Radio show, Monday December 28

Even though everyone is home for Christmas break, we did the WFTR radio show...and we even had a special guest! John Holsinger, who was an R-MA student and a champion Debater for the last two years but is going to Sherando this year, joined Valerie and me for an hour of current events and reminiscing about the joys of Debate tournaments. Here's the link to the podcast.

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaSpeechDebateRadioShow

 

--Doug Pratt

First radio show podcast

Here is a the link to the first podcast of our WFTR radio show last Monday. There was a technical glitch that cut out the last 15 minutes or so, unfortunately.

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaSpeechAndDebateRadioShow

We had a great time, and it was one of the best shows I can remember. We'll just keep getting better from here!

We're back on the air!

We've finally gotten our biweekly radio show organized again! These have been a ton of fun in previous years, and we're all excited about doing it again.

The first edition of the R-MA Debate Team Radio Forum will premiere at 1800 on Monday, December 14, on WFTR AM. The show will be recorded as an MP3 for podcasting, and we'll link it here as soon as the podcast is available.

It's cold up here

Well, we made it through the out rounds. None of our teams broke, but we did better than average with high speaker points. Good thing it was cold enough this morning that everyone brought their coats; the blizzard hit around 2pm. Late rounds were tough since we were in buildings all over campus. But we're all back at the Staybridge Suites safe and sound, dry and warm, flopping onto beds and dreaming about the hotel's breakfast tomorrow morning. We're going to take it easy on the trip home tomorrow, the Interstates will be clear.

We're in Princeton!

Breakfast in New Jersey, of all places. We're at the Princeton Classic tournament, getting fueled up at the excellent Staybridgde Suites. Registration in an hour; first Public Forum round at 1700. We have three PF teams: McGraw-Pedersen, Christoph-Jin, and Vaughn-Pratt. It's a major event with 45 other schools from as far away as Colorado. Gorgeous campus, beautiful day, and we're already having a great time.

WACFL 1 results

I just realized that I never reported the results of the first WACFL tournament...and here we are at #2. Sheesh. None of our kids placed, but all performed well. Christoph and Douglass went 3-1, which is an excellent job for the first time out. Pratt and Vaughn went 2-2 and Pederson and Mcgraw went 3-1.

We made it to WACFL1

We made it to WACFL! Hayfield seems huge, at least to us.


Jackson McGraw has already had an air bag go off in his face this morning, thanks to a deer, so he's ready for anything.

Alex Douglas gets some last minute advice from Coach Burt.

Jackson McGraw has already had an air bag go off in his face this morning, thanks to a deer, so he's ready for anything. Debate is always an adventure.

WACFL 1

Saturday is the first WACFL tournament, at Hayfield High School. We're taking three teams:

Jackson McGraw and Jon Pederson
Alex Douglass and John Christoph
Jessica Vaughn and Valerie Pratt

Wheels up at 0530 (yes, guys, that early! We'll stop at McDonalds, I promise, but we've got to get to Alexandria before 0900).

 

Practice

Hard at work on the October resolution; ten days to WACFL.

Heading home

We fought hard, but not enough to make out-rounds Ah well, next time. After unwinding at an amazing Turkish restaurant Valerie found (taking her responsibility as team captain seriously), we're ready to face the trip home. Seven hours through the wilds of Pennsyltucky, here we come.

Crunch day at Yale

6 rounds today...

McGraw and Mcateer revise their cases, stealing all their opponent's good points from yeswterday.

Oblivious to the hubbub around him, CHristoph reaches for his Debate Zen space.

It's not raining...

Yale!

We're at Yale!

The team has arrived at the Yale Invitational! After celebrating  John Christoph's birthday last night, we're all charged up and ready to go. First round in 15 minutes.

 

First Black and Gold intramural debate

Tonight we held the first Black and Gold debate of the season, and it came off just fine. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. McGraw for judging! Looks like we will have two strong Public Forum teams for Yale: Jackson McGraw and Stephen Maddock, and Valerie Pratt and John Christoph. Good to get back into the swing of things.

New Resolution

Here is the resolution that will be used at our first national tournament (Yale, October 1-4):

 

Resolved: When in conflict, the United Nations should prioritize global poverty reduction over environmental protection.

