The Woodland Junior High School Quiz Bowl team in Fayetteville is going to nationals. The 11 team members will be split into two teams at the National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, this June. On April 15, there will be a fundraising trivia night that will allow teams of adults to compete for their own bragging rights. This week, Trish McClung, the GT facilitator and quiz bowl coach for Woodland Junior High, took a few minutes between classes to explain how a team gets ready for competition, when a quiz bowl competition could cover almost anything.
Trish McClung: Yeah, it is everything. It is a little bit of everything. So we try to separate the players into what their specialties are and they pick their own. They decide what they really enjoy learning about. And so when I choose them for their teams, it's picking kids from each of those categories. And then we do a lot of studying before practice. And then we practice games when we practice. So it's a little bit of everything. They have to know a lot of knowledge, but they also have to be really quick on the buzzer to be able to buzz in quickly for it.
Kellams: You study, but how do you study if it's everything? Are there areas of concentration? If I'm strong in history, do you want me to study science a little bit more?
McClung: No, actually, if you're strong in history, I'm going to really dive deep into that historical part that you enjoy because it's something you like. And we really try to do overviews. It's not quite as deep as we would like for some things, really more the overviews of things. So for instance, if we are doing history, you're going to pick a category and say Civil Wars, and then you'll look at historical figures throughout that war, you'll look at important battles through that time period, the years, obviously the presidents during that time, just basic information about those topics. Because most of it — because we're trying to buzz in early — we're looking for key terms they might use, where they automatically jog their memory and are like, oh, it's about that. So if they start talking about this important battle that was a turning point during the Civil War, they're immediately going to think Gettysburg.
Kellams: So you want to get in early because the idea is to get in before the other team. That seems like a challenge in and of itself.
McClung: Yes. They have to be very quick to be able to pull that information to the forefront of their mind.
Kellams: Is that something you can get better at?
McClung: It is something you can get better at. It does take time. The big thing is just, I think, repetition. So the more we look at this information, the more they're going to remember, oh, that is absolutely what they're talking about.
Kellams: On the way to nationals — what did you have to do to get there?
McClung: This is probably one of the best teams that I've ever coached. We have done a multitude of tournaments this year and have placed in every single one of them. And so because of our placement at state, we get to head to nationals. So we're pretty excited about that.
Kellams: There's a history with Woodland.
McClung: There is. So I became the quiz bowl coach in 2019. We have won nationals once prior to me becoming coach. Since I had been coach, our highest placement has been third in the country. In the country. Yes, but I'm very excited. I think we really have a shot at taking the whole thing this time.
Kellams: Let's say an adult is in the audience. Will they think, wow, we wouldn't do so well against this team?
McClung: Absolutely, absolutely. There's lots of times that we are going through these questions and parents are like, "I have no idea — how do they know that?" I try to keep track of the things that we tend to struggle with, and that's what we go back and study on. I don't really worry about the stuff that they seem to know.
Kellams: What does it take to get to Birmingham?
McClung: Well, we are currently doing a fundraiser to try to offset the significant amount of costs, because there is registration costs, there's hotel costs, there's travel costs, all with getting there. So the fundraiser that we are doing is a trivia night on April 15 at Woodland from 6 to 8. We do ask that you sign up beforehand so we make sure we have seats for you all. It's $50 per table, eight players max. And then we have fabulous prizes for the winners that we've had donated. There's also the option just to donate if you can't make it that night — that would be great too.
Kellams: OK, so it's called a trivia night. Quiz bowl isn't trivia — quiz bowl is knowledge.
McClung: I do know what you're saying. However, most people are more interested in competing in the trivia aspect of it. And so this is not exactly what we would be doing in an actual quiz bowl tournament. It is more knowledge, you're right. However, we are writing our own questions for this. And there is definitely probably one of the harder trivia nights that are out there. This is our third one that we've ever done. And based on previous ones, players that play our trivia nights are really excited because it is a bit more difficult.
Trish McClung is GT facilitator and quiz bowl coach for Woodland Junior High in Fayetteville. The fundraising trivia night to help send the Woodland Quiz Bowl team to nationals in June is April 15. You can register your team at bit.ly/woodlandqb or find the link at kuaf.com.
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