6:45 beep...beep...beep it is an early morning after a long day of travelling and evening scrimmages. 7-9:30 last night my two teams arrived here in Dallas, checked in to our hotel and then decided to enter 2.5 hours of scrimmages to help get prepared for today's competition. After breakfast, one by one they entered the ballroom creating a sort of vibration from the energy of 700 plus students from across the country. The excitement is palpable. A few are late but eventually all 12 and their parents are united. Lots of pictures from families, then we settle in for the speaker who will review the rules and procedures of the tournament. A long time coming. We started in August, this our first year ever, Wet behind the ears and struggling to get a cohesive team. I learned quickly who my strongest players were. But I let everyone on the team 45 total. Every student attended at least tournaments. It was exhausting. Next year try-outs and I will immediately have a strong team. That was my only regret this year. It took long to get the best team in place. Yet, we still got two teams to Nationals. Here were are August to May and finally Nationals is upon us. 160 teams- 780 players. An insane amount of students all in one place.
Each game a different experience. Winning some by a landslide, nearly tying and winning and some losses. Two teams vastly different in spirit and personality. Team A open-minded, eager and resilient- quickly bouncing back after a loss. Their individual personalities are upbeat and optimistic. This gets them through 4 wins and 4 losses but barely losses. Just missing out on the playoffs by a mere 20 points. The second team, all very high strung personalities, aggressive except one, a quiet student who I decided would be team captain. They lose, then win, then derail and lose 3 in a row ending up with 2 wins and 4 losses. All I can ask is they do their best and that is what they did- their best. Turns out 90% of the teams we played have been to Nationals several times and know the ins and outs of the questions, format, and speed of reading. This gave them an advantage. But now that we have been here next year we will do much better.
Tomorrow we are not in the playoffs but we are going to play concession games where we get to challenge other teams who have been eliminated and we get to come up with some fun challenges like parents against their children and coaches against students etc. So tomorrow, no stress, no anxiety just fun. One of my students is 19th in stats for the whole tournament and we are going to stay and watch him win an award so it will be a good day. About 1:00 we are all heading home with a 5 hours drive. A whirlwind weekend but so worth it. It is fun that is all that matters. We are 60 out of 160 and 142 out of 160. For our first time here at Nationals I am very very proud and relieved they had a good time. That is all that matter that my students feel good about it. Next year most of them are moving on to a high school team but I get to keep my 7th graders one more year. So next year should be a blast!
Quiz Bowl comes to an end for year one. A very exciting and exhausting year. But so rewarding I can't even put it into words.
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