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
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