Head coach Matt Dillon and assistant coach James Ziegler will announce subject squad captains for the 2011-2012 Academic Superbowl team on Oct. 27. Captains will be responsible for dividing up the material, delegating authority and organizing bi-weekly meetings.

“I am 100 percent sure of my choices; we have some people we are bringing back from last year that we were impressed with,” Dillon said. “And, we have some people that we decided to use instead of last year’s. I think that the best people for the positions we have available.”

Dillon interviewed several potential captains over the course of the past few weeks.

“We had a lot of interviews,” Dillon said. “We talked to a lot of different kids from a lot of different backgrounds. Ziegler and myself sat down and conducted interviews with these kids, and we even had some second interviews.”

Following the announcement of captains, subject squads will assemble and begin practicing for the actual event. 

Jeff Hou, former Academic Superbowl math captain and senior, said he has thoroughly enjoyed the club and its “not so obvious” benefits.

“Though there are no intrinsic benefits to joining Academic Superbowl, it’s still a fun club. We earn neither money nor fame through participation or even winning first place,” Hou said. “For the Super Bowl, players fast stringent practice regiments and undergo extreme conditioning. For the Academic Superbowl, we are a bit more lax.”

As for now, Dillon said he recommends that students begin preparing themselves for the upcoming meetings. He said the students must be completely committed to the club and ready to actively participate in upcoming events.

“You need to show up at the meetings and contribute to the team. And, really, you have to be open to new ideas and some criticism,” Dillon said. “You may have some mistakes. The process of learning this information is not to highlight where your mistakes are, but to learn from them and be better.”

However, Dillon, a social studies teacher, cannot always assist students in certain subjects. He proclaims that this is one of his greatest challenges as a sponsor; being able to facilitate learning in subjects he does not teach. Dillon and his devoted pupils have been able to solve such ripples in sponsorship by seeking the assistance of other teachers. Cathy Freed, former CHS teacher, served as one of the main resources in math.

“Some schools literally have five sponsors; math, science, social studies, English and art. We don’t; that gives them a huge advantage over us,” Dillon said. “The equalizer is that I have a fantastic, natural talent in my organization. I have kids that come that are good students and driven; they’re motivated and prepared.

“Really, it’s a kingdom of ‘nerdom.’ Nerds teaching nerds that creates a higher nerd.”