A question about an ex-parrot has helped put a Bellerose quiz team within reach of a national title.
A team of Bellerose Composite High School students won the provincial Reach for the Top tournament held at Bellerose on April 21. The win makes the five-man band the top team in the province, and gives them a ticket to this year's national tournament in Toronto.
Reach for the Top is a popular Canadian quiz competition where teams of high school students compete to see who can answer the most trivia questions correctly.
Coach Brian Grant says it was a hectic day for the home team, who won their final match against Edmonton's Old Scona 420 to 260 — a close match, given that scores can swing up to 100 points in a round.
"The provincial co-ordinator who was here overseeing everything said she had never seen such a tight contest."
Team member Cole Forster says a string of questions about the British comedy troupe Monty Python helped drive them to victory.
Not just Jeopardy!
This was Bellerose's first turn as host of provincials, which featured 10 teams from cities such as Calgary, Red Deer and Ponoka. Bellerose got to field two squads as host of the event.
Reach for the Top challenges students to answer, as fast as possible, questions on a wide variety of topics, including math, history, and popular culture. "It's much faster than Jeopardy!," he says, with most matches running through about 150 questions in 30 minutes. The 100-point "snapper" rounds feature 10 questions in 60 seconds. "It's very, very intense."
The Bellerose squads have been practicing since the fall to get to this point, Forster says, boning up on the basics like cabinet ministers and chemical elements. "You're not even competing in Reach if you don't know all the major capitals." Many team members will specialize in specific fields, such as literature.
Team member William Mazurek happens to know all things Python, which came in handy in the final round.
"[The judge] started saying something like, 'The parrot is dead! No it's not, it's just resting,'" he recalls.
Recognizing the words of the famous Dead Parrot sketch, in which a shop owner tries to convince a man that an obviously dead bird is simply "pining for the fjords," he buzzed in with the name "Monty Python" before the judge even finished the question. "I took a bit of a risk, but it paid off."
That question was the start of a string of Python-related items that gave Team Bellerose the momentum it needed to win, he and Forster say.
Tough times ahead
Cole VanDerVeldun, Mitchell Sorensen, Graeme Matichuk, Forster and Mazurek of the Bellerose A team move on to nationals. They will be accompanied by Susan Muncner, Evan Grohn, Adrian Battiston and Alex Los of the B team.
Reach For the Top skills don't have many real-life applications, Mazurek says, but they do train you to pay more attention to everyday life.
"Just playing really forces you to be a little more [attentive] of minor details," he says, as any one of them could be the subject of a question.
Bellerose will be up against 11 other tough teams at nationals, Forster says, including the powerhouses of eastern Canada.
"It's been a long time since there's been an Alberta champion," said Forster.
Muncner says she's looking forward to it, especially if they go up against Old Scona again. "Let's go gain some glory for Alberta and Bellerose."
Team Bellerose will head to Toronto May 25 for nationals.
