For hundreds of Georgia students, the big March competition isn't about basketball but books. Every year, the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl draws teams of students, grades 4-12, from across the state to test their knowledge on a preselected list of books. There isn't much physicality involved — unless you count the lightning fast thumb agility needed to buzz in with the answers asked by moderators. But there is a lot of practice, strategy, teamwork, and, dare we say it, killer instinct that goes into advancing to the state championships held earlier this month. We contacted ErinLeah Kistenberg, an 8th grader at DeKalb County's Chamblee Middle School and a four-year Reading Bowl veteran, to tell us why the competition is so popular among kids and only getting more so. Kistenberg also happens to be on the team just crowned champion in the middle school category.
Q: Really, what is the key to winning the Reading Bowl?
A: Dedication, hard work, perseverance, believing in yourself and reading the books over and over and over until you can quote passages from memory. It also helps to write questions that you think will be asked.
Q: Is there a way to practice getting faster on the buzzer?
A: Not really. There are little things, like repeatedly clicking pens, but in high- pressure situations, you are either on that buzzer or not, and nothing can truly prepare you for that.
Q: Middle schoolers have a list of 20 books. Do you resent having to read ones you don’t like over and over again?
A: Not at all. To me it is all part of the game. Even if I don’t personally enjoy reading those books, I know there will be someone on my team who did.
Q: How did your team prepare?
A: We practice three hours a week after school. We get together with buzzers and books and occasionally snacks. We all write questions based on the books and email them to our coach and he quizzes us.
Q: Are you competitive?
A: I do have a tendency to be and I definitely show that side in tournaments. I try to suppress it when I am practicing with my team because I know they are not my enemies.
Q: So you read a lot?
A: Every given opportunity. As my school’s media specialist will tell you, I can check out two or three books one day and have them back the next. We have very strict reading rules at home because once I get into a book I lose all sense of reality. I am not allowed to read until my homework is done. I used to read during breakfast but not anymore because I got to school late.
Q: Why do you love to read?
A: It is a safe haven. It doesn’t make problems go away but it can give you enlightenment and advice. I have gotten some of my best life lessons from characters in books.
Q: Can you give an example?
A: My favorite books are about a character who faces hard circumstances and overcomes the odds. Those books teach me the wisdom of honesty, perseverance, courage, bravery, loyalty and friendship.
Q: Do you have real friends?
A: I got in my school’s magnet program this year and I found friends who read just as voraciously as I do.
Q: Was the state championship a blowout or a squeaker?
A: It was very, very close. It was two rounds of 15 questions and we just pulled it out. Everyone on the team pulled their weight.
Q: What did winning mean to your team?
A: My team is my second family, my best friends, my closest companions. The fact that we won this together meant a lot to all of us.
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