Burges HS student to compete in national Quiz Bowl tournament in Chicago
Brian Moore, a senior from Burges High School, will compete in the 2025 NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments) Individual Player National Championship Tournament (IPNCT) on April 6 in Chicago.
The tournament pits high-school students from across the country against each other in a buzzer-based game that tests student's knowledge in an array of topics.
The topics can include history, art, zoology, and everything in between.
'How quiz bowl works is that it's basically like super fast trivia. It's fast paced. If you know an answer, you have to buzz in. If you don't do it, then the other team or the other player has a chance to get it right. So it's about being fast and also being comprehensive,' Moore said.
The game tests student's reflexes. A quiz host will pose a question, and the student who presses the buzzer first is given the first opportunity to respond with the correct answer. They also get bonus points if they press down on the buzzer before the host is finished asking the question and respond correctly.
Quiz Bowl is usually a team game but this tournament tests players individually. Moore said he will compete with a field of about 250 quiz bowl players from around the country.
For more information about the format of the tournament, you can go to the NATQ's website.
Moore has been a part of the Burges Quiz Bowl team since his junior year. He's said he's acquired plenty of experience in the competitions by participating in several High Q competitions against other high schools in El Paso.
'At first, I was not the best player in the world. It was really hard because the rapid fire nature of the game is very tricky. But I do know a lot of facts about events like history and geography. And I wanted to put that to the test,' Moore said.
But he also said that the tournament in Chicago will be the first time he competes individually and without his teammates. He said, however, that he's confident he will be prepared because his coach Mrs. Urcelay, and his teammates have helped him refine his skills as a Quiz Bowl player.
'In the competition, I try to tune out what's in the background, pinpoint what I call laser hearing. I call it laser hearing because I look out for key words when they're ringing off questions,' Moore said.
'It's more or less just being cognizant, paying attention, and waiting for that moment to buzz in when you know the answer. Even if you buzz in and it's wrong, there's a saying, 'It's always better to buzz in and be wrong, than to not do it even though you knew the answer.''
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