Three times in a row, Livingston has won Princeton’s season opener quiz bowl tournament! This time, I led the team to a 9-1 record, winning against teams including last year’s national 4th place Henderson high school. I think this tournament is remarkable for a lot of reasons, but I think the reason it stands out to me is because this is the first tournament I’ve won as my team’s lead scorer. It was definitely a new experience – perhaps consciously, perhaps unconsciously, I felt a lot more pressure to perform better, so I did end up getting a few more wrong answers on aggressive buzzes, but I also was rewarded a lot more for getting things right. Our one loss felt more like my fault than ever before, but at the same time I could also point to all the games where I did really well to make me feel better. I think I put too much weight into stats, and should instead try to enjoy playing the game a lot more. After all, I love winning, but I joined this club because I enjoy getting to mess around with people I like answering questions on topics I like. Nothing more complicated than that.
Also whoa look its me:
