After the week's goal is established, quizzers should break their total time down into daily parts. Have them decide how much time they will study each day. They may choose to spread it out evenly over the whole week, or skip a couple of days. Finel They know their schedule and have at least a vague idea as to when they can study and how much time they can give to study. Just help them spread the time out so that all the study is not on day 6 and day 7.

It is important that the quizzers set the goals and write out their study plans at practice. Many would forget to do it by the time they got home. Have them bring the chart to the next quiz practice for evaluation. The ultimate goal will be the important thing, not whether they meet the daily goal. Sometimes circumstances require some adjustments. Also, remember that your quizzers are teens and they will not always reach their goal-but did they try? Even with goal setting there will be practices where some quizzers will have done no studying at all.

Consider how you would handle this situation - assume that you arrived for practice just in the nick of time. You had just finished writing your questions in time to eat and charge out of the door. The quizzers (you have five) wander in at various intervals. The first one was waiting for you when you arrived, eager and enthusiastic, and you just know she has studied. The others trail in until the last one arrives fifteen minutes late. You poll your team to see how their studying went. No one reached their study goal for the week. The last quizzer in (he was lat~ because he was trying to finish reading the chapter for the second time) had studied the most. One had scanned it and assures you that he has a pretty good idea what the chapter is about. And the girl who was early? Her excitement was caused by getting a date for Saturday night!

What is your reaction? How would you handle the situation? Check whether you agree or disagree with each of the following methods of handling or reacting to this negligent quiz team:
AGREE DISAGREE

- Blow up at the team. Warn them that if this continues you are going to have to stop coaching the team and the program will be dropped. Give them one of your strongest lectures.

- Do not be afraid to show them you are disgusted. After all, you put a lot of time in the program and they are wasting your time and theirs. Be kind in drawing their attention to these matters.

- Try not to show that you are discouraged. Since the individual Bible study is very important, send them each into separate areas to do some studying on their own. Then bring them back for the practice.

- Discuss the reasons they failed to meet their goals. What can be done about it? Re-evaluate and set new goals and help them to see their responsibility in meeting these goals.

- Admit to the team that you were also under a great deal of pressure, and that you just barely got the questions done. You did nothing else. Forgive them, forget it and send them home, telling them that you will pick up this chapter at the next practice.

- Go ahead with the practice as planned. Make only the slight adjustment of giving more time to clarifying the matenal and spend less time on the development of quizzing skills.

There are undoubtedly many other possible reactions. Each reflects a philosophy of quizzing. Since the personality and philosophy of the coach figure deeply into this problem, one answer cannot be given. To solve it you need to keep in mind the purpose of quizzing, the purpose of the quiz practice and the value of the quizzer. With all of this in mind, write down your personal solution to this problem in the following space. You need to think this through because you will face it in varying degrees as you coach your team.

1. Sharing. Prepare something to share during the discussion time at practice. Write out ques tions on meaning and think about the passage. How has it helped you? What has impressed you in your study? What is the most important thing that has happened to you this week? This can be very valuable in making the passage personal.

2. Clarifying the Current Chapter. If your quizzers have done their homework, this will not be a particularly difficult task. It is best handled by asking questions, such as a simple, but often helpful introductory question, "Are there any questions about the chapter we studied this week?" With quizzers who have studied, there will often be questions.

Please do not feel you must answer every question. One of your more effective tests of under standing will be to throw the question open to the whole team. Be enthusiastic about responses given in this manner-it will encourage them to participate. Also, do not be afraid of not having an answer. There is nothing wrong with not knowing. The important thing is being willing to find out. If it will take a lot of time to find the answer, do not research it at practice, but rather bring a report next week or assign it to someone else. If you do assign the problem to another person, be sure to give them some suggestions as to where they can find the answer.

You may have discovered words or ideas that you thought might not be clear to your team. Rather than presenting the information you have gathered, ask questions about the meaning of certain passages to determine their understanding. If there is confusion, you may feel free to tell them what you have discovered. Do not force unneeded knowledge on the quizzers. They will let you know if they are lacking in that area if you will question them. Develop the art of asking good questions.

Use visual aids in clarifying material. If you were studying Acts and the journeys of Paul, you might use a large map and have the quizzers trace his journey. Since the places are not generally as important as what happened in each city) have the quizzers take turns in coming 10 the map and drawing a line to the next city. While they are at the map, have them explain what happened in the city to which they have just taken Paul.

