachusetts, the West Suburban Science League, or any other state organization.
• Each team must be accompanied to the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament by at least one unique adult. (In other words, schools which send two teams to the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament must be accompanied by at least two adults on competition day.)
• Teams must abide by the Science Olympiad code of ethics and general rules specified here. In particular:
  • If a student does not follow accepted safety procedures, he/she will be penalized or disqualified.
  • All pre-built devices presented for judging must be constructed, impounded, and operated by one or more of the 15 current team members unless stated otherwise in the rules.
  • If a device has been removed from the event area, appeals related to that device will not be considered. See Arbitration below.
• Both alternates and regular team members are eligible to participate in trial events.
• Each team member may be a part of only one team.

Wristband Procedures

We will be using wristbands on competition day to identify the competitors. Please observe the following notes about wristbands.

• Students will not be allowed to compete without wristbands, so please make sure you have 15 wristbands in your package for team members and two wristbands for alternates. There will be no exceptions to this rule. Team members and alternates MUST have wristbands for all events, including Trial Events.
• Accepting the coach's package constitutes an agreement that you have verified that the correct number of wristbands are in your packet.
• Wristbands should be secured onto the wrists of each competing team member and alternate and should be tight enough so as to not be able to slip off.
• If a wristband is defective or damaged, the coach and student must bring the band to headquarters for validation and replacement before they are allowed to compete.
• Event supervisors will check for wristbands before the event begins.

Arbitration

Arbitration can be conducted if a competitor or coach feels that an event was not run in accordance with the rules. Please observe the following notes about arbitration.

• Should you choose to arbitrate an event, first inform the Event Supervisor so that he or she can note the details of what happened.
• Bring your complaint to the tournament headquarters where the Arbitration Committee will be. You will be asked to write down a description of your dispute as well as the particular rule(s) you believe were violated.
• In the case of a build event arbitration, YOU MUST LEAVE THE BUILD AT THE TESTING LOCATION AFTER THE RUN IN CONTENTION. If a build is removed from the testing location, we cannot arbitrate, regardless of the point of contention.