Second of two parts
Re “A Spelling Veteran at 10, Cooper Preps for a Run at the State”
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Cooper Komatsu
Except at the birth of their first child, how do parents know when and how do they know that they have brought an extraordinary child into the world?
Take 10-year-old Cooper Komatsu of El Marino Language School, champion speller, who, in the company of his mother, Deborah, will be in Stockton on Saturday for the state spelling bee finals for fourth through sixth graders.
How did Deborah and Rob Komatsu recognize they were living with a child in possession of uncommon gifts?
One clue was that it is in Cooper’s genes.
“Cooper’s grandfather went to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the ‘50s,” Ms. Komatsu said.
A coveted inheritance?
At what age did his mother detect promising signs?
“When I was 2,” Cooper said, “I spelled t-w-o.”
“He always wanted to crack the code with reading,” his mother said. “He would take magnetic letters, and I could tell he was trying to figure out how they went together.”
Cooper soon grew into a championship Scrabble player, Ms. Komatsu announced.
He is a veteran of five years, having started at the age of 5.
“He always has been a puzzly kind of guy,” she said.
Mother and son are a team. “I Love Scrabble,” Ms. Komatsu said. “But Cooper encouraged me to take my game to the next level.”
Cooper and his mother belong to two Scrabble clubs where the rest of the membership is adult. Cooper participates because he is one of a kind.
Cooper spoke up. “In April of last year,” he said, “I went to the SSC, the Scrabble championships for youths in Orlando. I got seventh place with my teammate.”
How is a Scrabble contest distinct from a spelling bee?
The line is fine, Cooper said.
“Sometimes I think Scrabble is about knowing less about words. Spelling is knowing of roots and exceptions. My Scrabble skill sometimes helps with my spelling.
“For example, I knew how to spell dhole in a spelling bee I was watching, d-h-o-l-e.”
Cooper defined dhole as an Indian breed of dog.
Who would contradict him?
Which does he prefer, Scrabble or spelling?
“Even though they are both word games,” Cooper said, “they are very different.”
And then the boy in him delightfully came out.
“I like doing spelling bees,” he said. “But sometimes I don’t like studying for them. Sometimes I get tired of studying for them.”
But how are champions made?
“Practicing,” said Cooper.
Does Cooper have favorite words that help him warm up?
You bet.
Cynghanebd – seldom a topic of dinner table conversation.
For the uninitiated, Cooper identified it as relating to the measure of time in Welsh poetry, and hardly any heads in the room nodded in recognition.
Next was that old standby zyzzyza.
Is there anyone else in Culver City who knows that zyzzyza – or Z, as people in a hurry say – is a weevil.
“The spelling bee has gained momentum this year,” Ms. Komatsu said of her precocious fifth-grader.
Finally, when Cooper is an adult, what would he like to do?
“I want to be a successful inventor,” he said. “Or I want to be just a great spelling champion or Scrabble champion.”
