05/23/2026
Meet The Springboro National Academic Quiz Tournament Team!
NAQT organizes the premier middle school, high school, community college, and college national quiz bowl championships in North America.
The Springboro team: Evan, Keeran, Austin, Matthew, Felix, Quinn, and coach Tommy Segi.
Tommy Segi has been a key member of our staff for the past couple of years, keeping score and helping manage the results of some of the biggest matches.
This year, he has a different title: coach. He’s guiding the Springboro (OH) team into the afternoon session of preliminaries, and his team is taking the benefit of having a good guide to steer them through the competition.
Springboro player Quinn says “the players you’re playing against here are better, and are playing at a higher level.” His teammates talk about the wisdom they’ve received on the level of the question they’re facing, and the format of the game; “we have to be ready on the timer.”
Keeran adds “we’ve got to be ready for FAST READERS.”
Segi says “This team has put in hard work and is dedicated.” He makes comment of having nationals-caliber teams in his league in Northmont and Beavercreek; “they see what makes a good team, and they focus on becoming that.
There are a lot of players who are balancing multiple commitments - athletics, band, jobs, etc - they still commit to the weekend tournaments and to the league during the week and they balance with their other commitments.”
Matthew believes in the repetition that his team has gotten during practice, and brings sage advice for the new quiz bowler. “The more questions we hear, the more answers we get.”
The goals for the day are being kept in check. Segi: “It’s hard for the first time to set a goal in numbers; we don’t control who we play at the beginning. But we just came off of scrimmages and we played well. It’s hard to quantify, but I know what I want the team to experience.”
Matthew adds: “We’re just here to do our best.” And then a couple of players give hints of more brash confidence, but Coach Segi is doing his best to tamp those expectations down. There’s such an easy rapport between the team and their coach, and that bodes well for a good day tomorrow.
