Tejas Vadali The start of a new season marks the beginning of a long road ahead for Latin’s sports teams, but for one team, the grind never stops. Which teams went to state last year? You’ve probably heard of Boys soccer and Girls volleyball, but the Scholastic Bowl team went and performed well.If you haven’t caught on by now, and in all likelihood, you probably haven’t, I’m talking about the Scholastic Bowl team. Last year, Latin’s Scholastic Bowl team placed sixth at NAQT State, and first at Masonic State. In Scholastic Bowl, there are three formats of state-level competition, NAQT, Masonic, and IHSA, and to win even one is pretty remarkable. After their successful season last year, Scholastic Bowl has returned to reclaim their state title. Under the leadership of captains Ana Pranger and Julian Lee-Zacheis, Scholastic Bowl’s buzzers lie in the hands of a prepared, majority- freshman team. On the surprising number of Freshman participating this year, head coach Mr. Legendre said, “By having a large amount of Freshmen on the team, we’re setting ourselves up for a future Latin dynasty. That’s a definite plus too, because we need more Freshmen for novice tournaments.” Not only is the team practicing for Varsity tournament, but it is trying to expand its expertise to Freshman-Sophomore tournaments as well. This past weekend, the Varsity Scholastic Bowl team went down to Champaign-Urbana to compete in a tournament called Earlybird. Some of the best teams in the state were at this tournament including Rockford Auburn and IMSA. In the morning rounds, the Latin A team faced off against IMSA and came out with a victory. When asked what they did to be so successful, all that All-State Second Team member Ana Pranger could say was, “We hit the buzzers and got the points.” “Hit the buzzers, get the points” has been a ritual of the Scholastic Bowl team at every tournament. Before the morning rounds, the captains always remind the other team members, as a sort of mental trigger, to “hit the buzzers and get the points,” or just “buzzers, points” for simplicity’s sake. Practice is an integral part of Scholastic Bowl. The practices are Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and Tuesday and Thursday mornings from early September to mid-April. Being a member of the Scholastic Bowl team doesn’t have to drain the majority of your free time, though. Many members of the team just play recreationally to have fun, meet new people, and certainly learn more. If you’re interested in joining Scholastic Bowl, contact either Mr. Legendre or Mr. Cruz. Although there are some early mornings and late nights, there’s really no experience like it, so give it a shot, and as always, have fun. ]]>