RMA Speech and Debate

WFTR

2012-01-25T23:34:00.000-05:00

Back on WFTR

2012-01-24T17:30:00.001-05:00

After a long break due to holidays and schedule conflicts, the sanity of radio itself was threatened once again by the R-MA Speech and Debate Team's Radio Forum! Our guests were Jackson McGraw and Micah Peregrino (champions of the last WACFL regional meet), Will Fosnaugh and Alex Niemeier. We started out talking about the Stop Online Piracy Act, then segued smoothly (haha) into immigration law, which is this month's Public Forum resolution topic.

http://www.archive.org/details/20120123RMA

Medals!

2012-01-14T20:10:00.001-05:00

We're celebrating! Jackson and Micah tied for first place at WACFL 4!

Radio days

2011-12-30T14:04:00.000-05:00

A little something over the holiday break, to remind us how much fun we have. GMU when we get back!

December WFTR Radio Show

2011-12-13T21:56:00.001-05:00

Since it was the only show we're doing in December due to holiday breaks, everyone wanted in, and it was a bit of a madhouse. To make it more interesting, Valerie was stuck at college for final exams, so I didn't have my usual moderator and lion tamer. So this was a, shall we say, lively show. Fun, too. Our guests were Jon Pedersen, Alex Neimeier, Ben Nelson, Ben Schoonover, Micah Peregrino and The Jackson McGraw Show.

http://www.archive.org/details/20111212RMA

Christoph breaks at Princeton!

2011-12-04T09:56:00.001-05:00

All of our kids did well, but the big news is Jon Christoph, who cleared out rounds in Lincoln Douglas and made it to Triple Octofinals! In a tournament with over 140 schools competing, that's excellent. We'll finish up our judging obligation this morning, then shop a bit in Princeton before pointing the van toward home. Next is the WACFL local tournament, then GMU in January and Duke in February. Tune in to WFTR a week from tomorrow for a Princeton report on our regular Radio Forum.

Princeton!

2011-12-03T07:59:00.000-05:00

We had two rounds yesterday, and will have four more today. We'll find out later this afternoon if any of our kids broke to final rounds. We did well yesterday so everyone is charged up and ready.

On our way to Princeton

2011-12-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

We stopped at Messiah College to pick up Valerie. Registration is at 3 pm, first rounds at 5. Ben Nelson and Jon Christoph are competing in Lincoln Douglas, and Micah Peregrino and Jackson McGraw in Public Forum. Charge!

Medal in Lincoln Douglas

2011-11-19T18:22:00.000-05:00

Jon Christoph took a 4th place medal in JV Lincoln Douglas, and Ben Schoonover went 3-1 in his first tournament. We're waiting for Public Forum results.

WACFL 2

2011-11-19T08:33:00.000-05:00

Off we go on another local tournament, at Potomac Falls High School. We have a bunch of people trying Lincoln Douglas this time, as well as Ben Nelson, who is looking to complete his regional qualifier today. And our hotshot PF team of McGraw and Peregrino are looking to match their top round finish from last time. This is also a warmup for Princeton the first weekend of December. Charge!

Link to WFTR show, 11/7

2011-11-14T23:46:00.001-05:00

We really got going with this one...almost talked over the end of the show.

http://www.archive.org/details/20111106RMA

WFTR Radio Show, 10/24/11

2011-10-25T17:50:00.001-04:00

Here's the link to our Monday, October 24 radio show. Fresh from our excellent outing at WACFL1, we had conversation starters from Micah Peregrino, Will , Ben Nelson, and Jon Christoph. Valerie Pratt moderated as usual. And we finally got our coach James Taafel to come in and participate!
http://www.archive.org/details/20111024RMA

Yeah!

2011-10-22T18:43:00.001-04:00

Jackson and Micah nailed second place, with an undefeated 4-0 record! Ben went 3-1, so he has a half qualifier for metro finals. A great start to the season!

WACFL 1

2011-10-22T08:16:00.000-04:00

We're at the first local tournament, fired up and ready to go! We have Ben Nelson in Lincoln Douglas, and two Public Forum teams: Jackson McGraw and Micah Peregrino, and Josiah Kovacich and Jon Pedersen.

Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

WFTR radio show, October 10

2011-10-12T20:36:00.001-04:00

Off we go again on the WFTR airwaves: http://www.archive.org/details/20111010RMA

This time we had two new team members, Will Fausnaugh and Josiah Kovachic, along with old friend Micah Peregrino. Valerie Pratt moderating as usual. We talked about Joe the Plumber and other current items of interest.

