Debate -- the results of the big nationals

I've been a bit busy with nationals... here are the results for my little team :).

One elimination round appearance, dropped right away on a 2-1, a really good novice speaker award and a really good (but not the top) community college tournament sweepstakes award. I also got to judge the final round.. and wasn't one of the 2 on the bottom of the 2-9 decision. We were also in the top 10 for season sweepstakes, but they only give trophies for the top 5.

Overall, not a bad year for us. I have one person (swear jar) coming back next year. He seems to be pretty energized by all of this. He's also uber-dependable and will make a really good team leader next year. He's sure he wants to go to debate camp to do policy this summer..... but I kind of think he's saying that to bug me.

I'm especially sad that D2 more than likely won't be debating next year. He's really worked hard and developed a lot -- to the point where he's beating D1 on speaker points.

Overall, this has been a good year. I'm very pleased with our progress -- I wish that the team had put more time and effort into preparation for these tournaments and into their homework... but, that is something I could say every year. It is a significant improvement from last year -- and for that I am more than proud.

Now... if only we can pull off this Irish debate -- Herbie hasn't responded about the posters for it... and the press-release woman at BNCC doesn't seem to think it is a good idea, so hasn't put one out yet either...

aarghhhhhhhhhh -- well, if she doesn't, big guy and his boss will be pretty irritated with her. I hold the event and supply the debaters, all she has to do is to let people know it is coming.