How good certamen players are relative to the general population is crazy
to think about. For example, I spoke with the Ohio upper level national
certamen team after we watched the national finals together, and they, the team
that was the 6th seed going into the semi-finals, did not know a single question
in the national finals. These six students were six of the most knowledgeable
students I knew, and I can still barely believe that they did not know one
question in the upper national finals. This proves that students need to be on a
whole other level of knowledge from other JCLers if they want to be great at
Certamen and compete at a national level. And for buzzing, it is simply insane.
The number of words in a question that players need to hear before they know
the answer is amazing.
The physical skills that certamen players have are simple, but they are
incredibly important. Their reflexes are the only physical skills they need to
dominate on the buzzers. I cannot overstate how fast these reflexes must be in
order for a certamen player to succeed. This is the same for athletes because
athletes need to have great physical skills to do well in their sport. The
mentality that certamen players have is one of competitiveness and a drive to
succeed. The competitiveness required for certamen players is what gives them
the motivation during a match to dig deep and play certamen like they have
never played before. A player’s drive to succeed is what makes them want to
study countless hours and practice countless hours. These two qualities of
competitiveness and drive to succeed are also key to athletes’ performance in
their sports.
Ohio’s Upp
er
team from
Certamen
NJCL 2017
Zhang, Sam
Apte, and P
: Alan
Katz, Gauta
eter Hattem
20
m
er.