WFTR Radio Show, Monday, September 26

2011-09-27T13:46:00.001-04:00

And a lively show it was. Our topics were major areas of public discourse and discussion, including the death penalty, illegal immigration and... Miss Universe? Here is the link to the podcast.

http://www.archive.org/details/20110926RMA

9/12 WFTR Radio Show Podcast

2011-09-13T12:42:00.001-04:00

We had an excellent radio show Monday night, with a larger crowd than usual since everyone wanted to get back into it. The resolution, on the value of commercial vs. government-sponsored space flight, got a lot of great discussion. We had to cut it a little short due to a broadcast from a football game. Here is the link to the podcast:

http://www.archive.org/details/20110912RMA

We're back!

2011-09-09T18:11:00.001-04:00

The new year has begun and the team is hard at work. Our first WFTR broadcast will be next Monday, September 12th, at 6 pm. If you can't pick us up live on WFTR AM, we will put a link to the podcast of the show here as soon as it's up. Our resolution is about public vs. private funding of the space program, but we'll probably work in some current news and stories from our summers.

Graduation

2011-05-28T22:00:00.001-04:00

The Class of 2011 graduated today. Here's a YouTube clip of their senior parade, the presentation of the class to the General and dismissal, when they throw their hats in the air:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmz04-qdKK8

What a great four years it's been. Watch this space as we plan for next year's team. Oh yes, Valerie and I will still be involved, even though she'll be at Messiah College in Pennsylvania...they can't get rid of us that easily!

Last WFTR radio show of the year

2011-05-24T10:58:00.001-04:00

Here's the Class of 2011 Swan Song Edition of the R-MA Speech and Debate Team Radio Forum:

http://www.archive.org/details/20110523RMA

A real rouser of a show with a full studio! Valerie Pratt moderated as usual, assisted by team members Micah Peregrino and Jackson McGraw. Our old friend and former team member John Holsinger was our special guest, and he brought along fellow debater Stosh Lipinski, who has visited us before. We talked about various Republican presidential hopefuls, then seamlessly segued into natural disasters and the Middle East. Conversation was peppered with reminiscences of our experiences traveling with our teams and battling through tournaments.

Since Valerie is graduating in a few days, I'm reminiscing fondly of our four-year run. It's been an amazing experience, and the old man here feels privileged to have been a part of it. What a fantastic group of kids, and I mean all of the debaters I've met, not just ours. The sooner we baby boomers turn over running the world to these kids, the better.

The first two years, under the leadership of Rev. B. A. Gregg, opened up a new world to me. Getting drafted into judging tournaments led to more and more travel and became a big part of my life. The thrill of seeing Valerie win tournaments and go to Nationals was part of it, but I will never forget the good times traveling with the team to exotic places like Las Vegas, Wisconsin and Boston. Who else but B. A. Gregg could drive his team bus to a 50s-style drive-up restaurant in rural (read: empty) Wisconsin, complete with a waitress on roller skates and a chef who is an Elvis impersonator? Or our road trip to Harvard where we took turns reading Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens" to each other?

When Rev. Gregg moved on two years ago we had a different challenge, holding the team together and building on his foundation. I am very proud of Valerie, who has been team captain all that time, and has not only kept it together but built for the future by finding and nurturing new team members. I have no doubt that Ben, Micah, Jackson, Jon and the rest will go on to new heights. (Especially Jon Pedersen, who nailed the Middle School Speech tournament!)

One of the best parts for me has been our biweekly talk shows on WFTR. I guess we haven't really produced these programs, as much as we've perpetrated them. I have always loved radio; I believe it does something special in this media-soaked society, something that other flashier media can't do. One of those things is to provide an environment for the free exchange of ideas, and boy, did we do that. I like to think that we showcased the fact that our kids are well-informed and thoughtful people, as well as being exuberant (read: barely restrained) teenagers. I want to thank Lonnie Hill, stalwart keeper of that little concrete castle next to the radio tower, who has always welcomed us graciously and done everything we've asked, as well as cheerfully tolerating the miscues and dead air caused by the old geezer trying to run the control board. An hour of air time is not a small thing, and we are grateful. Warren County has a real treasure in WFTR. What's not to love about a radio station that does live remotes from Little League games?

So here we go to graduation. If you're local, I hope you'll come and see the Senior Parade on Friday at 2 pm. The R-MA Campus looks beautiful this time of year, and it seems special now that we're leaving it; I remember clearly how it felt when we arrived. The first time I came to campus, I had a feeling that this was a place where good things happen. I can get sentimental about it because I'm the old guy; the kids have no time for such thoughts, already picking out college courses and making vast plans. So I'll do what they will do when they get older, and say a heartfelt thank you to everyone involved in making Randolph-Macon Academy what it is.

--Doug Pratt

May 9 WFTR radio show link

2011-05-10T16:20:00.001-04:00

Our penultimate show of the year (that means next-to-last, so you don't have to look it up) is here:

http://www.archive.org/details/20110509RMA

Wilson McGraw and Micah Peregrino were our guests, and a lively discussion it was, especially when we started talking about the American educational system.