 

This is the resolution that will be debated at our first Black and Gold Debate next Monday. If you need help researching or preparing cases, check with Valerie, Coach Burt (lmburt@gmail.com) or Asst. Coach Pratt (dad@pratthobbies.com).

 

At Monday’s team practice we discussed some good online news aggregators and research sources. Valerie and John Christoph both get The Economist, and Valerie will share the password to www.economist.com. I have subscribed to the Wall Street Journal for the team, so drop me an email for the user id and password to www.wsj.com. The New York Times doesn’t charge for access anymore, so hit www.nytimes.com. Also highly recommended are news.google.com, www.ap.org (Associated Press) www.washingtonpost.com, www.washingtontimes.com, www.examiner.com, www.lucianne.com. If anyone else has a favorite news site let us know and we’ll share it.

 

Doug Pratt

Team Geezer

dad@pratthobbies.com

 

 

2009-2010 Schedule

So much has happened..we’ll try to get caught up in another post. For now, here is the schedule for this year. Please note that the first team practice is Monday, September 7, and we now use a room in the new Fulton Hall, on the second floor across from the computer room.

 

September 2009

                Monday September 14: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

October 2009

                Thursday October 1- Sunday October 4: Yale Invitational Tournament

                Monday October 12: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

                Saturday October 31: WACFL PF 1

November 2009

                Monday November 9: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

                Saturday November 14: WACFL PF 2

December 2009

                Friday December 4- Sunday December 6: Princeton Classic Tournament

                Saturday December 12: WACFL PF 3

January 2010

                Monday January 11: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

                Saturday January 16: WACFL PF 4

                Friday January 22-Sunday January 24: NFL State Championship

February 2010

                Saturday February 13- Monday February 15: UPenn Liberty Bell Classic Tournament

                Saturday February 20: WACFL PF 5

March 2010

                Monday March 8: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

                Friday March 12: WACFL PF Metro Finals

April 2010

                Monday April 12: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

May 2010

                Monday May 10: Black and Gold Debate, 7pm

                Friday May 28- Sunday May 30: CFL National Championships

June 2010

                Sunday June 13- Friday June 18: NFL National Championships

 

Report from Harvard

The whole team couldn't go, but three intrepid debaters and one parent (required to drive and pay for things) braved the wilds of Massachusetts for the Harvard Classic tournament. This is the biggest tournament in the country, at the oldest and most confusing school in the country. In Boston, where they last repaved the roads in the Hoover administration. Nine hours away by Interstate. Whew.

It was our best chance to get some practice in before Metro Finals, so we loaded up the car with the Public Forum team of Stephen Maddock and Valerie Pratt, and John Holsinger for Original Oratory. On the drive up we admired the scenery, worked on cases, and read "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett aloud to each other. It's a wonderful book; picture the Book of Revelations as scripted by Monty Python and you'll be close. We had a great time.

Mr. Gregg always gets us into comfortable hotels, and according to the map our Holiday Inn should have been easy to find. It was, once we realized that the best way to reach it was by driving through a mall parking lot. The map also seemed to show that we could get to Harvard Yard easily enough by just following Massachusetts Avenue. Right.

I've traveled a lot, and I pride myself in my ability to find my way around most places. Boston humiliated me. I was utterly dependent on the GPS on my dashboard. In fact, the dashboard receiver got swamped by tall buildings, and I found myself using both the GPS and Sprint Navigation at the same time.

Our kids battled bravely in a huge field. There were over 200 schools in Varsity Public Forum! We estimated that there were nearly 5000 students in the tournament. It was spread out over several buildings, and I didn't get to use the school pass most of the weekend; the one time I did, I discovered that you can get out of the parking garage but not back in, unless you use the same door you exited. I guess it makes sense in Boston.

I must say, I saw something in Boston I've never seen before: a panhandler, on the median strip at a stoplight, with his cardboard "Homeless, please help" sign, talking on his cell phone. No one else seemed to think it was strange, so maybe it's me. He probably has his own blog.

The tournament management did some very clever things to keep things moving. They posted copies of the schedules on their Web site as soon as they were available, which made it possible for me to stay with the car and get people where they were needed on time. Unfortunately, they posted the schedules as PDF files which are difficult to read on cell phones. And their web site required you to log in each time to get them. It vindicated my habit of keeping a laptop in the car, and Sprint wireless broadband came through nicely.

