after bradley

First of all, congrats to all who participated in the Bradley tournament, especially to those who broke semi-finals and finals.

Semi-finalists: Neil Phelps (OC), Mark Torcivia (ES), Jeff Niedermaier/Megan Pratt (DDA), Jeff Nickels (RS)

Finalists: Emily Neuberger (4th Place Novice PR), Andrew Piechota (6th Place Novice OC)

Tournament Champion: Alex Kroger (1st place Novice RS)

It was, all in all, a good weekend. But it might have been a better weekend if we as a team had a better work ethic. As I have been stressing for weeks, we all need to develop stronger practice attitudes and focus. We need to be here every day, working on our own pieces and helping our teammates with theirs. That is how to grow.

This weekend I met and talked with many members of Fullerton Union High School from California, the runaway Bradley tournament champions. This is a school of approximately our size. They have 160 members on their forensics team. They have one coach. They brought 60 kids across the country to Bradley and routed every other team in attendance. And they were also the nicest kids I spoke with.

OK: How did they accomplish all of this?

Partly, it is due to the fact that they have made their Forensics team into something culturally important at their high school. They do offer a class (which we cannot at this time offer here), but mostly they are just dedicated. From their website:

Preparing for a year of competition begins before the start of the school year. FUHS Speech & Debate students attend a four-week summer camp at the Fullerton campus, where coaches help students develop and master a memorized piece. The intensive training continues throughout the school year with hours of practice at home in front of a mirror, at the front of the classroom, during individual coaching sessions and finally at competitive tournaments. During the nine month school year, the team travels hundreds of miles by airplane, bus and car to attend dozens of local, state and national tournaments.

None of the coaches here want to turn LFHS into a forensics factory like some of the "black suit" schools around us--and, yes, Fullerton is a black suit school, though seemingly a nice one--but we do wish to stem the self-perpetuating tide of frustrating mediocrity that hurts us too often: we don't practice seriously enough --> we don't do well in tournaments --> we don't want to practice. Again, this doesn't apply to those who work very hard and just don't break through; that happens and it's part of forensics. But we all know that is not the case for everyone.

So, looking ahead, let's gear up for a fabulous second half of the season by dedicating ourselves to work hard and to doing what we can to help each other. One of the greatest things to come out of the Bradley tournament was the circle game played by most of the team in the student union in which each person said positive things about others. What a great concept that is! We need more of that kind of thing. (And less griping about placements and long waits for awards ceremonies.) We need to support each other when we succeed, too: be there for your teammates in the final rounds that they break. Not to "stack the room" in some unsportsmanlike way, as one judge absurdly accused Neil of doing when no one of us was even there, but to show our support. That is a part of a good team.

We have great people on this team, and we do have a lot of talent. And we are starting to come together. But we have a long way to go. Let's get there!

Here is the Willowbrook lineup so far:

DI	Julia H	Hayley
HDA	Eliz & Julia C	Grace & Olivia	Jenny & Connor	Jeffrey & Emma
HI	Carter
ES	Molly		Mark
IS	Molly
OC	Andrew
OD	Elizabeth	Hayley
OO	Mac	Mark	Danielle S
PR	Olivia	Grace	Megan
RS	Jenny P	Andrew	Lain	Alex	Carter	Mac
SOS	Kelsey
PO	Sondra	Julia C	Danielle S