Podcast of WFTR show, April 25

2011-04-26T11:42:00.001-04:00

Even though it was the last day of Easter break, we made it to the WFTR studio and had a lively radio show. Discussion ranged from the dangers of foreign chocolate Easter eggs to the dangers of being tracked by your Iphone. Valerie Pratt was the moderator and Tyler Atkinson the target...I mean guest.

http://www.archive.org/details/20110425RMA

WFTR show: Attack of the Middle Schoolers!

2011-04-13T11:41:00.001-04:00

Well, not quite. We cranked the radio show back up after taking a break for Spring Break, and this time we featured one of our Freshmen and two Middle Schoolers: Micah Peregrino, Ben Schoonover and Jon Pederson. Excellent show on a wide range of topics, with discussion of the earthquakes in Japan leading Ben to enlighten us about local geology.

Here's the link to the podcast, thanks to our friends at WFTR:

http://www.archive.org/details/20110411RMA

This weekend is Spring Family Weekend, and we want to remind you all to come to the lovely R-MA campus for a visit. Our team captain is acting in the play, "Check, Please!" at 7pm Saturday in the Little Theatre. Tickets are free, and a great time is guaranteed!

Podcast of 2/28 show

2011-03-01T11:29:00.001-05:00

Here is the link where you can stream or download the podcast of yesterday's radio show:

http://www.archive.org/details/20110228RMA

WFTR show Feb. 28

2011-02-28T14:27:00.003-05:00

We'll be trying a live video feed from our talk show on WFTR tonight. Since today is the return day from winter break, we called on a couple of locals: Jackson McGraw and our old friend John Holsinger.
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Update: Good show! Here's the video. Link to the audio podcast will be up tomorrow.

U Penn wrap-up

2011-02-20T09:13:00.001-05:00

We made it to finals, but Jackson and Val were eliminated in the first round. Still an excellent weekend, even though we're leaving earlier than I would have liked.

UPenn Saturday results

2011-02-19T22:23:00.001-05:00

Jackson and Valerie broke to finals! They will start their battle at 8am tomorrow. Everyone else just missed, but it was our best results so far at a national tournament.

So far

2011-02-19T17:41:00.001-05:00

They just posted results from the first three rounds and we're doing great. Ben is 2 and 1 in LD. Micah and Jon are 2 and 1, and Jackson and Val are 3 and 0!

U Penn

2011-02-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

This is a great campus, beautiful and comfortable. Our old friend and teammates Ryan Black is here judging, hanging with us and swapping stories between rounds. We're briefing each other, comparing notes and revising cases. After four rounds the room gets a little, uh, disorganized. We'll clean it up after Round 6. Really.

U Penn

2011-02-19T09:38:00.001-05:00

First round underway. Ben Nelson is in Lincoln-Douglas. Micah Peregrino and Jon Pedersen have the first flight of Public Forum, and Jackson McGraw and Valerie Pratt have the second.

We're in Philly

2011-02-18T22:00:00.001-05:00

The City of, well, you know, brotherly stuff is our Target for Tomorrow. Specifically, the U Penn campus, site of the Liberty Bell Invitational Tournament. We have two Public Forum teams hitting the bricks early... six rounds tomorrow. This is our last national tournament of the season, so we're fired up nicely. Pictures tomorrow if the phones cooperate.

WFTR Radio Show, February 14

2011-02-15T21:53:00.001-05:00

Excellent show on Monday. For the first half of the hour we talked about current events, mostly the happenings in Egypt. For the second half, we concentrated on the current resolution that our Public Forum teams will be debating at the Liberty Bell Invitational in Philadelphia this weekend: "Resolved: Wikileaks is a threat to the security of the United States."

Download the podcast here:

http://www.archive.org/details/20110214RMA

Or stream it on this embedded player:

Jan 31 show moved to Feb 7

2011-01-31T12:56:00.002-05:00

Due to a scheduling hitch, our WFTR show ran on Monday February 7, and we'll have another on Monday February 14. Here's the link to the Feb. 7 show: http://www.archive.org/details/20110207RMA

WFTR-AM radio show podcast, 1/17/11

2011-01-19T17:57:00.001-05:00

Lively show! Unfortunately the first few minutes didn't get recorded for the podcast, so it misses the old man fouling up the intro music and stumbling over everyone's name as usual. Our guests were Micah Peregrino, Jackson McGraw and Tyler Atkinson. We talked about the tragic shooting in Tucson, and decided to focus on a less-discussed aspect of the case: how the public health system deals with insanity. Jackson had some interesting research on the subject. Micah tackled the new Congress and the debt limit. Valerie moderated moderately. Fun was had. If they don't lock the doors and turn off the lights when we pull into the parking lot, we'll do it again in two weeks.

http://www.archive.org/details/20110117RMA

GMU Debate Tournament

2011-01-11T00:26:00.001-05:00

I tried to send email updates to the blog all weekend but none of them got through. Irritating, especially since we have such great news!

