EIGHT coaches of teams in this year's School's Challenge Quiz found themselves in the hot seat during a friendly rivalry match - Rural versus Urban in the inaugural coaches match, held at TVJ on Thursday.
The eight coaches were divided into two teams namely Hall named after Dennis Hall, the longest serving School's Challenge Quiz master and Buckner, after Don Buckner, the longest serving executive producer of the competition.
Frank Weise, coach of Clarendon College, Errol Martin, coach of St. Catherine High, Clayton McCalla, coach of Garvey Maceo and Glenmuir and the sole female coach, Noelle Hoskins, made up the Hall Team.
Buckner's team consisted of Randell Campbell, coach of Jamaica College, Valmore Stewart, coach of Kingston College, Paul Thomas of Wolmer's Girls and Huntley Kerr, coach of Meadowbrook High School.
The rural team was coached by Reverend Glen Archer and Oneil Dunn, while the urban team was coached by Thaddeus Davis and Gregory Samuels.
From the outset of the match the rural team showed the urban team their tails as they led the way throughout the match. Buckner tried to put up a valiant fight but were no match for the quick thinking Hall team.
At the end of the first segment, Hall had only answered two questions incorrectly which gave them a clear six points more than Buckner's 15, resulting in them breaking the record for the highest total in section one since this year's school's challenge quiz.
The end of Section Two, the speed section, was just as rewarding as Hall easily climbed to 55 points. Buckner scored 46. Yet the race was not yet won and Buckner would not concede. During the buzzer section both teams used their speed as they gained and lost points alternately.
Hall won easily, finishing with a whopping 59 points to Buckner's 44.
Throughout the match there was friendly rivalry as the teams demonstrated a certain level of professionalism.
Glen Archer pointed this out as an example of how different schools can come together in unity. He said it was good training the coaches for the match, but added that they did not need that much tutoring based on the wide knowledge they already had.
"They were very cohesive and all the coaches are adults and so everything flowed naturally," he said.
Paul Thomas, a Buckner team member, said he hopes there will be a match like this for coaches each year.
"It was fun and yes, we did feel like guinea pigs," he said.
The coaches will receive prizes for their participation at the grand finals to be held at Pegasus Hotel tomorrow.
