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
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