Once we determined that no one had broken to finals, we packed up and headed home. The kids had given up their mid-winter break to do this tournament, and we needed to get back in time for classes on Tuesday morning. We made it in good order, in spite of some difficulty escaping from New Jersey when I misread the exits around Newark Airport. I'll have to do some more road trips to get my confidence back. Metro Finals are local, over the next three weeks or so, but that will determine who's going to CFL Nationals in Albany. I think I can find Albany.

Doug Pratt
www.pratthobbies.com

"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax." --Abraham Lincoln

Report from NFL States

The Virginia Forensics League is the largest chapter of the National Forensics League. This year, the VA State Championships was the largest States in the history of the VFL.

I'm delighted to report that our team did very well...especially considering that they had just finished up their midterm exams!

States was held at the University of Virginia. This was my first visit to the UVA Campus, and the word "beehive" comes to mind. Parking was...interesting. The campus map on the UVA web site shows this nice parking lot across the street from the two buildings where the debate events were held. Sorry, Charlie...they're building a whole bunch of new buildings on that parking lot. So the ever-faithful Jennifer had to find creative places to park the bus, while I wound up parking my car in a garage clear on the other side of the campus. The joys of logistics.

The Czar had gone down a day early, as he was responsible for running things. I don't know how he does it. Earlier in the week I came in and helped him enter applications, sort out schedules, cross-check cards and so on. We put in seven hours on the computers that day before the kids came in for practice, and several of them stayed to help. It took weeks of intensive effort to pull this thing together. And these events are closely audited by the national NFL office, so things have to be correct.

Assistant Coach Lauren and the squad captains got everyone organized and ready. First thing on Friday, there was some confusion about exactly where the first round schedules were going to be posted. Thanks to text messaging we got everyone where they belonged. Things went smoothly in the tab room after that, and I settled into an interesting schedule of judging, mostly Lincoln-Douglas with a couple of rounds of Public Forum and even a little Congress (fun!). My only criticism of UVA is that they have those chairs with the desks built on them, and while slim, healthy college students can be comfortable in them for hours, they are completely impossible for 350-pound 6-foot-5 me. Several very smart debaters went and got me actual chairs...I'm not saying that they necessarily won their rounds, but I definitely appreciated it. In one of the Congress rooms I judged, all the chairs were bolted to the floor. I stood.

Lauren got everyone loaded on the bus and back to the hotel in time for a good night's sleep, which was absolutely necessary because Saturday was going to be a meat grinder. I walked back to the parking garage. Three miles later I realized that I was walking in the wrong direction. I was saved by the GPS navigation on my Sprint cellphone. I hereby encourage you to consider Sprint if you need a cell carrier.

Saturday was a long day. Debate Squad captain Valerie Pratt and her partner Will Dungan dropped in Public Forum before finals, so Valerie went off to get her first taste of Congress, while Will zeroed in on International Extemp, eventually placing fourth. Jon Christoph and Phil Kinney broke to finals in Public Forum, taking home a sixth place trophy...a sign of great things to come! Jon also picked up fourth place in House 3 of Congress, and broke to semis in International Extemp; an outstanding effort. Paul Smith broke to the semifinals in International Extemp as well, a great job at his first States. In Domestic Extemp, Team Captain Brennan Morris dominated the pack, placing first. Stephen Maddock nailed sixth place, an excellent performance for his first year on the team! In Original Oratory Brennan broke to semis, and John Holsinger went all the way to finals, ending up sixth in a very strong field. John is one of the hardest workers on the team, and it was great to see him get a well-deserved trophy. Our strong Duo Interpretation team, Mary Ann Neil and Kaleb Gerber, went to finals and finished sixth.

When the points from all the district events this year were totaled up, R-MA placed First in Public Forum, Third in Speech, and Fourth in Student Congress. The overall Sweepstakes trophies are in size divisions to match schools more fairly, which is somewhat tricky as some large schools have small Debate programs, and vice versa. So although most of us don't look at R-MA and think "large school," because of the strength of the Speech and Debate Program it's no surprise that we're in the Large School division. It is also no surprise that R-MA again took First Place. A tribute to the team, to the school, and especially to Mr. Gregg, who is the driving force behind our world-class program.

