Monday, September 30, 2013

10 Things I Love About Speech and Debate

There are a lot things great things about speech and debate, so I thought I'd share with you some of my favourites. Now, while these aren't the only things I love, I don't want to make this even longer. Plus, I don't want to have to find a million pictures for all the things I love. Seriously. It took me forever to find all those pictures. You'd better appreciate them. So much so, that you vote affirmative. (Wow, I think that was the first time I put that at the beginning.)

10. Winning Lots of Trophies

So I'm kind of joking about this one, seeing as how I've never actually won a trophie. But I bet it's really exciting, and I would probably love it. I guess that's why it's only number 10. Medals are cool too. I have a couple of those. At some tournaments they award real, tangible green check-marks. I find those rather humorous, actually. They get glitter all over my hands. And my hair.



9. Not Having a Speech this Pattern

I made a tournament. It's called KITOC.

Seriously. I love it when I think I have to rush to a speech because my debate round ended late, then finding out that I have no events that pattern, and thus can sit around and watch other people's speeches. That, or play cards and Apples to Apples Bible Addition. But of course, there is it's evil twin: finding out you actually do have all of your speeches this pattern, and then you have to abandon your intense game of spoons and go give an impromptu speech or something.



8. Having a Speech Go Exactly Ten Minutes

This has only happened to me once. When the timer told me 'Ten minutes exactly.' I was like, "really? That's great!" I swear I almost high-fived the kid. It was even better because it was in semi-finals.  And even better because I was so used to my speech being either 8:10, or 9:36. The same goes for when my impromptu is exactly five minutes, or my constructives exactly eight minutes. Or my- okay, you get the idea.


7. Timing Interps

This is Chandler Lasch. She's really
awesome and you should read her blog.
Specifically duo and HI. Those things are hard to time. Not because of hand signals, because there aren't any. All you have to do is start when they start and stop when they stop. Easy. Timing duo/HI is hard because EVERYONE wants to time interps. Everyone. Everyone wants to time HIs and duos because they'll probably be funny. And everyone loves a funny speech. But some of my favourite interps are dramatic. Some people just don't appreciate a good DI. Poor DI. So under-rated. You should all do a DI. DI's are cool. (BTW, have you noticed that if you pronounce DI like an actual word it sounds like 'die?' Coincidence? I think not.


Me in a suit in
impromptu
finals.

6. Wearing Suits

Some people don't like having to wear suits at tournaments. I love it. Up until NITOC last year (it feels so weird calling it last year) I had a total of three suits. Two of those suits were hand-me-downs from my sister. But we went shopping right before NITOC and got like a million more suits. So I have to decide what suits to wear at tournaments. This will be difficult. Whenever I practice my speech in my room to my stuffed animals, I put on my heels and suit jacket. It just feels more real that way. At NITOC, when I didn't break, I still wore my suit jackets and special debate shirts because I had so many and didn't want them to go to waste.


5. The Awards Ceremony

I can dream!
Back in the (NCFCA) days, the awards ceremony would drag on until midnight. Seriously. We left a tournament at 12:00am one time because the tournament went so late. But no longer is that the case! Awards ceremonies go much quicker no-a-days. And they're a lot of fun. Especially when my friends do awesome things.


4. "Watching" TP Finals

I never used to watch TP finals because they wouldn't let me time it. That was annoying. Then one time my brother broke to TP finals. And that was awesome. But that's a whole other story.  Whenever I watch TP finals, I don't usually do it for the debate. I'm sick of debate by the time the tournament reaches this point. I actually only watch TP finals if a.) my friends are watching. b.) My friends/family are in finals. But since my friends usually watch, I usually watch. And by watch, I mean flow the 1AC then start drawing or passing notes with my friends. One time I took selfies with some friends during prep time. And I made really cool name-tag designs one time. And then all my friends wanted one too. It was a lot of fun, and I don't even remember who was debating.

Yes, I realize this is duo postings.
But duo is kind of like TP, because
there's a team.

3. Ballot Parties

The tournament has ended. Everyone is exhausted and wants to go to bed. So we stay up until 1:00 'talking about ballots.' Truth be told, I'm pretty sure we only spend the first half hour complaning about judges talking about ballots. After that we tell our horror stories from the tournament, play 'baby if you love me' and basically just talk until the hotel staff tells us to shut up. In-N-Out ballot parties are probably my favourite. So yeah. Ballot parties are super awesome. Especially when I discover...
HEY LOOK AT THE TREES!



2. First Place Ballots

Do you remember the first time you got a first place on a ballot? I do. It was at that tournament I broke to finals at. Whenever I broke, I started crying. (Not because I was sad. I couldn't have been happier.) At the awards ceremony, when I got my medal, I started crying.  Whenever I opened up my ballots, half expecting a first, half trying not to hope so I wouldn't be disappointed. Then I found the best ballot in the history of ballots  That judge is the best ever. Not only did he give me my first first place, he voted for me against Rambo/Rambo the sequel. The first round I ever won.
The best ballot ever. Seriously. It
doesn't get better than this ballot.

