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