Science Olympiad - Team Structure

Team Structure

Teams are hosted by the school from which the participants attend. Science Olympiad is most often run as an after-school extracurricular activity, but some schools offer Science Olympiad classes which allow students to receive academic credit for participation. A teacher, parent, or student (usually a volunteer) coordinates the team in practice and preparation for the competition. Often there are others who coach individual events as well. A team can consist of up to 15 students and any amount of alternates; some states allow more students per team. At the middle school level, only 5 ninth graders are allowed to compete on one team; at the high school level, only 7 twelfth graders are allowed per team. Homeschool groups may also form teams to compete.

Although teams may have an unlimited number of alternates, it is implicitly stated within the rules that competitors present at the event must have completed all of the work on their event. This is specifically aimed at building events. It is illegal for teams to have their alternates as "builders" and their formal team members as "thinkers". Judges at the event are allowed to ask any question of the machine or contraption in an effort to keep the scenario above from occurring. Nonetheless, competitors, coaches, and entire teams are expected to have integrity and abide by this rule.

A lot of strategy usually goes into the forming of a team. Since events go on at the same time as other events during a competition and conflicts occur, the coach or coordinator must make decisions based on the competitor's specialty and ability in order to correctly place them. Sometimes, usually during the reformation of competitors when a team advances a level, a competitor who wasn't originally planned to compete in a certain event competes in it to fill the certain event slot.