The moderator begins by reading a question about the author of “A Modest Proposal.” A player buzzes in before the moderator can finish the question and answers, “Jonathan Swift.”

The player is rewarded when the moderator indicates that his answer is correct. Trinity’s quick recall team works hard for these moments.

The team is coached by Mr. Mark Amick and assistants Mr. Parker Whitehouse and Mr. Jason Rand. The team is also led by team captain Travis Liebert.

Matches are set up with teams of four. Typically, each school tries to create a team with a vast knowledge base. The students are asked a variety of questions.

Amick said, “The question sets are from KAAC (Kentucky Association for Academic Competition), which should be 20 percent from each of five subjects: science, math, social studies, language arts, and arts and humanities.” 

Matches start with a toss-up question. The first team to buzz in gets a chance to answer the question. The team that gets the answer correct gets a bonus question and the opportunity to answer first. If correct, they receive another point and then another toss-up question is read.

If a toss-up is answered incorrectly, the other team gets a chance to answer. If the opponent also misses the answer, the question is skipped and a new toss-up is read.

“The home team decides whether you ask all the questions in the question set for that week or whether you just play 15-minute halves,” Amick said.

Practice for the Rocks involves following a match pattern. The team also practices by studying old question sets.

Amick said, “This year we have been giving the players old question sets to study so they can learn and become better prepared for this year’s question sets.”

The Rocks quick recall team won the region in 2016 for the first time since 1998, knocking off St. Xavier, Male, Eastern and Ballard.

The current season has been going well for the team. Liebert said, “So far we have done very well. We recently placed fourth in a state tournament, which is better than we usually do.”

Amick agreed.  He said, “I think the guys have been performing great. With the addition of Coach Rand and Coach Whitehouse a few years ago, we have been able to prepare the guys better for each match.”

The coaches said their team has a solid knowledge base. Rand said, “The team has a fairly strong knowledge on all of the subjects.”

“This year we have a really deep knowledge base,” Amick said.

Seniors Liebert and Alex Arave have helped lead the Rocks thus far.

Amick said, “Recently, we played in a university tournament at UK where Travis Liebert placed fifth overall in scoring, and since I have been a coach, I can’t remember a time when we had a player perform that well.”

Arave has been very important for the team this year as well. Liebert said, “Alex Arave has been a very strong player and role model for the rest of the team.”

The team has a lofty goal for this season. Amick said,“Our biggest goal is definitely to go back to state.”

Despite their success, the Rocks are working to improve weaknesses.  Math has been a tough area so far.

Amick said, “We are working on trying to build a solid four-person team as well as being able to cover the math category, which is our biggest weakness this year.”

The team is preparing to face some strong challenges. Amick said, “Our biggest matches are still in front of us, with St. X and St. Francis, the league champ last year.”