One method which has been used effectively is to have the quizzers name the people in the book in their order of appearance. They are to name the chapter and tell something about the person. This helps them keep the chronology straight, remember the people and the importance of these people.

Try to anticipate questions that might be asked. When distances or measurements are mentioned, the quizzers usually want to know how those measurements compare with the standards of today. Sharing this information helps them get a clearer picture of the biblical setting. Try to think like the quizzers in your first reading of the material. What words will be confusing? What words will have a new meaning? Who are the Sadducees and the Pharisees? If your quizzers are new Chris tians, or if this is their first exposure to the Word of God, some things will be confusing. HELP THEM!

3. Quiz Practice Study Methods. Coaches are always looking for new ways to help their quizzers remember the material or for new review techniques. These ideas should help.

a. Dramatics. Role playing or charades can be used to have the quizzers act out a particular event or character from the book.

b. Visual aids. The chalkboard, charts, maps, timelines, flip charts, overhead pmjector or tape recorder can be used to illustrate various points or for the quizzer to work on himeelf.

c. Assignments. The coach can give assignments, either to be completed at home or to be worked on at the practice. Do a character study, map out Paul's journeys, do a word study, write out the "I am" of Christ.

d. Study questions. Study questions can be distributed for the quizzers to go through the underline the key word. Then they should add a slash mark at the place where they think they should jump. Discuss this as a team.

e. Special quizzes. The coach may use a single word, place or object as the question with the quizzers responding with the right chapter.

f. Key words. A key word may be given with the quizzer telling the events surrounding that word. Short quizzes on key words can be very helpful. This can also be reversed. Give the situation and have the quizzers give you the key words.

g. Answers. Start with answers and have the quizzers make up the questions that might go with that answer.

h. Unscramble. A series of twenty quiz questions or characters or places or items may be given to the quizzers. They will place these in chronological order. This can be done with many things and helps the quizzers get the order straightened out in their minds.

i. References. A major reference may be given after which the quizzers tell you what is in the verse.

j. Lists. The coach may have the quizzers take turns giving the proper order of any list from the passage you choose. List it on the board as they give it to you or have it already made up on a transparency and reveal each new part as they correctly give it.

k. News story. The quizzers could write up a news story of one of the events in the book. It could be done in newspaper form or recorded on tape as an interview for a radio broadcast. Stress accuracy, but encourage some creativity. They might interview all the people involved in a story to get a clear picture of their personal feelings. Have them do this from memory.

4. Applying the Current Chapter. Many will feel that application is a personal thing, and it is.

However, it is the responsibility of a good teacher to lead his quizzers into an opportunity for personal application in an individual way. For some teams) this is done by asking the quizzers to share what the passage has meant to them. How did the Lord speak to them? What has led them to change their lives?

There is some value in this approach, but frequently it has not really included an application to the individual quizzer's life. The quizzer will say what the passage means, what he would like to have happen in his life, what should happen or how he felt. He does not say what has changed because of what he read this week. Naturally this is not true of all quizzers, but it would apply to plenty of them. They have been reading the Scriptures all year, even talking about what should happen to the individual who studies God's Word, but their own lives are unchanged. There is something you can do about this.

First, you need to plan for this type of situation to happen. Plan it Out with God. As you approach each Bible study quiz practice, you need to seek the guidance of God that opportunity would be given for the quizzers to apply the truths they are learning to their own lives. Now you need to deter mine what key truth from the passage you are studying that you would like to see your quizzers internalize.

Maybe they would write a diary as though they were Peter, or perhaps as Rhoda or Mary. Help them get into the Scripture and absorb the feel of the situation. Now, how is this practical today? Transfer the meaning to the world today. What does this teach those of us struggling in the "prison" of school? Obviously it does not teach that if we pray an angel will come and spring us out of school! What does it teach? Are we to pray for many things that we do not expect to be answered? Should our own faith in God be more important than doubting friends who are praying for us? What does it mean?

