Results from DAB Tourney in Tucson, AZ

The DAB tournament that took place in Tucson, Arizona, at Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind:
We took a team of 5 bright students, one returning and four new players, to Tucson so that they could compete against 15 other schools from across the western part of the United States for the regional tournament under Gallaudet’s Deaf Academic Bowl program. The players were: Zane Fleming (senior, 4th year player), Brianna Matthews (senior, 1st year), Samantha Gonzales (senior, 1st year), Melinda Murphy (junior, 1st year), and Ellen Auman (sophomore, 1st year).

We were placed into the Buff pool along with 7 other teams: Fremont, Woodway HS (from Washington), Utah, Alaska, Colorado, Marlton, and New Mexico. Our first game was against Utah and we won. Next, we played against Alaska, who is a newcomer to this tournament. We won again. We went into the match with Colorado with a 2-0 record. Unfortunately, the match against Colorado was a very tough one and we lost by one point.

After that, we had to play against Woodway, who won the regional championship in the southeastern regional tournament last year. We lost to them. On Saturday morning, we went against Marlton and won. Then we played against New Mexico, who pulled a surprise upset against us last year.

They won again, by four points. Our last match was against our sister school, Fremont, who was undefeated with a record of 6-0. The game was a good one, but we lost in the end. Overall, our record was 3 wins, 4 losses. So we tied with Colorado for 4th place in our pool. But interestingly enough, both Fremont and Woodway (from our pool) went on to win the 1st and 2nd places in the championship round so it showed what a tough pool we were in. Overall, we are very proud of what our students did and how well they represented CSDR.

The students enjoyed the experience greatly and they realized how much their CSDR teachers have helped them learn a lot of the information that came up on the questions during the matches. This motivates them to pay a lot more attention in class from now on to get all the information they can get and to prepare themselves for next year! We will have two returning players (Melinda and Ellen) along with a new crop of DAB players this fall.

So does this mean DAB is over for the year of 2006-2007? Nope! Our next task is to help run the middle school’s Class Bowl, which will take place on May 11 at 9 a.m. in the Social Hall. It will be a good experience for our team to finally see the other side of how a DAB competition works. We will also have a banquet for our team sometime near the end of the school year so we can give out awards to the players and recognize them for all their achievements throughout this school year.

Last, but not least, we’d like for everyone to give Zane Fleming a huge round of applause for his dedication as a DAB player. He has been on the team for four years and has been loyal and passionate about DAB in every way possible. If you see him around campus, be sure to give him a pat on the back and congratulate him for all he’s done for the DAB team and CSDR.

If you want more information about DAB, be sure to check out this website:
http://academicbowl.gallaudet.edu/main/archives/000178.html

Be sure to click on our region (WEST) to see more about the recent tournament last weekend. Thanks to everyone for your continued support and be sure to continue teaching everything you can to our students so that they can continue to represent CSDR well in future DAB tournaments!

DAB Coaches Darrin Green and Scarlett Valencia

Deaf Academic Bowl Retreat

On a cold and crisp weekend in late January, six students and three teachers went sky high up into the mountains of southern California, their destination a cozy cabin in the heart of Big Bear Lake. The reason? It was the annual Deaf Academic Bowl (DAB) retreat, and the students were more than ready to enrich their minds with all kinds of knowledge, as well as spend quality time with each other and to bond as a real team. The teachers were there to guide the students through the mazes of facts, dates, formulas, and words, and the students drank it all in like very thirsty people. It was like that for two days and then everyone took a well-deserved break by painting the town red. They went out to a local Italian restaurant and stuffed themselves with pizza and escargot. Yes, escargot! It was a first for many and laughs were shared all night long. After a few more hours of study on Sunday, everyone was ready to head back down into reality. But one thing was certain–the DAB team was more than ready to show the world what they were capable of accomplishing.