On Wednesday, Oct. 26, the high school hosted their yearly scholars bowl tournament. There is a lot of preparation and pressure for the coaches to host the best tournament they can. This year, unlike some other years, the high school’s own scholars bowl team competed in the tournament. 

“This year, we do have kids competing. We don’t always have a team competing at our home tournament just simply because we are running it. Depending on the size of my group, we may not have enough people,” said Stephanie Hojnacki, scholars bowl head coach.

A tournament consists of seven rounds with two finals that each have 16 questions within them. The teams usually consist of five players, with a sixth as an alternate, and the team answers the 16 questions within a variety of categories. 

“The categories allow you to prepare for everything, every day.  There are the academic categories: math, science, history, fine arts, world language, and language arts. All of those you are already preparing every day,” Hojnacki said.  

There are many fun ways to practice answering these questions besides just listening in school.

“There used to be a game, trivia crack, and my kids would play that on the way to tournaments. Also, reading the news or listening to the radio for news updates, that’s really good for a review,” said Hojnacki. 

The high school has two teams, JV and varsity, which are set up a bit differently than how other teams are at the school.

“Usually JV is freshmen and sophomores, and varsity is juniors and seniors because it’s based on how much you’ve learned in school,” Jacob Page, team captain, 12, said. 

There is lots of preparation that the head coaches have to do to get set up for these tournaments and make sure that everyone helping knows what to do. 

“We do alot of procedural preparation, but we go over the rules, the regulations, and how it’s set up. This is so that everyone in the room helping knows what to do,” said Stephenie Higgs, assistant coach. 

Having a home tournament can be a good introduction to new members and help get rid of some nerves they may have going into the season. 

“This year we have a team of five to six kids that are brand new competing. There is a bit of comfort being at home and doing that versus traveling to another school for the first time and not having a clue what’s going to happen,” said Hojnacki. 

This can also help returning members who need to shake off some dust and get back in the groove near the beginning of the season. 

“We had a couple math mishaps when adding up all the team scores, but we were able to fix that up. Some rooms had communication issues, so they didn’t start on time or they forgot to start,” said Page. 

The coaches put in a ton of effort to make sure the tournament runs smoothly and that they have the proper equipment needed. They also spend a lot of time reaching out to other coaches, staff, outside adults, and players so they can host the best tournament possible. Overall, this year’s home tournament was a big success.