Quiz Bowl: Networking, Notebooks and Near Misses

Quiz bowl may sound easy but it actually takes a lot of work. Just showing up to practice is not enough. You have to read, a lot, stay current on politics and world events and practice lots of trivia and rapid fire quiz games. It is an adventure in both knowledge and speed. The questions cover every subject imaginable and you never know what you are going to get, unlike Jeopardy, you do not get a category. I have always emphasized for my team that for us it is about content, not memorizing questions. Individual inquiries repeat after awhile so they may be rephrased ever so slightly. However, they use the same key words, so some teams memorize these rather than learning the information. Also, some schools have an elective called quiz bowl and thus have an opportunity to do so. My team however, meets two times a week consistently and they often meet as teams in the evenings to practice on their own.

I require that every one of my students keep a note-book. During the competition they write down, as each question is read, what is being asked for: book, author, piece of art, city etc. Then they also write down the correct answer and a clue as to how to remember it. These notebooks are kept with them all year and by the end of the year they have a plethora of content from which to review. Today our quiz bowl team took three squads I call them, to the tournament. All three made the playoffs. Our 6th grade team squad made 2nd place overall in their division, even with 3 players rather than 4, they did an awesome job. Last tournament they placed 1st in their division, so there were a few tears at first. But, after some reassurance they smiled and felt proud of their win.

The two JV teams (7th/8th grade) both made the playoffs. But, the playoffs are sudden death and while one team won their qualifying game the other did not. So we failed to qualify another team for nationals. However, since this was a free tournament for us (we score-kept at the last high school tournament) for me it was a great way to test my top players in a different configuration. I now know after a near miss for qualifying, that these teams again need to be rearranged. Quiz bowl is definitely a hit or miss situation and it takes several tournaments to get the right combination. You can't change the alignment of players during a competition, so you have plenty of time to observe and strategize for next time. There is approximately one tournament per month. So while we have time to regroup we have to get it right quickly, because there are only so many tournaments in Houston.

As my students were eating lunch and we were all waiting for the results and the playoffs to begin (2 hours) I began to network. It is basically the same 20 schools in the Houston area that attend these competitions. So the coaches/teachers recognize each other. Some are standoffish and keep to themselves, but most of us greet each other and talk to each other between rounds. I had an idea that I wanted a few of these coaches to collaborate with me on: attending a San Antonio or Austin competition so our students could play against other teams and get some experience with new students. After playing the same teams over and over students get complacent: they fear the same students and know they can beat other students, so their determination and focus often wanes and peaks.

After networking, two schools agreed to go with us. The three of us will charter a bus and take 2 teams each (our best players/nationals players) to an out of city competition. This will be an awesome experience for our students. Nationals is all about not knowing your competition and having that curiosity and persistence to win no matter who you are playing. But, we often do not get the chance to experience this. The out of city competition will be great for building rapport with other teams as well as over-coming the complacency I am beginning to see in my teams. Quiz bowl is very, very competitive. The parents are so much so, it often gets a little uncomfortable watching them argue with the moderators and coaches. This behavior makes it very distressing for the students. I firmly believe it should be fun above all. If they are not having fun then it is absolutely not worth it.

It takes a lot of my time and energy to run National Quiz Bowl, National Science Bowl, National Geographic Geography Bee and Future City. I volunteer my time and I have no expectations but for students to learn and grow. I will do whatever I can to make that happen. I will network and align myself with other coaches (many whom are so nice and friendly) and smile in the face of a near miss and repeat to my teams every game, win or lose, "Keep moving forward." I will also continue to keep reinforcing that integrity and grit is what makes a great team. I model that we accept our wins and loses with the same courage and respect. We win a lot and lose a lot, as do most teams that do not memorize questions. That is the fun in it. Whether you lose or win the sheer excitement of the game makes it all worth it.

Networking, notebooks and near misses, these are a Saturday tradition for us, in the quiz bowl universe. We keep looking and moving forward and we will continue to have fun and learn stuff. That is our goal: smile, meet new people and learn stuff.