By Faithful Okoye
Staff Writer
Ever been asked some of the most obscure questions and didn’t know the answer? What is the biggest lake in Japan? Who was the last president of the Soviet Union? What Virginia airport was named after the former secretary of state? Most college students may answer with something along the lines of “Japan has lakes?” “What’s the Soviet Union?” and “Who even lives in Virginia anyway?” Broward College Brain Bowl students may just be the exception. On Sept. 23 and 24, BC’s Brain Bowl team held tryouts in Central Campus’ Central Café.
The Brain Bowl is an academic competition for community colleges that tests participants knowledge of everything from math to religion.
Last year, the Brain Bowl team had math professor Rob Fusco as their leading coach. This year, assistant math professor Jeffrey Guild and behavioral science professor Ronnie Rothschild will be leading the team.
There are two different types of competitions involved. The first is the main Brain Bowl Competition that includes all Florida community colleges. The other competition, the National Association of Quiz Tourneys (NAQT), involves all American universities as well as community colleges.
Last year, during the Florida Community College Activities Association (FCCAA) Tournament, BC’s Blue Team finished the tournament in first place with an undefeated record and BC’s White Team finished the tournament in second place.
For the NAQT tournament, the Blue team finished the round robin, a tournament where each contestant meets every other contestant in turn, in a tie for first place. They lost the championship match to Valencia’s Red Team, finishing in second place. The White team finished in sixth place.
Guild says that the tryouts held were a gauge to find out who would be the best students able to tackle the match.
There are two teams with five players but only four team members out of the five actually play. When one team plays, the other wouldn’t, and vice versa.Guild says it is not too late to join, “If you show up and you do well, of course, we would look at you as a potential.”
During practice, the buzzer is kept on the table and the first person to press the buzzer gets the chance to answer. If they don’t get the answer right, it’s passed on to the next person to press the buzzer. It is offered in a similar way as the actual Brain Bowl competition is presented.
In the Brain Bowl competition, the judge starts with a question that anyone may answer by buzzing in but this time without discussing the question with other team members. “If the answer is correct, the team gets to participate in a 20-point bonus round.” The team may discuss the question at this time, “but they must answer in 10 seconds.” The team with the most points at the end of this round wins the competition, according to the BC Honors Institute website.
Brain Bowl team members are awarded scholarships for their contribution to the team.
“It’s also a lot of fun,” Guild said. “The people who participate in Brain Bowl have fun and they enjoy representing Broward College.”
Students wonder if the competition is difficult and in response, Guild compared the game to other sports like football. To the spectator or someone looking from the outside, it probably looks hard, but that is not the same for the football players. Yes, they work hard, but they don’t see the game as hard. They are playing to have fun and to do the best they can.
The returning players from last year are Chris Pannier, Marc Warrior and Paul Rowe.
“I’m excited for this year,” said Pannier. “I’m excited because we have a lot of motivated students, but it’s always a tough competition.”
“I think we’re going to have a really strong team this year. We have strong players and we’ve met new players that look very promising as well,” said Guild.
Practice is held every Tuesday and Thursday in Building 9/Room 101 and Building 1/Room 140.
For more information, contact Professor Jeffrey Guild or Professor Ronnie Rothschild at jguild@broward.edu or rothsch@broward.edu.
No comments:
Post a Comment