During their recent practices the ComedySportz team has been preparing for its upcoming exhibition matches. The matches will take place on Jan. 14 and Feb. 25 at ComedySportz Indianapolis on 721 Massachusetts Ave. Admission is free and open to the public, no tickets are required.

During these exhibition matches, Carmel’s team will divide in half and play against itself, mimicking the setup of an actual match.

ComedySportz sponsor Jim Peterson said, “The exhibition matches are basically for new team members especially to get used to the format of the competitions. There’s a kind of structure that they follow. So in the exhibition matches, there will be four teams competing: two teams in the first half, two teams in the second half. So we will be responsible for one half of the match.”

By practicing comedic games in the format of an actual match, team members will become more comfortable with the games and be better prepared for their season in the spring.

Jake Greene, ComedySportz co-captain and senior said, “We have a lot of new members this year, so really we’re working on getting those basic skills and the intricacies of improv that are unique to ComedySportz because all of us understand improvisational theatre and improv comedy, but we’re really working on unifying to sort of that ComedySportz feel.”

Overall, the exhibition matches serve as an opportunity for new and old team members alike to develop and enhance their comedic improv skills.

Peterson said, “(The biggest challenge) is just practice, getting confident and anticipating what’s going to come up next, that kind of thing. I don’t think there’s anything particularly challenging about it, it’s just practice and getting used to it.”