The first year that coach Borja Sotomayor and his University of Chicago team appeared in the AMC-ICPC World Finals in 2009, they didn’t solve a single problem.
“We completely did not realize the caliber of finalists that were at the World Finals,” he said.
The school has improved its performance annually, helping Sotomayor earn a 2013 Coach Award for bringing his team to the World Finals five times.
The university also has organized and hosted the University of Chicago Invitational Programming Contest the past two years to help North American finalists, especially new teams, train for the world stage. Over a weekend, the teams have discussions about problems and complete two 5-hour, World Finals-style sessions.
“This is especially beneficial for the teams that are new to the World Finals because they are not sure the best way to train and what level of difficulty it is going to be,” Sotomayor said. “So it’s better for them to go through that sort of shock at the invitational than at the World Finals.”
All of the world finalists for the North America super region participated in the invitationals – 22 in 2012 and 23 in 2013. The first-time world finalist team from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology said the Chicago invitational was close to the real thing.
“It was exactly like the World Finals,” said Rose-Hulman student Alex Memering. “That got us ready for this [2013 World Finals Dress Rehearsal]. This rehearsal was a lot less real pressure.”
Coach Shawn Bohner said the 2013 team consists of three rising juniors.
“One of the things that we lack is experience,” Bohner said. “Let’s face it. We’re a young team. “
Team member Erik Sanders said the training in Chicago helped him realize how stiff the global competition is. In the regionals, some people could rely on basic programming skills and speed. The World Finals is different.
“It’s a lot about experience and knowing how to do the problems when you see them,” Sanders said. “You can’t just go into a problem and blindly think of a way to do it and succeed. We could tell that it was a completely different game.”
Mohamed Abd El-Wahab has helped organize training camps in Arab countries to help the region improve its global standings. Four sessions have been held in Cairo, Alexandra and Syria since September. El-Wahab and his coaching partners aim to share the importance of participants in the ICPC contest and recruit new teams across the region.
“This gives them a chance to work with new companies, put this on their CV,” said El-Wahab, who is coaching two 2013 world finalists.
“Every team that got last place is still known as a World Finalist.”
Yasser Yahia, who was 2010 ICPC world finalist for the University of Cairo, has benefited from El-Wahab’s coaching and now helps run the training camps.
“You feel lost at the beginning but then you discover a new world,” Yahia said. “It opens our minds to a new technique, new knowledge.”
Every year, Arab countries get better results, El-Wahab said.
The North American teams have fared better with training camps, too.
“When we look at how the North American teams placed in 2011 versus 2012, which is the first year that we had the invitational, there is definitely an increase in performance for the team,” said Sotomayor. “I’m hoping to continue to see that trend this year.”
Dioni L. Wise for ICPCNews