This summer, three University of Wisconsin Oshkosh athletic training students will participate in the final round of Quiz Bowl, a Jeopardy-style trivia competition put on by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA).

Students Mike Deal, Daniel Meyer and Brandon Yach will be heading to St. Louis in June for a chance to be crowned national Quiz Bowl champions. This is the second time in three years that UW Oshkosh has reached the national level of the competition; this honor comes after a win earlier this spring at the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers Association annual meeting.

Deal said that he joined the Quiz Bowl team because he thought it would be a great way to study for his athletic training certification exams while also representing the University.

“I like that I, along with my team, can represent UW Oshkosh as well as all of Wisconsin,” Deal said. “It feels as though we are doing something big, and I am really enjoying this type of responsibility.”

The group’s faculty adviser, Kim Calvert, said the questions at Quiz Bowl can vary greatly, covering things from anatomy and physiology to rehab and administration. She said because of this wide variety of questions she doesn’t have the students focus strictly on knowledge alone.

“I always tell them that the practice we do isn’t about filling gaps in their knowledge,” Calvert said. “It’s really just so they can figure out how to function as a team. If you don’t know the answer, you don’t know the answer. I’m not trying to cram knowledge into their brains at the last minute.”

If the team wins in June they will each receive a pair of high-quality athletic scissors, something Calvert said is essential for every athletic trainer. In addition the program will receive $500 in funding from NATA.

“No matter what happens they did a great job and they’re representing the program really well,” Calvert said. “That’s all I can ask for.”