August 2016, I am sitting in my classroom watching my Texas Quiz Bowl team practice. It is our first year, the students are raw. Very inexperienced, clumsy, and they know very few answers. I am inexperienced, nervous, I have never coached a quiz bowl team before. We are rotating in teams of five to identify our strongest players. Our first ever tournament will be in a few days. I honestly have no idea what I am doing. I bought packets, registered three teams and now I am trying to get organized. It is a bit overwhelming seeing as I also mentor Future City, National Science Bowl and TEAMS an engineering competition. My head is just a confused mess. But, I watch my team for a few days and choose who I feel are the strongest players, never expecting to win anything just to gain some experience at our first tournament. I was wrong, we took 2nd place overall at our first competition, also a surprise to the other teams who have been competing for years. But, the win was a trifecta of circumstance, 5 players who had synergy, middle school questions which are easier then future questions and the sheer adrenaline of the students.
Several tournaments came and went, a few we won nothing, while at a couple we won third place, fourth place. Nothing too extraordinary. We were gaining momentum though and at one tournament we qualified two teams for nationals and state. This is when everything changed. The students no longer saw this as mere fun. They began to settle in to a groove, practicing every day with me after school often for 2-3 hours. Students began to get better and better until we truly had 12 students who shined above the rest. They became our state and nationals teams. We went to one competition and they came in 3rd and 4th place. They lost their focus. They began to not play as a team but as individuals. We had several meetings about teamwork and cooperation. We practiced and practiced. I bought speed round packets so students could get faster on the buzzer. We practiced some more. Then the day came, the day students would have to prove to themselves they had what it takes to be a cohesive team. State Competition Day.
This morning they arrived one by one. We have a home field advantage of sorts, it is our feeder high school. The students are excited because this is a familiar venue. They drop their bags and immediately begin to help the head of the competition unload his car of the concessions items, buzzers, and boxes of packets. Then they set up the buzzers and chairs in each of the classrooms. So I lose sight of them for about an hour. Then I take a seat in the crowded cafeteria and take stock of the various teams from across the state. Noticing the familiar competitors from previous regional tournaments. Several coaches make their way over and we chat about the turn out and our plans for nationals. Then collectively we decide to have a regional mini-scrimmage tournament before we go to nationals. I offer to host at Beckendorff. This will be a great way to practice against some challenging teams- these teams are our true competitors. Evenly matched with intelligence and rigor but they have got the speed. Something we are working on heavily these days.
The competition starts. I follow my team A for a bit then switch to team B. They are in different divisions. Each division based not on skill or challenge but merely the way the brackets are organized and the way the seeds are designed. Team B lost their first game. I sit down and have a pep talk with them. "Our new mantra is keep moving forward," I say. "Some teams win their first few games creating a sense of confidence and often arrogance. We lost our first because we needed a fire to be lit under us to keep moving forward. Defeat like failure is a first attempt at success. We lost. But now are you determined? Are you motivated?" They say yes, but with disappointment still at the forefront. "I didn't hear you. Are you motivated now?" They cheer "Yes" "Whats our new motto?" They smile, and enthusiastically repeat "Keep moving forward." They did and they did not lose another game making their way to 1st place in State. This team, B, was considered the underdog team and boy did they prove every body wrong. Their spirit and drive brought home all the marbles. Then I moved back to team A. They were on a winning streak. Only losing to a few private schools. They began to get deflated. I gave them the same speech. They rallied and made it to finals. They came in 4th place in their division after a very long, intense day.
I couldn't be prouder. I look back on our first day of practice wondering if I could ever coach them into a winning team. I thought it would take a year or so to gain the momentum to win. They proved me wrong. Many wins and many defeats but, we qualified two teams for state and nationals. Now that state is over we are focused on nationals in a few weeks. We will practice daily after school and build an even tighter team camaraderie. These two teams are 12 students of our original 45 that put in their all and ended up at the top. It is stressful, exhausting and at times overwhelming but I am so happy I discovered quiz bowl and I am so excited to continue on the last leg of this journey. I will lose all but 3 students to high school next year and then I get to start a new adventure. At least now though I know what I am doing.
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