What Makes a Sport?
Dustin Daniels – physical science teacher – announcing the questions in the first half of round 1
January 22, 2020
Is Scholar Bowl a sport? According to common belief, a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Taking everything into account, Scholar Bowl is not a sport. However, minus the physical exertion, it is still considered a competitive activity, therefore it is considered a game. A game relies on strategy and teamwork with a defined goal to achieve rather than focus on one’s skill and performance.
After months of practice starting in November, the team is finally starting their season. January 16, 2020 was their first home game of the season against Arcadia Valley, Valley Catholic and Bismarck. The year’s team consists of seniors Will Arras, Daniel Bathe, Hunter Bellew, Lydia Myers, Caleb Cooper, Libby Mooney, Peyton England, Jeffery Couch and Carter Corcino with juniors Emilee Goldsmith, Anna Robins and Hayden Thompson in varsity. Along with the only freshman, Isaac Pirtle, there are sophomores Clayton Martin, Curtis Lewis, and Caleb Sarakas in junior varsity.
Each game is split into three matches, rotating between the three other teams. The questions are set at random, consisting of English, science, computation, fine arts, history, pop culture and many more. You may think, “Isn’t sitting down and answering questions easy?” No, absolutely not! Besides the hard and diverse questions there is also a 5-second time limit, with 10 seconds for math. That leaves barely any room for mistakes, and second guessing yourself can lead you to a quick loss. Nonetheless, there are also attempts for redemption. After answering a correct question, your team has a chance to score points with 3 bonus questions that sequence around a topic. However this makes it easy for the losing side to catch up, be it favorable or not. Every point still counts, and matches can be back to back with teams fighting for the last point.
So is Scholar Bowl a sport? It’s still technically not, but the mental strength and competitiveness can account for all they lack. But at the end of the day, does it really matter? Whether it be a sport or game, it doesn’t really matter if it requires physical activity or not. All that really matters is if you enjoyed and are proud of what you did.