Next weekend, we head south to the Duke Blue Devil Classic!

Doug Pratt

 

Princeton Panorama Pictures

 

Every year the FGLDS has had the wonderful opportunity to travel to the countryside of New Jersey and Princeton University. Besides hosting a nationally-acclaimed speech and debate tournament, Princeton boasts one of the nation’s most beautiful campuses. FGDLS member John took some pictures at December’s Princeton Classic tournament and “stitched” them together. On the left is Princeton’s stunning chapel, and on the right is a gorgeous library. Click to see the full picture and click the “download” tab if desired.

 

GMU Patriot Debate Tournament

What a week. ShenVaFL on Thursday down south in Harrisonburg, and the Czar and Brennan Morris kept on going south, since Brennan qualified for the Extemp Round Robin in Tennessee. That meant Assistant Coach Lauren Burt had to run things at the big Patriot Debate at George Mason University on Friday and Saturday. Everybody pitched in to help, we had a great tournament, and took home some serious awardage!

I met the bus at GMU on Friday morning. Last year, they had us organized around the nice food court in Johnson Hall. No such luck this year; we were down in an older set of buildings with smaller rooms, no comfortable meeting place, and those blasted plastic desk-and-chair things that I can't fit myself into. Grumble. Not that we had much chance to sit, with four rounds of PF and LD to get through, and they started almost an hour late. We had four PF teams: Maryanne Nell and Kaleb Gerber, Steve Maddock and Paul Smith, John Christoph and Dave McAteer, and Will Dungan and Valerie Pratt. Squad captain Valerie took good care of her debaters and made sure they all got to rounds. Our lone LDer, Phil Kinney, headed off for his rounds.

The plan was to return everyone to R-MA Friday evening and come back Saturday morning, since it's only an hour away. We got word about 1 pm that the weather forecast for Front Royal was calling for snow and possible freezing rain Friday night, so it looked as though we wouldn't be able to get the team back for the final day of the tournament. Coach Burt and I got busy on the phones and lined up local accomodations for everyone, along with parental permission. Phew! The parents who took in debaters on Friday night basically saved the tournament for us. Valerie and I wound up with the RMA bus parked in front of our house, and four team members and the bus driver camped inside. I must compliment my wife, Jennifer, for reacting with complete aplomb when I called and told her we were going to be a hotel; she whipped up an excellent breakfast for everyone, too.

We lost one of our PF teams on Friday when Dave McAteer came down with the flu. He struggled bravely through the morning, and he and John Christoph won two out of three rounds. By noon, he was tired out, and we arranged to have his dad come and pick him up. I want to say Well Done to Dave for doing his best, and to John for dealing with the disappointment of having to forfeit the rest of the tournament. If they can do this well when Dave is feeling lousy, watch out for them at NFL States in two weeks!

We rallied at GMU on Saturday for the last two rounds of PF and LD. When the standings came out, two of our PF teams were in quarter finals: Maddock and Smith, and Dungan and Pratt. Dave and Paul were up against a tough team from Sherando, but we were thrilled that they broke. I went off to judge the LD quarter finals, and when I got back I learned that both teams broke to semis! Dave and Paul were eliminated in the semi round, but their performance pleased all of us.

Will and Valerie were headed for finals when I got the word that I was needed on the judge panel in both semifinals and finals in LD. Those LDers were very good; Perry Mason would be proud of those cross examinations. I was keeping one eye on the cell phone, hoping that someone would text me when Will and Valerie's round finished. When I finally finished filling out my last ballot and stumbled back from the tab room, I found Valerie stretched out on the floor reading a book. "Oh, by the way, we won first place!" Everyone else had already gotten on the bus and headed back.

What a weekend. We represented RMA well and it's good to know that the Czar is proud of us. Lauren did a masterful job dealing with inevitable stresses and potential disastrophies, and got everyone through a winning weekend...not surprising, since she was Virginia State Champion when she was a senior.  I thoroughly enjoyed my role as Team Geezer. It was a real pleasure to watch everyone working together and getting the job done.

Next week, two local meets at West Potomac and Chantilly. Then, on to NFL State Championships at the University of Virginia!

Doug Pratt
www.pratthobbies.com