ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
Two hundred and forty-seven kids from across the country will take the stage this month to try and spell their way to a trophy with words like...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Eclaircissement.
FAIZAN ZAKI: Eclaircissement. E-C-L-A-I-R-C-I-S-S-E-M-E-N-T. Eclaircissement.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: That is correct.
NADWORNY: That's Faizan Zaki, winner of last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Somebody peel him off the floor.
NADWORNY: This year, the bee has a new host - ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes.
MINA KIMES: For me, my goal is to really make it feel like you're watching the Super Bowl.
NADWORNY: Kimes competed in bees as a kid, and she says she idolized those who went on to vie for the championship in D.C. She told me that she noticed some connections between Super Bowls and spelling bees.
KIMES: Going back and watching the bees - and that's sort of what I've been doing to prepare for this - I've really noticed a lot of similarities between the televised broadcast and then the games that I'm around in the NFL. The competitors, their preparation, I would say, is what shines the most, as well as just how composed they are and how ice-cold they are onstage. It is - does remind me a little bit of watching elite athletes. But I also think - and this is kind of what I hope to bring to the bee - the way that they win is what reminds me of football, which is to say, it's super complicated and there's so much process that goes into it, and it does feel a little bit like watching a play.
NADWORNY: OK. So you're watching old bees. How else are you preparing as a host?
KIMES: Well, I've been trying to learn more about how these kids do it. It's a really important part of the broadcast and what I hope the broadcast will convey to viewers is they're not just going up there and reciting words based on rote memorization. I mean, some of it is memorization, obviously, and they do have a zillion words memorized. But you can watch them puzzle it out. You know, we were so used to watching these spellers ask for the etymology, the definition, the part of speech, the use in a sentence. But there'll be a moment where you're watching them and a kid says, oh, is this from the root word in Greek or something? And if they get the affirmative, you see, like, the light click on and you realize, oh, they just figured out how to spell this word, even though they might not even know what the word is. And I think for me, an important part of my preparation has been understanding their preparation so that when I talk about them, hopefully I can convey the complexity of what goes into each word.
NADWORNY: You competed in local spelling bees. Do you remember any words in particular that tripped you up?
KIMES: So it's so funny. I don't actually remember the words I got wrong, which is very unusual because the elite spellers and the kids who you're going to see in our broadcast remember every word they've ever spelled wrong and why they spelled it wrong. And I don't know if I just have, like, that next play mentality of, like, the NFL cornerbacks, but I don't remember, and I was going to ask my parents. I did remember, however, the word I spelled right to win my second-grade bee, which is a very easy word, especially after watching these spelling bees, but it was receive, the classic I before E except after C came into play.
NADWORNY: (Laughter).
KIMES: I think I was 7 at the time, but I do remember the feeling of hearing that and being like, ooh, I got an easy one, which you can see sometimes when you watch these kids spell infinitely more difficult words, you can see the expression on their face when they obviously know that they got it right.
NADWORNY: That's ESPN NFL analyst and Scripps National Spelling Bee host Mina Kimes. Thanks so much for talking with us.
KIMES: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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