Scholastic Bowl Basics
Scholastic Bowl is a quiz bowl game, in which two, 5-person teams try to outsmart each other. Players try to beat one other to the buzzer to answer questions in all content areas, from Science to Social Studies, as well as some fun questions dealing with movies, popular music, sports, and more. The game ends when all the questions have been used, or when one team reaches 301 points.
While winning matches is great, it isn’t the only goal we have for our team. We want our players to develop the ability to work as a group, demonstrate a positive attitude and good sportsmanship, gain knowledge, and of course, have fun!
Practices
Team members are expected to attend at least 1 practice per week. Failure to do so, can result in less playing time in matches and tournaments.
Practices combine mini-lessons and practice matches. We also organize a snack donation schedule, so our players can have an after-school treat.
Matches and Tournaments
Matches are typically held after school. They begin in early February. We do our best to schedule matches on Tues. and Thurs. No matter what, we never have Scholastic Bowl more than twice a week. The only exception might be the rare week in which we are scheduled to play in a Saturday tournament.
Matches usually begin between 3:30-4:00 pm. At most schools, including HTJH, 2 matches (7th and 8th or A and B) are run at the same time. In this case, we are usually finished in about 1 hour.
Odds and Ends
Students on the Scholastic Bowl team are expected to meet the guidelines set up by the IESA concerning grades. Students with an “F” average in any class are ineligible. Teachers submit this information on a weekly basis.
We allow any eligible 7th or 8th grade student who is interested, to be on the Scholastic Bowl Team. However, we have learned from experience it is really difficult to organize effective practices and give all students ample playing time when we have 30+ team members. If the interest in Scholastic Bowl is overwhelming this year, we may need to have tryouts.
