New job, new role, new team, new season

Just like any other quizzing eve, I had problems sleeping because I was so excited to start a new quizzing season. But new to any other quizzing season, I might have had problems sleeping because it had finally hit me that I was going up to sit in the seat, but had a permanant place on the bench, only getting up for timeouts. It humbled me knowing there was no individual score I could pedestal myself upon, but instead I had to trust my team for all points. So I prayed that God would make me a humble coach, never asking too much nor too little from my team. Then I was able to get some sleep.

During church service Sunday morning, Pastor Bob comissioned the quiz team. We all went up on the stage, and I introduced the quizzers on the quiz teams, which most of the congregation already knew, maybe better than I did. Pastor Bob prayed, as we walked off the stage, Bob commented on my orange suit: "it's amazing what color schemes the younger generation can get away with" :)

After church, the church served a soup and salad fellowship meal, so the quiz team was part of that. We started practice around 1:30 p.m. We started practice by listening to the material, and practiced buzzing in on keywords. We had two brand new practice matches with brand new questions. From when we started having quiz practice on Jan. 6, I had asked 2 questions from every verse in 1 Corinthians chapters 2-4, and 1 question for every verse in 1 Corinthians 1. We took a 15-minute break, in which we took our team picture. We had 3 more practice matches. Those 3 matches were going over questions we missed throughout previous practices. The first match of the 3 the quizzers started out strong, but ended weak. The 2nd of 3 they started out weak, but ended strong. The third of 3 was very weak, as there were14 errors in the whole match. We figured that we were growing tired due to empty stomaches so we called it quits and drove to our dinner hosts.

Harvey & Lillian Stoltzfus gladly hosted the team for dinner. They had this toy, which easily entertained Amanda. For dinner we had taco salad with hot sauce that reminded Amanda of chinese food. Of course, Amanda led in conversation. We thanked Harvey & Lillian and left for our quizmeet at 5:30.

We joined in the LMS Fine Arts center for the worship. After worship, they gave announcements about rulings, where even the staff sounded unsure about the material. Since we had to wait a match, I asked the quizzers whether they want to watch 2 experienced teams in the room we were facing, or if they wanted to watch their friends in Hope of the Nations instead. They were quick to respond "Hope of the Nations." So we watched Hope of the Nations face Media. For being all the way in Reading, Hope of the Nations brought a healthy cheering squad. Charleton from Media was quick to quiz out and take an early lead. But Hope of the Nations came back and won their first quizzing match! Way to go, Hope of the Nations!

We went down the hall to our first match against Neffsville. It was kind of ironic because I had spent several Sundays in my underclassmen years attending church at Neffsville. Neffsville, which was known for having multiple teams, only had one. In fact, since I began quizzing in 2002, I can always remember Neffsville having multiple teams. So it's been at least 9 years since Neffsville only had one team. The only one I recognized was Carissa Harnish, a long time quizzer from the Harnish dynasty. I had Kristy sit across from her. The first question Kristy buzzed in and errored, but Carissa was unable to pick up the bonus. It flip flopped the next question, as Carissa errored and missed the bonus. This is the only bonus we missed all night. By the third question, when Carissa errored, Kristy got the bonus. Well, Denise must have been tired of sitting out the first 3 questions because she buzzed in the next 3 questions, answered them all correctly, and quizzed out on question 6. Justin was next to quiz out, on question 12, with 3 right buzz ins and 1 error. Carissa from Neffsville recovered from her 2 early errors and quizzed out on buzz ins by question 13. Carissa was the only real action on that team. In the end, Conestoga won, 90 to 45.

We had to hurry for our next match back in the other building. We were facing Petra 4, coached by Andrew Jensen, someone who I have quizzed against a quizzer few years back. The match was always close, as no team took more than a 20 point lead. It got scary when Petra 4 was only 1 right buzz in away from team bonus with 4 questions left. Denise quizzed out on question 10, followed by Kristy quizzing out on question 14. But even more exciting was on question 13, when Amanda got her first points on the first night of her rookie year! On question 15, Petra 4 did not get the team bonus for the win, but did get a quiz out to tie the match at 80 points. As I shook coach Andrew's hand, I said to him "Isn't it scary when we become the adults?" :) And I left the music room, someone came out to me and asked, "Spring City, right?" and I couldn't help but laugh and say, "As a quizzed yes" :D

