Scholar bowl likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when one considers school sports. Instead, it’s more likely to think of competitions such as football or those popular kind of sports that jump to mind when the word is mentioned, games of action and movement and physical exertion. Scholar Bowl is one of those aspects of school life that less people know about, that’s a mystery to the majority of the school’s students. It might be called a simple trivia game, but it truly is a game of knowledge, a test of memory, and of intellect, a sport of the mind.

The Scholar Bowl team consists of a close knit team of students with representatives from every grade across their varsity and JV teams, all led by teachers Mrs. Hovis and Mrs. Henson. Every member has their specialties, subjects or topics they’re interested in or have the most skill in—from math to mythology or sports to spelling—each member has their own knowledge to contribute to the team at large, even if their after school practices cover all topics they might be faced with in a competition. For example, Lucy Pham (11) cites her specialties as geography and history, while Madison Curry (12) says hers include spelling and Greek mythology, and its likely no one is surprised to hear Clayton Martin (11) considers math “without a doubt” his expertise.

There was a recent conference in North County, where the Blackcats team won the first two games, but ended up coming up too short on points in their last round to advance to the next. The varsity team ended up placing in 5th overall, with Clayton Martin getting 4th in number of questions answered individually—later Clayton stated that he was “baffled to hear how good I did,” but is still determined to do even better next year.

Meanwhile with the JV team, it seems things haven’t been going too hot over the course of the season. But despite this, the younger team has all agreed that it’s been fun regardless, their season summed up by EmmaLea Cooper (9) with “Technically it’s been kinda bad, but if you use your imagination, it was a learning experience.” All of the interviewed JV members had the same general assessment, that whether they’ve been winning or not, they have also been learning along the way, meeting new people, seeing new places, and getting to battle it out with the other teams as they go.

There have been ups and downs throughout the season, but it’s still been fun. Scholar Bowl this year has been built off the team, making new friends as they went, laughing together during their practices over foolish questions and fumbled answers, groups chatting over whatever random topics the questions might lead to, Clayton refusing to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time.  The 202o-2021 school year has been hard for everyone, but it seems some teams might stick together for the sake of the friendships built along the way.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Cindy Cook

Hidden behind a row of Central students, an expressive Clayton Martin (11) pogs for unknown reasons.