Despite a delay, the LinguiSHTIK tournament had 6 students qualify from the Intermediate High School. 

On January 31, Seneca Valley students attended the Academic Games LinguiSHTIK tournament. The tournament, which had been pushed to the 31st after the delay on the 30th, was a huge success for the team.  With 6 qualifiers, the tournament allowed more students to attend the National Tournament. This year, the tournament organizers combined the Junior and Senior divisions, which surprised some students, because freshman players might be playing seniors with three more years of experience.  

LinguiSHTIK is a cube game, so players compete in three-player matches. In each round, a player can earn anywhere from a 2-6. There are three rounds, and players must get at least a 16 to qualify.  It is also a grammar game, so students must test their knowledge of sentence structure and parts of speech and their usage. Sentences may involve grammar elements such as retained indirect objects, elliptical phrases, or intransitive verbs. After the tournament, dubbed “Ling” by the team, around a dozen students from the Intermediate High School are expected to attend the National Competition. Players looking to compete in the National Tournament, held this year in Knoxville, must qualify in two out of seven local tournaments.  With the Ling tournament complete, players have two more opportunities to qualify. The next games are Current Events, where players test their knowledge of the past year, and Theme, which changes every year, and is currently about Greek and Roman Mythology. Even though one tournament just ended, new studying materials have already been circulated. The first practice is next week. Good luck to everyone and have fun in Knoxville!