After a one-match break, we had our final quiz of the night against Gehman. My quizzers knew them as the team with the intelligable word of "yes", which annoyed them all. To my surprise, we had added a new fan, but an old teammate of mine: Tim Moss. He encouraged the "revolving door" strategy, but I told him to forget it :P . Gehman started with a correct buzz in from Paul, their top quizzer. Annoyed by his audible word "yes", Conestoga got 3 consecutive buzz ins correct from 3 different quizzers, going down the line from seat 1 to seat 3. I encouraged seat 4 Amanda to get us team bonus on question 5 with 4 consective buzz ins. Paul didn't want to see that, as he buzzed in twice in a row and got them both right for a quiz out. After 6 questions, Gehamn led by 5. This match was close for the next 5 questions. All but one were correct buzz ins, and the 1 error was from Brandon, but Amanda picked that one up. After question 11, Gehman took off. They got team bonus on question 12, and another quiz out on question 15. Denise, seeing a perfect season flash before her eyes, Denise buzzed in on question 15 and quizzed out. Conestoga scored 75 points, but lost to Gehman, who scored 110 points.

Next week is 1 Corinthians 5-8:30 at Petra. Come support the team!

1 Graham vs. 4 Moss Quizzers

Quizzing is going to be different for me this year as I will be involved from a different perspective. This year I will be a coach. Being a quizzer from the past, I hope it will help make me a good coach. As I try to envision how I could be influential to my quizzers, I think of those in quizzing who influenced me. Naturally I thought of my coaches, and I could write pages on how they influenced me. But who else have influenced me? Well, a lot of quizzers have. And not just merely being on my team or being a tough opponent. These quizzers were my friends, who showed me how to quiz, who gave pointers and advice, and who pushed me to compete my hardest. Quite few have done this, but I would like to highlight a certain family that lead this group. The Moss family was there in the beginning, with Jake & Josh (and even Mrs. Diane Moss helping coaching) to Tim, entering during my second year and exiting during my last year. And even in the middle, when there wasn't any Moss on my team, they were always present somewhere in quizzing. And I'll never forget them.

Now while each has been on my team, each of them has been on another team for another church during my quizzer career as well. Because this was caused by a team split, strong feelings and sharp competition rose between us. I had this want, almost need, to beat them, to show that I was better than them. When tension dropped and friendships were restored, the need to beat them was gone, but the want was there. It was for different reasons now. I saw it more as a "final test," if I could demonstrate that all I learned from them I have put to use. For the "student" to beat the "teacher/master" was a way of "graduating." And by the end, I did graduate. Let me tell you.

Graham vs. Josh Moss
Josh and I were on the same for my first three years of quizzing (2002-2004), and then finished his last year with Zion the year after. Josh and I were pretty close those years, possibly because he was closer to my age and grade than Jake was. I credit my obsession with situation questions to Josh. Before I quizzed for Ark, Ark's go-to-guy for situation questions was Josh. When I came on the scene, Josh entrusted me with the situation. I didn't let him down. When my first points and first buzz in was a situation question, I have to credit Josh with helping me get my first points and first buzz in. Josh to me was always the fun-loving easy-going guy. If there was craziness, he was involved in it somehow. Josh had a successful quizzing year, finishing his last 4 years on the Top 50 Quizzers List, being in the top 10 from 2002 to 2003.


On February 13, 2005, Spring City quizzed against Zion, allowing the two of us to quiz aginst each other, head-to-head. It seemed like a good match-up. Both of us were in the Top 20 at the time. Our teams were pretty well matched up, too. Both had 2 Top 50 Quizzers and 2 previous Ark quizzers. Both of us sat in seat 3, so we were across from each other. I would get his bonus questions, and he would get mine. Josh got one right, but then got 2 errors and was pulled out. I proceeded to quiz out, one of the right answers was a bonus from Josh. As for my team Spring City, Brandon and Mike quizzed out, and we also got team bonus. As for Josh's team Zion, the other top 50 Quizzer errored out with zero points. The final score was Spring City - 135, Zion - 20. I quizzed out, and Josh didn't. From then, feelings were repaired.
Graham wins match-up, 1-0 quizouts.

Graham vs. Becky Moss
I never quizzed along side Becky. Her rookie year was in 2005 with Reading, and I was already on Spring City. Yet I feel like she is worthy of being mentioned because she is a Moss who quizzed the same time I did. Because Abby didn't quiz, she was the last of the Moss family to quiz. Becky would be famous for the 2006 haircut, where she was constantly mistaken for an emo boy. I think the line was drawn when girls were fliriting with here because they thought she was a hot emo boy.