Ben Nelson got his first break in Lincoln Douglas, getting into the octofinal round after an excellent performance in the six out rounds.

In Public Forum, Jon Pederson and Micah Peregrino did well but didn't break. Jackson McGraw and Valerie Pratt went all the way to Finals, and finished in second place!

Next up: a WACFL tournament this Saturday at South Lakes High School in Reston. Our next national-level tournament is the Liberty Bell Invitational at U Penn in Philadelphia, February 19-20. And of course, every two weeks, we're back on the airwaves on WFTR.

We're radioactive!

2011-01-05T10:10:00.001-05:00

Quite the lively talk show on Monday! We talked about government by regulation, death panels, the proposed Constitutional amendment that would let states veto Federal laws, and even managed to work in some of Dave Barry's latest column. Valerie Pratt moderated, and our guests were Tyler Atkinson, Jackson McGraw and Ben Nelson.

Podcast of 1/3/11 Radio Show

2011-01-04T16:14:00.001-05:00

http://www.archive.org/details/20110103RMA

Holiday radio show

2010-12-22T13:40:00.001-05:00

Even though the school is on Christmas break, Valerie and I traveled to WMAL for our biweekly talk show...it's too much fun to skip. Here is the link to the podcast.

http://www.archive.org/details/20101220RMA

WFTR radio show, December 6, 2010

2010-12-07T17:08:00.001-05:00

Here's the link to the podcast of our WFTR radio show. A lively one, with topics ranging (and deranging) from Wikileaks to California's gay marriage proposition with some economics and demographics thrown in for good measure. Our moderator is Team Captain Valerie Pratt, and our guests are Tyler Atkinson, John Christoph, Alex Neumeier and Micah Peregrino.

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaRadioClubhouse12610

Freezing in New Jersey

2010-12-07T11:12:00.001-05:00

Princeton pictures from Sunday afternoon before we headed for home. I think Jackson has recovered.

We had a great time, and our kids did surprisingly well. Our Varsity LDer and one of our JV LDers, Ben Nelson, were one win away from breaking into final rounds. All of our folks got good speaker points. There's no experience to compare with a tournament with 800 schools in it. This weekend when we have a WACFL tournament at Westfield High School, we'll be fresh from Princeton and loaded for bear.

The Princeton campus itself is worth the trip. It looks like they could have shot the Harry Potter movies there...after all, the debating society that ran the tournament was founded by Woodrow Wilson. I also want to put in a good word for the Candlewood Suites hotel where we stayed. They very kindly moved their breakfast up an hour earlier than usual, so we could get to the competition on time Saturday morning.

Princeton Saturday

2010-12-04T23:37:00.001-05:00

We're wrapping up an exhausting day at Princeton. Our competitors are done; all did well but no one broke. Pictures tomorrow. Coach Taafel and I have to judge a round of the finals tomorrow morning, but the kids can sleep in.

All our novices did quite well considering this is their first national tournament experience. It was a great way to prepare for GMU next month and U Penn in February. Princeton is an amazing campus, and New Jersey was nice enough not to snow on us this year.

Our Varsity LDer, John Christoph, just missed breaking in a very strong field. Our Varsity PF team, Valerie Pratt and Jackson Mcgraw, were charging hard through the first three rounds when things got interesting. Jackson developed stomach pains and we took him to the hospital. To our great relief he's fine now, but the team had to drop out of the tournament.

Things do happen on debate trips. For me, it's great to see the enthusiasm and great attitudes...all of our kids are real troopers. You can't measure that with trophies.

Princeton!

2010-12-03T16:44:00.001-05:00

We made it! Better yet, all of our novice LDers cleared the waiting list, so everyone is competing! We ran into our old friend Ryan Black on the way to the first round.

Princeton Classic schedule

2010-11-30T13:57:00.001-05:00

Friday morning, we're on our way to New Jersey for the Princeton Classic tournament! We'll have two teams in Public Forum, and John Christoph will be in Varsity Lincoln Douglas; our three Novice LDers are on the waiting list and will very likely get a chance to compete, but will at least observe rounds at one of the premier tournaments in the country. Over 800 schools are competing this year. Here is the schedule:

Friday: LD on campus, PF at Princeton HS

2:30-4:00 Registration in McCosh

5:00 Round 1

7:00 Round 2

Saturday on Princeton campus GA/JA in McCosh

8:00 Round 3

10:30 Round 4

1:00 Round 5

3:30 Round 6

6:00 VLD 7, NLD & PF Double Ocs

Sunday on Princeton campus (McCosh)

8:00 VLD Double Ocs

9:00 PF & NLD Octos

10:30 VLD Octos, PF & NLD Quarters

11:45 VLD Quarters, PF & NLD Semis

1:00 PF & NLD Finals, VLD Semis

2:00 VLD Finals

3:00 Awards

We're baaaack!