After your quizzers suggest several possible applications to life today, lead them to the step of application. What one thing will they do this week to place their trust in God? Their responses can be as different as they are as individuals. One may say, "I will trust God by going to my math teacher and confessing that I cheated on that exam a few months ago." Another might say that he needs to get a part time job, but he has been too frightened to even fill out an application form. He will trust God for the courage to ask for a job. One of the girls might say that she has been trying to get close to a new girl at school, but she has been struggling with what to say. She will sit down and plan what she will say and trust God for the opportunity to become that stranger's friend.

There are three basic steps in application: (1) they must be able to grasp the biblical meaning of the truth being taught, (2) they must be able to relate the Bible truth to life situations today, (3) they must put that truth into practice in their 6wn life. All of this is the fulfillment of a goal. You say you want your quizzers to be stronger spiritually when they finish the quizzing program, but what steps are you taking to insure this? The Holy Spirit will do His work. Will you do yours?

5. Prayer and Commitment. This is where the application is sealed. Encourage your quizzers to share how they have applied the Scripture, or how they plan to apply it. Pray about it with them.

This can be a time of team commitment to the Lord. As the team shares, both quizzers and coach, a unity begins to develop that will enhance the attitude and testimony of your team.

This may also be a time of praying for one another's burdens and praying about the problems incurred in quizzing or other matters important to your team. This can be one of the best moments of your practice if you allow the Holy Spirit to work.

C. IMPROVING QUIZZING SKILLS.

The section will deal with a variety of things, and in no particular order. The goal is to cover the questions most often asked.

1. Competition. No one question is asked more than, "How can I develop a competitive team when we have little or no competition?" This is a difficult problem, and the most difficult part is motiva tion. One team that placed second in international competitions had only three quiz meets prior to the top level meet. The coach said that the hardest part was keeping them studying when they knew that they were not going to be competing for two or three months.

The following are "tried" ideas used to keep the competitive spirit high. It is a compilation of methods used by coaches throughout Canada and the United States.

Here are ideas for inner team competition:

KING PIN is the favorite of many teams. It works with any size team and, as is true with the rest of these methods, it works best when the team has studied.

The chair at the far left is the King Pin chair. Regular questions are asked and when a question is answered correctly the quizzer moves to the king Pin chair. Once in that chair, he must answer three questions correctly to freeze the chair so that no one can take it away from him. When a quizzer moves to the King Pin chair, all the others slide down to the right, filling the empty chair. When a quizzer misses a question, the person on his right has the bonus opportunity. If the bonus is answered correctly, the two quizzers exchange chairs. When a quizzer misses three questions from the same chair, he automatically moves to the last chair, which means that everyone below him moves up one chair.

There are a variety of ways this type of game can be played-use your imagination and create some new rules. King Pin may be played on a time limit, after which two teams are formed. The top half of the line forms one team and the bottom half the second team.

ANONYMOUS uses your regular rules. Quiz your whole team against a team called anonymous. When your team answers a question correctly they get ten points. If they miss a question, ANONYMOUS gets thirty or forty points, depending on how daring you are. On errors the home team loses ten points. You might be surprised at how well ANONYMOUS will do. This will help develop accuracy by slowing the team down slightly.

REGULAR TEAMS, REGULAR RULES can only be done if you have enough quizzers. Most churches do not have enough to make two full teams. However, there are many variations to this-you can go as low as two members on each team and still get fairly good competition.

LONER can be very challenging to the whole team. Have one quizzer go against the rest of the team in a ten question quiz. The lone quizzer will be under the regular rules. The rest of the quizzers will form one team, but have different rules. If they make an error, they will be out of the quiz. Other wise, the regular rules apply to them as well. This will do two things: it will cause the lone quizzer to become very sensitive toward pressure and work hard-he has only himself to depend upon if he is going to win. The other quizzers will be come very cautious. They will want to beat the loner, but at the sarhe time they will try to be sure they know the question before jumping.

CHALLENGE allows the quizzer next in line to quiz the one just above him for five questions and the right to occupy that spot. Most teams have the quizzers numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Use this for the challenge system. If you do not number your quizzers until the end of the year, make an arbitrary list or run a couple of quizzes to determine the order. This will help your quizzer learn to withstand pressure. This could also be effective with KING PIN.

ADVANTAGE - gives one team a sixty point advantage.

DISADVANTAGE - gives the team ten points for a right answer and minus twenty for a wrong answer. The bonus could be worth five.