On February 5, 2006, I faced Becky in the Spring City vs. Reading 2, allowing us to face each other in a match, although we were not sitting across from each other. It was a big mismatch. I ranked 29th, and Becky was 124th. I had 125 points; she had 60 points. I opened the match by buzzing in and answering the first two questions correctly. I was aiming to quiz out by question 3, but on question 3 Becky beat me in. She errored on that question. I was able to get my quiz out by question 5. After that, Becky would get her second error and get benched. As for our teams, Becky's Reading 2 had new highlights, but Spring City also had Mike and Jai quiz out. Spring City won, 105-35.
Graham wins match-up, 1-0 quizouts.

Graham vs. Jake Moss
The first memory of Jake was Jake showing me the quizbook and how he marked up his quizbook and giving me tips on how to mark up mine. I don't exactly remember his system, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was something similiar. I always learned from Jake by watching him quiz, and he might have learned a little bit from me. For example, when we were quizzing on Exodus, he would always buzz in on the situation question early and answer "the Lord to Moses" because he saw me do it and got it right. Jake was also a good quizzer, and it wasn't from mere guessing. Jake was one of the top 10 quizzers from 2002 to 2004, peaking in 2004 with a 3rd place, and earning in a spot in the fun match as an all-star quizzer. Jake would wrap up his quizzing career with Reading. He would place somewhere between 100-120th those last 2 years, but that was because Jake took more of coaching role for his team. And in my personal opinion, I think Jake would be one of the top 3 tallest quizzers that I know :)

On March 12, 2006, I quizzed against Jake as Spring City took on Jake's team (what Christine always called it by) Reading 1. I started, but Jake did not enter the quizmatch until one of his quizzers quizzed out, naturally taking the coach's role. still, there was a point where both Jake and I were in the match at the same time. Even with Jake coming in late, he got one right and one error, putting up the best fight compared to his previous siblings. Still, it was no match compared to me, as I quizzed out with only one error.
Graham wins match-up, 1-0 quizouts.

Graham vs. Tim Moss
I knew Tim from my rookie year of quizzing, even though Tim wasn't old enough to quiz. He was many times a fan, even coming to Ohio with the team to root for us. Tim's rookie year was on my second year, and we were both on a team of 7. I remember Tim getting sick on the first week of that season and not making it to his first quizmeet. He only scored about 20 points that year, but could name the list of 13, the biggest list there was. We wouldn't be on the same team for another 4 years, as Tim quizzed for the other Ark team, and then quizzed for Reading after the split. There was a lot of hurt in that split, as Tim got more competitive as he got bettter. We would constantly butt heads because we were so closely matched up. On top of that, Tim was out to get a trophy. He would always trying to stack quizzers into a "super team" coached by himself. Tim tried selling his dream team to many churches but no church would take it. It made me laugh, thinking, "Finally the little punk is getting what he deserves." But when I heard now that he himself could not find any team, I pitied Tim because I hated to see good quizzing talent go to waste. So when Timasked the Deitricks to be on Spring City, Mike and I made sure we put in a good word for Tim. When Tim joined Spring City, it was a true reunion between him and me. Our relationship was reconciled and restored. It went from hard feelings to blessings. We went from fierce rivalry to friendly competition. And that helped as teammates.

Tim and I never quizzed against each other when we were on different teams, so the competition was all in the stats and the standings. It's hard to compare you both of you have different schedules, but being on the same team and having the similar schedules, it's now easier to compare. Tim and I had a way of encouraging each other that some might consider odd. We encouraged each other by being competitive. We encouraged each other by trying to beat each other. While Tim was now on my team, I still wanted to do better than him. So in the 3 years we quizzed together, I kept track of our quizouts. Every season I would try to quiz out more than he did. And altogether, I wanted to have more overall quizouts than he did in our last 3 years together. This wasn't an easy task. Tim finished all 3 of those years in the top 50 Quizzers List: 35th, 29th, and 39th. That is almost expectant because Tim was a Top 50 Quizzer 4 times in his career and one of the top 100 quizzers 6 times in his career. But his placing were no match for my 16th, 8th, and 4th.
Graham wins match-up, 46-40 quizouts (over 3 years on the same team).

So after 8 years of quizzing, I beat Jake, Josh, Tim and Becky Moss. I wish I could build a time machine and take on Debbie Moss, because I heard she was a great quizzer as well. By defeating these 4 Moss quizzers, I have shown that the student has mastered the teacher, and now the student is mastering being the teacher. This will be helpful as a coach, but I hope it's not too late, because these guys were influential to me as older quizzers to a younger quizzer. I hope that I was this mentor to the younger quizzers on my team when I was quizzer myself.