The Greenhill Quizbowl team began training at the beginning of the school year for the first event of the year for the North Texas high school circuit. The team also hosted the Greenhill Fall Invitational Quizbowl Tournament on Nov. 1.
In the varsity division, Greenhill A finished with a record of 8—2 and third place overall in the Gold group, receiving a bid for the High School National Championship Tournament. Such a bid serves as an invitation to the national competition.
Greenhill B finished fifth place in the Silver Group. In the JV division, Greenhill C finished in a fifth place tie, and Greenhill D finished in ninth place.
“It’s early right now, but I suspect we will continue doing well at the upcoming tournaments,” Quiz bowl faculty leader Jason Zuffranieri said.
Quizbowl players answer trivia questions throughout rounds to score points for their team, attributing to their wins and losses.
“The best way to practice for future questions is to listen to previous questions because a lot of the same information will come up again,” Zuffranieri said. “You don’t get to collaborate or gesture to each other, so you really have to develop a kind of trust with your teammates for these toss-ups.”
Toss-ups are the primary question type read to the two competing teams on a vast number of topics. The first person to individually buzz in with the correct answer, is designated the points for their team.
“A lot of Quizbowl is time, just having as many rounds with your team as you can means you get exposed to more questions,” senior Maya Jagsi, Quizbowl team president said. “You need to be able to understand what your teammates know and what they don’t know for those toss-ups.”
In an effort to make that time for practice, Zuffranieri says he hopes the new time slot on Gold 2 days for quiz bowl will encourage more people to join the team without people feeling like there are barriers to entry.
Quizbowl now classifies as a Competitive Group. The section was added this school year allowing for meeting time during school hours for the group.
“Now it means players don’t have to get to school earlier, or change around their schedules or anything like that as much, which we were never able to do before,” Jagsi said.