By Daviot Kelly, Staff ReporterLIKE THE brave hobbit from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the time draweth nigh when The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee champion Cornel Grey will embark on a journey to a strange land to fulfil his quest.
But instead of destroying a ring in Mount Doom, his trip will be to Washington, D.C. to tackle all before him in the Scripps Howard International Spelling Bee. He leaves the island tomorrow for the June 1 to 3 spelldown.
It's quite a task but he's getting a lot of support from past contestants, including 2001 champion Daniel Thomas and Danielle Thomas, who finished second to Cornel this year.
"Daniel comes down a few times to help me with the words. Sometimes Danielle helps me with that as well, and sometimes she brings her laptop and looks up the meanings of some of the words," he told The Gleaner.
Daniel went to the Scripps Howard competition and he gives Cornel some useful insight as to what it will be like in front of a much larger crowd than that at the Hilton Kingston Hotel in February.
ARDUOUS PRACTICE
Cornel and the Rev. Glen Archer, his coach, meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. On a regular day, they go through approximately 1,500 words at least. The training includes the use of video and tape deck. They watch recordings of past Scripps Howard competitions and listen to the voice of the spellmaster so that Cornel's ears will become accustomed to the way he pronounces the words. That way he will be at the competition in his mind, giving him a head-start.
Speller and coach had much praise for The Gleaner for helping to prepare their champion for Scripps Howard through the local competition. They felt that the system of having the spellers sit then stand and spell; the uniforms and the 25-word written spelling test were simulative activities that were subtle but very effective.
The training is a meticulous process but one which the Rev. Archer believes is necessary considering the challenge. "The preparation has been steady. Fifteen weeks, a lot of prayers, a lot of what I call 'the winning psychology'. We are a Third World country going into a First World situation, and that can be daunting for a youngster coming from a prep school situation, spelling against over 260 contestants."
WIDE DISPARITY
He pointed out that while one state like New York has approximately 15 spellers, Jamaica has only one.
According to the Rev. Archer, the key for Cornel is to spell against himself and forget about everybody else. The philosophy is simple; if you spell every word you receive right, then you'll be all right.
There is a new rule for the Scripps Howard competition that enforces stricter time periods for a speller to complete his/her word. The Rev. Archer believes that this actually accentuates one of Cornel's strengths.
"He doesn't waste time at the microphone; once he identifies the word he spells it and moves on. He has also a good way of concealing his nerves (so even if he's nervous, you'd never know it). His third strength is that he's maturing he used to be moody once. He's prayed to God to help him with his moods and not to let them get in the way. Fourthly, he's businesslike and very organised."