2010-11-09T14:14:00.001-05:00

After a month's hiatus due to scheduling difficulties, we assaulted the airwaves once again yesterday with our WFTR Radio Forum! Here's the link to the podcast:

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

Team Captain Valerie Pratt moderated, and we had a lively guest panel consisting of Ben Nelson, Tyler Atkinson, Alex Neumeier, Ben Schoonover and Marc Eichenwald. Oddly enough, little was said about last week's election. We thoroughly investigated America's relationship with India and had a lot of fun with California's recent rejection of legalized marijuana.

If WFTR doesn't get a nasty warning message (in Morse code) from the FCC, we'll do it again in two weeks!

Podcast link

2010-09-29T18:37:00.001-04:00

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaRadioClubhouse_285

There's the link to our latest Radio Forum broadcast, from Monday night.

WFTR Radio Show, Facebook connection

2010-09-27T16:47:00.001-04:00

We're on the air today at 6 pm on WFTR, 1450 AM. If you're in Warren County and can hear us, you can hit our Facebook page and we'll post your comments (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/R-MA-Debate-Team-Radio-Forum/239081184725)... at least, we will if we can get the Internet connection working. This is as close as we can get to a live phone-in format. (Anyone know how to use Twitter?)

WFTR podcast

2010-09-14T11:08:00.001-04:00

Here is the link to the podcast of our Radio Forum on WFTR, Monday September 13:

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaSpeechDebateRadioShow_43

Back on the air!

2010-09-13T22:11:00.000-04:00

WFTR has not only survived years of debaters on the airwaves, they keep inviting us back for more! We should have the podcast available for download tomorrow.

Wake wrap

2010-09-12T09:02:00.001-04:00

None of our teams broke to finals. But all three of our judges had to judge the last round of the day, so we were all pretty tired when we made it back to the hotel and conked out. Getting organized now for breakfast and the trip home.

Even though we didn't win anything, it was an excellent tournament. Our freshmen got a chance to see what debate is all about. They learned on their feet, rewrote and tweaked their cases, shared and helped each other, and had a great time. Two judges told me how impressed they were with our kids. We accomplished a lot on this trip.

Last round

2010-09-11T16:33:00.001-04:00

The teams are off to the last rounds of the day. It's raining, we're all tired and a bit bedraggled...and looking forward to dinner and the hotel. We have to stick around until 1930 to find out if anyone broke to octofinals, and if any of our judges are needed. We've spent a lot of time discussing the cases we've heard and tweaking our own. Spirits are high. Our freshmen are having a great time and eager to tackle the next tournament now that they've seen what it's like.

Wake Saturday

2010-09-11T12:32:00.001-04:00

We made it to Saturday rounds on time, thanks to the fact that Valerie cooked breakfast for everyone...one advantage of staying in a hotel with suites. Wake Forest is a beautiful campus, and all of our rounds are in buildings that are close to each other, thank goodness.

We're at Wake!

2010-09-10T18:20:00.001-04:00

First round is over. One more round tonight.

On the way to Wake

2010-09-10T10:01:00.001-04:00

Wake schedule

2010-09-08T13:17:00.001-04:00

The schedule for this week's Wake Forest Earlybird Tournament is up on our cell-phone-friendly page. If your phone can browse the Web, point the browser at debatealert.net.

Team practice

2010-09-07T16:25:00.001-04:00

Fwd: 2010 Wake Forest University Tournament entries

2010-09-07T09:27:00.001-04:00

We're lined up for the first tournament of the year, the Early Bird at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. We're taking four Public Forum teams:

John Christoph - Peter Jin
Jackson McGraw - Tyler Atkinson
Valerie Pratt - Jonathan Pedersen
Micah Peregrino - Ben Nelson

We'll head out Friday morning (September 10) and the first round is Friday afternoon. This year I have resolved to take more pictures and put them up here where people can see them, and I've figured out how to do that from my cell phone, so we'll give it a try. They probably won't be very good pictures, but that's probably better than no pictures at all. I hope.

Last week we met our new coach, James Taafel, who was one of Mr. Gregg's star debaters and has returned to teach at R-MA. This is going to be a great year!

New Year!

2010-08-26T19:22:00.001-04:00

We're on our way for another year of R-MA Speech and Debate! Our first tournament will be in only three weeks: the Early Bird at Wake Forest, September 10-12. Returners are pulling together and working on the topic (off shore drilling). Next Tuesday is Registration, so check with Valerie at the Debate table when you check in. Watch this space for practice schedules. We will be starting up the WFTR Radio Forum programs this month too, every other Monday like we did last year.