MULTIPLE TEAMS - divide into three or more teams Let each quizzer be a team by himself in a ten question quiz. This helps them study harder. If you are by yourself and you score nothing, you'll try not to repeat this the next week!

SHORT TIME cuts the starting time to begin answering a question to two seconds and the total answer time to fifteen seconds. Again, this helps them work under pressure.

REWARD offers a reward to the top quizzer of a particular day. Take them to MacDonalds after the quiz. If the quizzers know it is coming sometime, it is best if unannounced.

Tips for creating your own competition: Quizzers need to be prepared to face pressure and to be competitive. If they draw back in competition, the results are obvious. Take the liberty of inventing new ways of scoring and competing. Quizzers need to know the rules for actual competition, but they need to find some enjoyment through variety at practice. Some ways of helping them face pressure are: (1) ask unusually difficult questions, even some deliberately confusing ones (2) set up imaginary dramatic situations, such as "this quiz is for the championship" (3) use others as quiz master so they do not become used to one voice (4) make some bad decisions they can challenge. See if this throws the team and if they have learned to bounce back (be sure to tell them what you did after the quiz) (5) invite another team to come to practice, but don't tell your own team.

Here are ideas regarding finding other teams for competition: Organize a team of EX-QUIZZERS from your college group. Often they miss quizzing and would like to do it again just for fun. If there are not enough ex-quizzers, get the few there are to organize a team and coach it.

ADULTS are occasionally game to quiz over one chapter. You will need to coach them and perhaps even give them a list of study questions a couple of weeks before the quiz. Sometimes it is good to have the quizzers study four or five chapters and not tell them exactly which chapter the quiz will cover. The quizzers generally win these, but it brings the quizzing ministry before the church and it can be a lot of fun. Sunday school teachers are good recruits for this, along with some pastors.

OTHER DENOMINATIONS, if they are studying the same material, can be the source of good competition for your quizzers. There may be some differences in rules and perhaps even a totally different style, but you may be able to work out some compromise rules to get a good competition going.

2. Jumping. Begin by committing your quizzers to a philosophy of good jumping. Nothing does more harm to Bible quizzing than individuals who jump like the wind, yet consistently error on the question. God's Word is a sacred thing and must be handled with care. By the very nature of the quiz format, errors will be made. But every effort should be made to keep the error percentage as low as possible. The less you know the matenal, the slower you should jump.

The full jump position should include the following elements. You should sit forward on your chair with your feet slightly tucked under the front of the forward edge of the chair and one foot slightly in front of the other, with about six inches between them. The body weight must be balanced over the feet. This means that when your leg muscles are tensed for the jump, only a minimal portion of your weight is actually resting on the quiz seat. Your balance in this position should be such that your coach could pull the chair from under you without causing you to lose your balance. Therefore, maintaining your center of gravity directly above the base formed by your feet is very important.

At the full jump position, your first motion should trigger the quiz light. This means that the first part of your body that moves should be the mid-section. Many quizzers with apparently fast jumps are seldom up first in an official quiz because the first part of their body which moves is the head or the shoulders. These parts move after, not first. This is very important. This extra movement can trigger a good jumper to react and even beat the quizzer who has the extra body movement.

Since there is a wide difference in jump styles, and in body builds, it is impossible to define the exact way in which this initial jump motion should be made. It should be in the form of a snap. In your mind convince yourself that you are exploding off the chair Find the best form for yourself that will allow you to snap off that chair.

The old saying that "practice makes perfect" applies to the area of jumping. Not only is it impor tant to have a jump which is technically correct, it must be automatic. During the quiz season practice you jump about twenty times a day. Use a mirror to correct excess body movement. Many jumps are effective. The difference is the degree to which a jump becomes automatic.

Since quiz questions are designed around a key word, the goal in jumping is to have the body react the moment the mind anticipates the key word. When a quizzer assumes the full jump position, he should concentrate on the quizmaster. Keep the eyes riveted on his lips and try to anticipate what he will say next. As he utters the key word of the question, the quizzer should snap off the chair automatically, while still listening to the quizmaster. In this way the quizzer will pick up the last syllables given.

Jumping is secondary to proper study. Work~first of all on a proper study schedule, then once this is well under way, do not neglect the techniques involved in proper jumping.

(This material on jumping was modified from the 1970 Youth For Christ Quizzers Manual.)

D. INTRODUCING THE NEW CHAPTER.