Academic team plans to further previous success
Varsity academic team members practice in Nancy Close’s room 8 a.m. on Friday for their next meet.
October 6, 2015
Academic team has five regular season meets, all based on cumulative scoring, meaning the points from each round are added up for the game. The next academic team meet is on Thursday, Oct. 8 at Woodland High School. After the regular season, the team moves on to the Regional Educational Service Agency State competition on Feb. 6, depending on this season’s success.
“In the past we have been pretty successful, and I hope we practice as well and play as well as last year,” academic team coach Nancy Close said.
The academic team’s first meet was held at Whitewater on Sept. 15. Varsity won all three of their games, beating Griffin 180-65, Lamar 165-125 and Locust Grove 225-35. As a result, the varsity team is currently second in the regional standings behind McIntosh.
Starr’s Mill has three teams, varsity, junior varsity A, and JV B. The JV A team also won all three of their matches against the Griffin, Lamar and McIntosh teams.
To beat these teams, academic team requires plenty of practice, just like any sport. The team’s practices are held in Close’s room before and after school on Mondays and Fridays. Academic team uses questions from previous tournaments or regular season meets to practice.
The team practices by setting up buzzers and answering questions like regular meets. According to Close, academic team is like “team jeopardy.”
In groups of five, students answer questions for their school’s team. In a regular meet, there are about 20 toss-up questions and five bonus questions.
A toss-up question is read aloud, and the first person to buzz in with the correct answer wins their team ten points and a chance to answer the four bonus questions, each worth five points, before the opposing team. Both teams are allowed to discuss the question, and if the first group gets the answer wrong, the opponents have a chance to “bounce back” with a correct response and steal the bonus points.
“In the past we have been pretty successful,” Close said. Starr’s Mill was top four in its playing area last year, and both varsity and JV qualified for state.