May 31 WFTR Radio Forum

2010-05-30T20:54:00.001-04:00

Our last Radio Forum show for this year is in the can. We taped it for broadcast on May 31 to give Lonnie the Station Manager a chance to have an actual holiday on Monday. For those of you outside the WFTR broadcast area, here's the link to the podcast: http://www.archive.org/details/20100531RMA

We'll be back on the air when school starts in the fall...we're already making plans! Our undying gratitude to Lonnie and WFTR for giving us the chance to do an actual radio talk show. It's a genuine thrill and a lot of fun.

May 17 Show Podcast

2010-05-18T12:49:00.001-04:00

Here is the link to the podcast of our latest WFTR Radio Forum! David McAteer's final performance, since he's graduating this year. A very, well, maybe "lively" is a good word, show.

http://www.archive.org/details/RMA20100517

On the air again!

2010-05-16T17:59:00.001-04:00

We're on the air again on Monday May 17 at 6 pm on WFTR-AM! If you're close, listen to us at 1450 AM. If you're not, catch our podcasts, linked here. If you want to join in, hit our Facebook page and we'll read your comments on the air!

May 3 Radio Show

2010-05-04T12:58:00.001-04:00

Kicking off the merry month of May is our latest edition of the R-MA Speech and Debate Team Forum on WFTR-AM! Moderator Valerie Pratt was joined by David McAteer, Jon Pedersen, Jessica Vaughn and Jackson McGraw. Topics included the Gulf oil spill, the car bomb in Times Square, and why Valerie's dad can't seem to get the bumper music to come up on cue.

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaSpeechDebateRadioShow20100503

April 19 WFTR Radio Show

2010-04-20T21:53:00.001-04:00

Here's the link to the podcast of our latest Radio Forum:

http://www.archive.org/edit/RmaSpeechDebateRadioShow20100419

Our moderator was Team Captain Valerie Pratt, and our guests were Jon Pedersen, Peter Jin and Ben Schoonover. A grand old time was had.

WFTR radio show, Spring Break edition

2010-04-06T17:25:00.001-04:00

Everyone is away on Spring Break, but we did the radio show anyway, with moderator Valerie Pratt and faithful lone team member Jonathan Pedersen. In spite of the old man wanting to talk about NASA and Jon wanting to talk about Chinese drywall, we still managed to talk about health care.

We have an absolute blast doing these shows, and if you listen to the podcasts you can tell. When we come into the studio we're always thinking, "Can I think of enough interesting things to say to make it through the hour?" Then, 50 minutes later, we're thinking "The show's almost over? But I've got more to say!"

Thanks again to Lonnie at WFTR for always being glad to see us. Maybe the Starbucks coffee we bring helps.

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

Our latest radio show podcast

2010-03-23T12:47:00.001-04:00

Salt! And health care!

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

Radio Forum, March 8 edition

2010-03-09T20:43:00.001-05:00

We had a lively show on Monday! Co-Captains David McAteer and Valerie Pratt led the discussion, and our guests were team members Jon Pedersen, Jackson McGraw and Jessica Vaughan. We talked about politics, health care, runaway Toyotas and more. Here is the link to the podcast:

http://www.archive.org/details/RmaSpeechDebate20100308

Participate in our next Radio Forum!

2010-02-23T13:38:00.001-05:00

On our WFTR Radio Forum yesterday, we talked about some outreach...namely, encouraging listeners to participate. We have one part of it set up now. If listening to our podcasts inspires you to think of a topic we should cover, or you have comments about something we've discussed, send us an email at debate@rma.edu. We're working on setting up a Facebook page and a Twitter feed as well, but the email is in place now. Bring it on!

Podcast of our February 22 radio show

2010-02-23T13:32:00.003-05:00

Other than the old man's usual miscues, this was a good one! Lively discussions on books, politics, health care...it got interesting on gays in the military.

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

Snowed out

2010-02-23T13:32:00.001-05:00

The snowstorm shut down the school, for the first time in years, and also cancelled our trip to Philadelphia. Darn.

Snowpocalypse

2010-02-07T20:16:00.001-05:00

Looks as though we're not going to be able to do the radio show tomorrow night (Feb 8) due to the ridiculous snowstorm. Rats.

On the other hand, Friday we're headed for the Liberty Bell Classic tournament at U Penn! Last year Valerie Pratt and Will Dungan took first place in Public Forum at the LBC, so we have great memories of U Penn that do not involve cheesesteak. This year Valerie and Jackson McGraw are doing Congress, Peter Jin is doing Lincoln Douglas, and Jessica Vaughn and David McAteer are teaming up for Public Forum.

Link to 1/25/10 Radio Forum podcast

2010-01-26T20:16:00.001-05:00

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

Doug Pratt
www.pratthobbies.com

"When you harbor bitterness, happiness docks elsewhere."
--Mark Twain

Radio Forum, Monday January 25

2010-01-26T09:13:00.001-05:00

Monday's radio show was excellent. I'll post the link as soon as I get it, but meanwhile here is a peek into the WFTR studio!

