Advanced Essay #1: Why I Love Competition
Introduction
My goal for this essay was to write a really captivating narrative, and I think I achieved that goal excellently. I'm really proud of the suspense my story creates, and I hope it successfully achieves that for the reader. I would like to improve on my reflection a little bit, as I pushed it to the wayside somewhat for the story. Either way, I hope you enjoy my story!
Advanced Essay
One of our team’s first quizbowl tournaments of my sophomore year happened in November of 2016. I was super excited for it, as I am for most tournaments. That day, we were on fire. Of the 8 other teams we played against, we won 6 games, losing only 2. Our last round was a bye, and I was sure we wouldn’t be able to win the tournament, until we were greeted by a player on one of the other top teams at the end of the round.
“You guys are SLA, right?” the familiar face asked.
“Yep.”
“You’re in the playoffs.”
I was ecstatic. However, we had a tough road ahead of us. We would have to beat out both of the other teams who had ended at 6-2, then beat the best team (who went 7-1) twice. The first round went by quickly. We shut out the other team, answering questions efficiently and beating them to the buzzer. Our next opponent was easily the best team at the tournament. Of our two losses earlier in the day, one was to them. The pressure was mounting. As they took their seats, we sat in anticipation of the incoming game. My heart was pounding.
I think back on this moment, and think a lot about the feelings. I felt nervous for the sake of our team; what if we lost? It would’ve been terrible to come so far only to lost in the final moments. This, in and of itself, reveals some aspects of competitiveness as a whole. We, as humans, feel some need to compete. Our competitive drive needs to be fulfilled in some sense or another. For me, I find quizbowl to be an excellent outlet of that competitiveness. It helps me funnel that need for competition in a healthy way.
The game was insanely back-and-forth. One of the team’s members insisted on asking for score checks as the last few questions ticked down. With three questions left: “115-135”. They were up by 20, but we rallied back and grabbed a toss-up and a couple bonuses. Two questions remained: “145-135.” The other team took the penultimate toss-up and one bonus. “145-155.” We were down by 10 points going into the final question. The moderator begins to read, and my heart was pounding. I was beginning to piece together the answer about halfway through the question, when someone on the other team buzzed. “Shirtwaist Fire,” he said. Well, I thought to myself, it’s over. We had a good run. The moderator replied, “Neg 5.”
A neg in quizbowl is when you interrupt the moderator, and get the question wrong. This nets your team a loss of 5 points. This meant the game was now one tossup away from our grasp. I listened intently as the moderator finished the question -- didn’t I learn about this in eighth grade? In the class that I didn’t really like? I just couldn’t, for the life of me, think of the name! The question ends. I looked frantically at my three teammates. They looked back, giving me an “I don’t know” look. I pressed down on the buzzer.
“Player 4.”
After buzzing, a player gets 5 seconds before they’re cut off. I watched the fingers on the moderator’s hand go down, one by one.
Five…
My mind frantically rushed through the class, trying desperately to think of the name of the fire.
Four…
I remembered the least useful details: sitting on the middle right side of the room with a fake wall to my right, the projector set up with a PBS documentary playing, imagery of fire burning on the screen.
Three…
Suddenly, I was hyper-aware of all of the things that were going on. My team’s chances at winning depend on my right answer. This question will send us to the final round, which we can succeed in. What was the name of the fire?!
Two…
I remember more and more imagery from the documentary: women in the streets protesting, a shirtwaist factory burning down… My heart is racing, pounding at a million miles per hour.
One…
Just as the moderator was about to cut me off, I blurted out one word:
“Triangle!”
The incident in question was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. We won. My heart raced, the adrenaline was flowing, and I just laughed. It was a nervous, adrenaline-high laugh, where I just felt the need to release the stress I was feeling in the moment. We moved onto the finals, played two flawless games, and took home the trophy.
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