1. Praying Before Rounds

This is my favourite thing to do before a round starts. I feel nervous, and everyone around me feels nervous. So what do we do? We pray. This is Christian homeschool speech and debate. And sometimes we pray together. That is the best. It helps us remember the reason we do speech and debate: for the glory of God. It's so encouraging when one of my friends asks me to pray before rounds. Especially when we're in the same room together. Like when I broke to impromptu finals, a good friend of mine was also in finals. And we prayed together even though we were competing directly against each other. It was awesome.

Vote affirmative, because there are a lot of awesome things about speech and debate.



(P.S. If you liked this post, you might like SCHSADKL, by Chandler Lasch. It's awesome.)

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

There's Something I Need to Tell You

Once upon a time, I was a junior. I did a junior speech for two tournaments. Then I gave up because I lost. Four years after I gave up, I un-gave up. Because un-giving up is actually a thing. And after I un-gave up I wrote a speech. And I found evidence. And I went to a tournament. This is a story about my first speech and debate tournament.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I printed off the negative briefs. I finished writing my speech five days before the tournament started. I sort of practiced my speech like once. I was ready for the first tournament I would ever really compete at. Sort of. But the tournament would arrive in spite of my preparedness (or lack there of). And arrive it did.

I put on my (sister's) suit and my brand new heels. I submitted my script and rolled my (sister's) debate box into the student gathering room and realized I was in the wrong place and had to walk where everyone else was. Then I remember that I was on the welcome committee and had to like, open doors or something. But no one came through my door. But finally, the first round was about to begin. I was about to become a real live, actual debater.I ducked between the multitude of well dressed teenagers to see who I would be going against. And there it was.

Rambo/Rambo AFF vs. Gerdt/Jones NEG

That hypothetical situation my debate coach always talked about was unfolding before my very eyes. My partner and me, two novices, versus two super duper advanced debaters. I was pretty much dead before I walked into the room. But I got my giant neg binder out from my (sister's) debate box and plopped it on the table. And I debated. And I lost. But I didn't pass out or throw-up, so according to Mrs. Harding, it was a success. So I shook off Rambo/Rambo and went off to wait for my first ever speech round.

Remember to take off your slippers. Remember to take off your slippers. I told myself. Please help me remember to take off my slippers. I asked God. And please don't let me go against my friend who has the exact same topic as me. I pleaded as I walked towards postings. And (of course) I was going against my friend who had the exact same persuasive topic as me. I bit my lip and walked to my room, constantly repeating the room number to myself. And I sat outside persuasive for awhile. Then I watched a couple duos because I was pretty far down on the list. Then I was late because I was watching duos. Then I remembered to take off my slippers and put on my heels. I got into my room and, saying a quick prayer in my head, I told the judges who I was. And I began speaking.

Introduction? Check. First point? Check. Everything was going fine. I moved into my second point. Half-way through my second point I realized something was wrong. I was giving my genius debate analogy a point too soon. I was in my third point. Did I skip my second point? I froze. For a good twenty seconds I just stared at the wall. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do????? I finally decided that it'd be best if I just kept talking and give my second point third. My judges were very merciful to my extended pause. To say the least. And everything was okay. The end.

I have something to tell all you speech and debaters. First years and sixth years, extempers and interpers, TPers and LDers and Parliers. You. Will. Mess. Up. Sorry to pop your bubble. Actually, I'm not. Better to pop it now, before the first tournament does it. Yes, you're going to mess up. Don't think you won't just because you've been doing this for the past four years. Your expos boards will fall apart the day before the tournament. Your mind will go blank the moment you pick up your impromptu prompt. You will forget to put your heels back on before you go into your persuasive round. Your duo partner will be late to your round. You will forget to print out briefs until it's 11:00PM the night before the tournament. You (or your TP partner) will forget to register for a tournament. You will hit Rambo/Rambo, even though you are a novice and don't deserve such punishment. You will be late for extemp prep. You will get pink eye the day before the tournament (well, maybe not that. But it's possible. Trust me). You will clap after the wrong speech in a debate round.

But you know what you won't do? Die. Not because of any of those thing. You might get pink eye, you might even throw up. But you will not die. The only possible reason you could die from any of the above things happening is if you stop breathing. You will not get sucked into the time vortex because you forgot to change your shoes. You will not get thrown into the debate dungeon you forgot to print off briefs. So BREATHE. In. Out. In and out.

It's going to be okay. Those things don't define you. Not your skills as a speech and debater, and not you as a person. So keep calm... and vote affirmative.