Head Coach

• A head Coach
• Up to 17 students from your school, with a desire to have fun with science; there is not a minimum number of students.
• $100 registration fee
• Parents, teachers or others to serve as Event Coaches

Macomb Community College (South Campus)
14500 E. 12 Mile Rd., Warren, MI 

Practice tournaments have other locations.

This website has many great resouces.  Here are a few things to look for:

• Head Coach Handbook (see above)
• Interviews with past participants (link TBD)
• The event rules are posted under Events
• Training workshops for coaches

Registration for Primary teams normally opens in the 1st week of September, and is available until all 88 tournament slots are filled.  Sometimes we get close.  Registering earlier is generally better.

Each school may have one Primary team.

After the beginning of November, we open registration to Second teams (from the same schools).   This accomodates those schools which have more than 17 students who wish to participate.

Each team has only one official coach (often referred to as the "Head Coach"). This is the person whose name appears on the registration form sent to Science Olympiad. Teams may have as many additional assistant coaches as they wish. They are often called "Event Coaches".

Yes you may.  However, only 17 students may compete at the Macomb Tournament, per registered team.

There are many other interesting non-competitive activities for your additional students to experience, and we encourage you to invite them.

 Some practice (district) tournaments allow extra (or alternate) team members to compete.  Please review the policies for your respective tournament.

It takes a large number of people to conduct an event of this magnitude.  We need many volunteers to make things work.  We are working to increase the number of volunteers from our community in hopes of reducing or eliminating this requirement.

You will receive an update regarding this requirement as the season progresses.  In recent years each team has been asked to provide at least one volunteer.

The content of the team picture is left to each individual school. You may include all team members regardless of your final registration roster.

Open Events are fun-science oriented activities that we want your students to enjoy when they are not competing on Tournament day.  There is no requirement to participate.  They are not included in the tournament scoring.  But they are loads of fun!

As we get closer to May, more information will be released on the particulars.  You might be able to find a listing from last year’s tournament on this website.

In general, the team's head coach should be an adult 21 or older.  Please contact us if you plan to appoint someone younger than that.  Science Olympiad has no restrictions on who may be assistant or event coaches.

Check with your school's administration to determine if they have any additional requirements. Some high schools give credit for community service and students may like to volunteer.

On any Macomb Science Olympiad test, not answering a question will result in the same score as answering the question wrong.

 Students are not penalized for guessing if they are uncertain of an answer.  It would be in their best interest to not leave any questions blank, especially multiple choice questions.

Your students' parents will be your first option to explore.  This is a great opportunity for parents to work with their child. 

Other possibilities are: grandparents, older siblings, high school students (particularly NHS students who are looking for community service opportunities), other teachers and student teachers in your school, your school principal and others people that work in your school, community experts (doctors, nurses, weather enthusiasts, engineers, astronomy club members, etc.)

These are common items:

- Registration fees for your team(s)

- Supplies for the events (Quick Start Kits are available for purchase for many events)

- Team t-shirts for students (and coaches?)

- Maybe food and drinks for meetings and any end of the year celebration.

Check with your principal to see if there is money set aside in their school budget or in the PTO budget. 

Some schools have tapped local businesses for donations in return for putting their logo on the team t-shirts. 

Sometimes event coaches donate the money they spend on their supplies they need.  Be sure to discuss this prior to coaching to make sure you are aware of any coach reimbursements that will be submitted.   

Some schools require students to "Pay to Play".   

If you have limited money, you may want to purchase supplies for some events this year and then plan for more events next year.  Some events require very little money while other require more.  Be sure to save your materials from this year so you don't have to buy them again next year.

- See if there are any students who have competed in Science Olympiad before.  Their prior knowledge can be a big advantage.

- Ask the students teachers to see if they are doing well in science, are responsible, and work well in teams.

- Give a test on general science.

- Run a science club or science fun session to see who shows up and who displays interest, enthusiasm, and ability.