WACFL 4

2010-01-16T18:45:00.001-05:00

Lake Braddock High School... We had a big crew this time! We had two PF teams: McAteer and Kolton, and Vaughn and Adams. McGraw, Pedersen and Skeffington did Congress, and Coach Burt ran a room. Pratt did her first tournament in Extemp, and did well. Christoph and Jin did Lincoln Douglas, and Christoph took second place in Novice! A very good day for everybody.

Podcast of WFTR radio show from January 11

2010-01-12T18:59:00.001-05:00

Here is the link to the podcast of yesterday's Radio Forum! Excellent show, lots of fun. Our guests were Jessica Vaughn, Peter Jin and David McAteer, led as usual by Coach Lauren Burt and Captain Valerie Pratt.

http://www.archive.org/details/20100111RmaRadioClubhouse

Next radio show Monday, January 11

2010-01-07T17:12:00.001-05:00

We'll be back on the air on Monday January 11 at 6 pm on WFTR-AM! I'm trying to set up a Facebook page so people can send messages to us during the show, but I'm fumbling around a lot. If I can get the Facebook thing figured out I'll try for a Twitter feed.

Radio show, Monday December 28

2009-12-30T14:02:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-16T21:42:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-12-10T15:58:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-12-04T10:55:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

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

2009-10-31T09:03:00.009-04:00

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

2009-10-28T20:36:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-21T17:17:00.001-04:00

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

Heading home

2009-10-04T12:29:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-03T10:53:00.001-04:00

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...

2009-10-02T17:28:00.002-04:00

Yale!

We're at Yale!

2009-10-02T16:54:00.001-04:00

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

2009-09-14T22:15:00.001-04:00

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

2009-09-09T11:43:00.001-04:00

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

2009-09-06T21:08:00.001-04:00

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

2009-02-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

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

2009-02-02T21:47:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-18T19:10:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-11T19:46:00.001-05:00

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

A Report from Princeton

2008-12-15T17:21:00.001-05:00

Last weekend the Speech and Debate team loaded up the faithful ol' R-
MA bus, and with the equally faithful Jennifer at the wheel headed
for the wilds of New Jersey. And until you've been in northern NJ,
you haven't seen wilds. Assistant Coach Lauren Burt and I came in on
our own wheels and a slightly different route. Getting off the PA
Turnpike at Trenton, we were confronted with a huge neon-lit sign
bolted to the side of a railroad bridge that said, "Trenton Makes,
The World Takes." After wondering for a while who thought that would
make a good rah-rah slogan, we decided that the whole city had some
bitterness issues.

Princeton, fortunately, is a tiny island of sanity floating in the
whirling maelstrom of New Jersey. The Czar can always be counted on
to get his team to a comfortable, convenient hotel; the Staybridge
Suites had a killer breakfast bar to boot. The rooms were excellent,
right next to the tennis courts, which some of our kids decided to
use in spite of the fact that it's, like, December, people.

The Princeton campus is lovely, full of old Hogwarts-like buildings
and right across the street from a street of little shops and
eateries all dressed up for Christmas. The light dusting of snow
Saturday made it all Currier-and-Ivesy.

Since The Czar is responsible for running a substantial part of the
Princeton Classic, he set up his headquarters in Whig Hall. Whig Hall
is the home of the Whig-Cleosophilical Society, a debating club that
was in operation in the early days of the Republic, and the building
looks the part: white stone and three story Greek columns in the
front. The inside, well, could use a little work. Our initial
location in the great room on the third floor was supposed to be the
judges' lounge, but that plan changed when a piece of ceiling tile
came close to spearing an innocent judge. At least, she looked
innocent. Startled, too. So we moved the judges to the second floor,
which had apparently been the site of a large party a few days before
and smelled swampy. The first floor, which is partly underground and
stuffed with ancient documents, portraits, busts and display cases,
became the tab room. Thank God for wireless internet. Once we got
settled in, it wasn't so bad. There was even a semi-concealed
elevator in the rear, allowing the Czar to appear in the judges'
lounge for briefings and announcements. The Czar can clear a room,
especially with a handful of ballots.

Assistant Coach Burt had her hands full with a new group of freshman
Lincoln-Douglas debaters. Debate Team Captain Valerie Pratt took
charge of the Public Forum group, her own team with John Cristoph,
and the teams of Caleb Gerber and Maryanne Nell, and Steve Maddock
and Paul Smith. Jackson McGraw headed off for Senate, and our
Extempers Brennan Morris and John Holsinger went to their prep room.
Tab room was a whirl of activity, matching up rounds and sorting out
teams from over sixty schools. I saw schools on the list from Texas,
Vermont, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The Princeton Classic is
indeed a national level event.

I spent Friday judging six rounds of Public Forum. Sharp kids,
excellent arguments...we were using last month's resolution, so they
had had five weeks to polish their cases. We were double-flighted for
most rounds, meaning that when one team got through another came in
to the room and fired up. As soon as a round ended and my ballot was
completed, I text-messaged the results directly to the tab room. This
is the first event I've judged with that clever innovation, and it
really sped up processing; the awards ceremony took place an hour
earlier than scheduled! Another nice feature was the posting of the
day's results on www.princetonclassic.org at the end of each day, so
people who broke to the next level could prepare.

By Sunday morning, all of our kids had done well, but only Brennan
and John Holsinger were in final rounds. I helped out in the tab
room, learning by observation and running errands. Things were going
smoothly. A little too smoothly, as it turned out...the online
application the Speech people were using for tabulation crashed 90
minutes before the awards ceremony. The Czar and the Speech folks
worked out a plan, someone ran to the student lounge to grab all the
postings off the wall so we could doublecheck, and we started hand-
tabulating Speech. It was still going on while the awards ceremony
was in process, and some of the winners were relayed to people
standing on stage by cell phone. But it got done, even accomodating
some people whose teams needed to leave early. Wow.

This Saturday is the big Northern VA event at Westfield High School,
and then comes a well-deserved Christmas break! We've had a fantastic
fall, with so many great freshmen getting into their various events
and our varsity folks charging on. I have had an absolute blast
working with the team, from critiquing poetry readings to doing the
radio program to finding my way around colleges with a car packed
full of kids in full-blown debate uniforms. It's a little shocking to
realize that you're driving a car full of teenagers and you're the
only one who looks scruffy.

Doug Pratt

New Team Positions

2008-12-14T21:34:00.003-05:00

RM-A Debate recently had members who acquired new positions on the team.

Here's the new line up, (anything below The Czar is in no hierarchal order):

Rev. B.A.Gregg - Head Coach and Supreme Debate Czar
Lauren Burt - Assistant Coach, Debate Coach
Doug Pratt - Assistant Coach, Tachnology Guru
Brennan Morris - Team Captain
Valerie Pratt - Public Forum Debate Captian, Team Meeting Secretary
Phil Kinney - Lincoln-Douglas Debate Captain
Marianne Nell - Team Secretary/Blog Manager
Steven Maddock - Road Captain
John Holsinger - Logistics Captain

Congrats to everyone who recieved new positions! Keep it up!

December is coming up!

2008-11-26T07:40:00.005-05:00

Winter (Dec. and Jan.) is the team's crunch time. See what's "goin' down" in the next two months. Oh, yeah, and have a Merry Christmas too! :)

villiger ultimate report

2008-11-23T18:24:00.000-05:00

Brennan Morris is Extemporaneous Speaking Champion for Villiger 2008!
Finalist in Oratory.
On the way back to R-MA. Will be back at midnight for the file unload.

villiger penultimate report

2008-11-23T16:52:00.000-05:00

Val and Will dropped Octos on a 2-1 ballot to the team who just won. Very good.
Ryan broke to Quarters (first time at a national tournament).
John broke past Quarters into Semis in Declamation (improved over last year).
And Brennan has DOUBLE BROKE into Finals in Extemp and Oratory!
Will keep you posted on Awards.
~ba

villiger - report in progress

2008-11-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday morning and I'm waiting in the bus as students carry in extemp tubs into the prep room.

Big news is that we broke virtually everyone into outround eliminations. Brennan double-broke in extemp and oratory into qtrs; Will and Val into octos; John Holsinger in Dec and Ryan in OI both into qtrs.

Leaving campus on Friday at two, our bus driver took us across Pennsylvania fields growing whiter and whiter... dreaming of a White Thanksgiving. Arriving at the hotel at 7 in the evening, we linked up with Mr Pratt, president of the Booster Society, and Lauren Burt, our assistant coach. With Lauren taking the kids to dinner, Mr Pratt drove Da Czar to the tournament hotel for registration and we sat over dinner at Malgianno's, looking over the schematics and finding out just where the kids were going to be tomorrow. This Holiday Inn is the nicest and cheapest we've stayed in Phillie. Definitely a must for next year.

On Saturday, getting up bright and early (0600), Da Czar warmed up the bus while the students had breakfast before we headed to the tournament for the extemp file unload and Da Czar heading to the hour-long General Assembly as they shifted rooms and competitors. Villiger is a great tournament; but reminds you just how far the internet has shifted the tournament paradigm. Yale, Princeton, and UPenn use a web-based tournament application that posts online; so no massive changes of competitors from one room to the other.

With only moderate room difficulties, the students proceded through the day without much mishap. Mr Pratt and Da Czar were able to scope out nearby Starbucks and checked out Larry's Steak House for Sunday's team dinner.

Da Czar was also able to connect with Rebecca Jackson-Spellacey, former debate captain ('03) and her new husband over coffee.

Enjoying a delightful traditional team dinner at IHOP with Sparkle, our waitress, John enjoyed the largest hot cocoa ever, helped by Ryan.