The sport of the mind – Liberty Quiz bowl

Hours of preparation, draining tests of focus and endurance, buzzer-beating finishes and the satisfied exhaustion of victory. These descriptions of intense physical sports also refer to a sport of the mind — quiz bowl. Liberty’s quiz bowl program trains students to pursue learning for the rest of their lives.  

The bedrock of quiz bowl rests on speed of recall and depth of knowledge. In a game that lasts around 40 minutes to an hour, two teams compete to answer questions quickly and correctly. For each question, only one player from each team may answer by “buzzing in.” Whichever team hits the buzzer first may answer the question, but if they answer incorrectly, then a player from the other team may try to answer. 

After the game, each team goes on to its next match-up in the tournament. Usually, a tournament consists of 12 teams either divided between two brackets or they all have the opportunity to play against each other. According to varsity team captain Reagan Nelson, senior history and international relations major, tournaments often take a full day, with teams going straight from one game to the next. 

“We usually start the tournament day at 9 (a.m.), and then, if we’re lucky, we get done about 8:30 (p.m.),” Nelson said. “Usually, the only scheduled break we have in the day is for lunch.” 

Liberty’s quiz bowl program carries on a legacy of excellence that began with its founding in 2005. They won the Big South Conference tournament 11 out of 13 years from 2006 to 2018 and went undefeated in eight of those seasons. In his 18 years coaching the team, Dr. Jim Nutter has overseen the team through several seasons of big wins.

Liberty has six levels of teams totaling 26 players. The varsity and JV teams often end up competing the most, but the novice A, B and C teams and the scout team (whose members tend to serve as backup players) also compete at times. The organization of the team changes fluidly, and players can shift from tournament to tournament as Nutter assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the team. 

“Things tend to fluctuate throughout the year as people show different knowledge bases,” Nelson said. “If somebody’s showing a sudden proclivity for a certain thing, they might change teams because they can fill in a knowledge gap.” 

The LU team comes together in unique ways due to the diversity of its members. Some people have competed in high school and come to college wanting to continue. Others hear about quiz bowl and think they might succeed in it. Still others find themselves recruited by Nutter himself, sometimes before they even arrive at Liberty. 

“Every spring they send out recruitment packets to individuals who look promising, either through their applications to the Honors Program or to the university,” Nelson said. “When I was looking for a school, I wanted a school with quiz bowl, so I actually emailed Dr. Nutter and the current novice coach before they sent out the packets recruiting.” 

Ultimately, each member has his or her own reasons for joining the team, but many of their reasons overlap. Nelson thinks of quiz bowl as an avenue for     people with unique knowledge bases to exercise and expand their information pool in a fun way. 

“It’s just a great opportunity for sharing your niche interests and passions and learning about other people’s,” Nelson said.

The facts and specialized information fields of quiz bowl may not readily apply to everyday life, but they still make an impact. Nelson said that her time on the quiz bowl team has broadened her life experience and filled out her view of the world. 

 “There’s no reason in my daily life that I need to know any little tidbit of information that comes up in quiz bowl, but it adds so much to having a vivid life experience that makes it completely worthwhile,” Nelson said.

At the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) Sectionals Feb. 5, Liberty’s varsity team tied for second place with nine wins out of 11 games. They finished out the season ranked 37th in the nation, up nearly 25 spots from their ranking at the end of the season in 2022. 

“The goal for this semester really was just to do better this year than we did last year,” Nelson said. “That’s kind of what the goal is every time — to do a little bit better at each competition.” 

Campbell is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion