Jenks Prep

The team is hard at work preparing for the Jenks tournament, which will be held at Jenks High School on January 13-14. We have five teams in the champs (varsity -post-qualifying) division and two teams in the novice division. Debaters should be doing research and writing blocks over the Christmas break in order to be at their best competitively for this tournament. Go Cyclones!

Cyclone Debate on the trail to Longhorn Country

Six cyclone policy teams hit the trail Thursday to compete in the University of Texas Longhorn Classic. This will be our second year to compete in the tournament, but it is our first year to enter the varsity level. This is the first time many of our debaters will compete on varsity, and the field of competition includes teams from schools all over the country, from California to New Hampshire, from Chicago to Florida. We also have students entered in the novice division.

UT is a quarterfinals Tournament of Champions bid tournament, so varsity teams are competing to win that coveted bid to the most competitive tournament of the year. Students will compete in six preliminary rounds (lasting about 1-1/2 hours each), and then the teams with the best records will advance to "out" rounds. On varsity, this means double octafinals, octafinals, quarters, semis and finals.

If you are interested in checking out some of the arguments our students will be debating, you can browse the national policy case list, which can be searched by school and team name.

Watch for updates on our progress on the Twitter!

MD to PC North

Middle Division debaters should meet at Putnam City North High School no later than 2:30 on Friday afternoon, Nov. 11. Rounds will begin around 3:30. Pick-up time should be around 10:00pm at PC North.

UT Plans

Our next tournament is the UT Longhorn Classic in Austin, TX. We will travel together with Heritage Hall via charter bus, leaving Thursday, Nov. 1 at around 3pm, and returning Sunday, Nov. 4 in the early afternoon. Tournament information is available below under Tournament links. I will post an itinerary on the Drop Box and on the website soon, so stay tuned.

UNT Results

Congrats to the varsity for making it through their first varsity tournament! It was a learning experience for all, and even though we did not break, we got very close. Here are the records and speaks:

Varsity
Defne/Shiva: 3/2, 18th place out of 41 teams
Layne/Olivia: 2/3
Eihab/Haris: 1/4

Varsity Speaks
Olivia: 139.2 (18th speaker)
Layne: 138.8
Defne: 138.6
Eihab: 137.8
Haris: 135.5
Shiva: 134.8

Novices, congrats on making it through your first big out-of-state tournament! It was tough going, for sure, but you all handled yourselves well, and you now have five rounds of experience and judges' critiques from which to learn and develop for the next tournament. Here are the records:

Sidney/Grace: 2/3
Salman/Tsu: 1/4

We have a lot of work to do to get ready for UT, so let's be diligent and make sure we are ready to put our best foot forward in Austin! Check the NetClassroom for assignments and other announcements.

MD Debate this week...

MD Debate: you have a card-cutting assignment due this Wednesday. You can cut cards over any topic that interests you.

You have been developing a number of debate skills, including knowledge and use of specialized terminology, the duties of the aff and neg, the parts of a disad, impact calculus, cross-ex procedures, and research techniques. You have also learned topic-specific knowledge, such as the current status and possibilities of cleaning up space debris, the importance of satellite technology, and of protecting satellites, and various pros and cons of other space-based technologies, such as solar power satellites, climate monitoring, and He3 mining. As we move forward, we will break into teams and have mini advantage debates.

Thanks go out to the Gavel Gang!

Thank you, Mrs. White, for organizing parent support for the team's upcoming events! I am overwhelmed by this amazing show of encouragement and backing. You all are going out of your way to make the team feel supported, and it means a lot to all of us. Thank you so much for driving, bringing food, hosting research sessions, and all the other ways you help out. We are happy to have our own "booster club" -- the Gavel Gang!

Heritage Hall Tournament Now Open

This one will fill up fast, too, so please confirm your intention to compete and preferred partnership this week. I will enter two novice teams in the Round Robin (limited space) and up to four varsity teams.

Cal Berkeley Open for Registration

Attention varsity debaters: the Cal Berkeley Invitational is now open for registration, and this year I need to get our teams registered as soon as possible to avoid being wait-listed. Let me know this week if you would like to enter and with what partner. Upperclassmen and those with the best tournament record will be given priority consideration. I know it is too early to know tournament records, but I need to get us on the list, even if we make changes later. I would like to enter two teams, three max -- all varsity. Travel reservations will need to be made by early December (shortly after UT) to get the best pricing on airfare and hotel rates. I will reserve hotel rooms this month to ensure that we get into the hotel of our choice this year.

If you want to go, and think you will be eligible, please confirm approval from your parents this week and let me know.

Sophomores Accepted to St. Mark's Hoe Down

Sophomores Defne Altan and Grace Gliva travel to Dallas next week to compete in the prestigious St. Mark's Sophomore Hoe Down, an event designed to prepare the nation's most competitive first-year varsity teams for the national circuit. Wish them luck!

Driver Needed for UNT

Parents: Please let me know if you are willing to drive a Casady Suburban or minivan for the UNT tournament the weekend of Nov. 4-6. I will need to add a hotel room for you, so please let me know ASAP. We are taking five teams, so we will need two vehicles to get us down there. Thanks, and you can let me know by email at drblgerard@gmail.com.

Upcoming Tournaments

Upcoming tournaments are:
St. Mark's Sophomore Hoe Down (Oct. 14-15)
Saint Mary's Hall (Oct. 28-29)
UNT (Nov. 4-5)
PC North (MD team only; Nov. 11-12)
UT (Dec. 1-4

Please check with me about entry requirements and eligibility.

Edmond North Results

Congrats to the novices for braving your very first tournament! Now we can shake off the first-tournament jitters and get down to business.

A special shout-out to the 8th grade debaters -- Conner, Agnish and Deja -- for your bravery and love of learning. I am so proud of you! You toughed it out and are immensely more educated about policy debate than you were just two days ago. You have so much to look forward to!

High schoolers, you are to be congratulated for your courage and resourcefulness in engaging with the competition. The "unknowns" make policy debate terrifying, but also a lot of fun!

Special congrats go to our two teams that broke out of prelims: Adam and Salman (3-1 record in prelims) and Connor and Olivia (4-0 record in prelims). Adam and Salman dropped in the octafinal. Connor and Olivia debated successfully through octas and quarters, only to drop in a 2-1 decision in semifinals.

Lest we forget... THANKS DILLON!!! You're awesome and we are so grateful for all you do for us.

As Coach Warden tells us, it is not what happens, but what happens next. For the novices, we have tournament debriefing and then it is back to the grindstone to prep and practice for UNT. For the varsity, it's the long-awaited K lecture series, featuring the beloved and always entertaining... Dr. Gerard, known in grad school as "the theory machine." We'll start cranking through all the philosophy stuff on Monday, starting with... you guessed it... Ontology! Next runner up... Epistemology! But wait, there's more! You also get a generous sampling of Structuralism, Post-structuralism, Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, and whatever else exciting we can cook up. Deleuze and Guattari... watch out!

See you all on Monday.

Doc G Loves Casady Debate!

Pre-Tournament Prep Time

Please note that you are welcome to work in my classroom and come in for extra help as much as you need to in your preparation for the tournament. I will be working with the Middle Division students in Mr. Buhl's room (8th grade English) from 4:15-5:15 Wednesday. Thursday prep time will be in my classroom from 3:04-5:00. Do not forget to do 20-30 minutes of speaking drills every night.

Edmond North This Week

Please check the Dropbox for the itinerary (also attached to the debate Google site). Thank you to the varsity debaters who are judging for us: Layne, Eihab, Survaish and Macy.

Prep:
Please take all files OUT of your homework folders and put them INTO the Evidence folder in the appropriate files under Aff and Neg.

Strat Sheet
We need a Strat Sheet listing what positions to run against each possible affirmative case.
Example:
SPS: T on develop; solvency on case (and other case defense); Space Debris DA; Spending DA

Great Videos to Watch

The UTNIF staff was fabulous and posted all their topic intro lectures on their camp blog! Here is the link:
http://utnifdebate.blogspot.com/

There are also links to demo debates on there, if you want to get some extra practice flowing or writing your own RFDs.

Camp Honors

Reports are coming in from team members who attended summer debate institutes. Here's what I have heard so far...
Eihab: semifinalist at Berkeley
Defne: champion at UNT, 3rd speaker
Grace: champion at UTD, top speaker
Survaish: champion at UTD, top speaker
Macy: finalist at UTD, top speaker
Catherine: won the speed-reading competition at UT

If you have news to report, send it in. I can't wait to see you all at pre-season camp!

Summer Camp Sign-Up

Sign up now for our pres-season camp. I need to know t-shirt sizes ASAP so that I can get camp shirts ordered and here on time. When you come to camp, please bring your laptop if you have one, and also a notebook and pen/pencil to take notes. Start reading through camp files posted on the NDCA Open Evidence project website. The more you read now, the more familiar you will be with this year's arguments prior to our camp.

2011-12 Officers

Team officers for the 2011-2012 school year are:

Team Captain: Catherine White
Catherine will work closely with me to plan and organize all team activities, as well as oversee internal and external communications, tournament preparation, etc. She will be responsible for creating a positive and productive team spirit and strong work ethic. She will also serve as a mentor and adviser to all team members.

Labs Co-Captain: Layne Turci
Layne will work closely with me to organize "labs," or learning groups, and to prepare the lab leaders for productive work sessions. She will also help align team pairings for practice debates within and between lab groups, as well as prepare and assign judges. She will serve primarily in a teaching and mentoring capacity, especially to the novices and the Middle Division debate club.

Congratulations, and thank you for your willingness to serve!

I need two more co-captains...

Operations Co-Captain
This person will assist Catherine with organizational and communications matters regarding team activities and will also help maintain the team Facebook and blog pages.


IT Co-Captain
This person will be responsible for maintaining the Dropbox and will work closely with me and the other officers to set up guidelines for using the Dropbox, including file organization, file setup, and file distribution. This person will also learn everything possible about Debate Synergy and serve in an advisory capacity regarding the use of technology in debate preparation and rounds.

Please shoot me an email if you are interested in either of these two positions. As our team grows and becomes competitive at a wider range of levels and tournaments, it is important to have team leadership who can help keep us on track and moving forward in a positive, cooperative manner. I've been very proud of you all this past year for creating such an encouraging environment for each other. You have truly set a high standard for a mentoring community in which everyone feels important, and students know that there is always someone ready and willing to answer any question. More than anything else, this aspect of our team is what makes coaching you so rewarding for me.

Thanks!
Dr. G

Summer's Here! Time to Blast Off!

I know, I know... cheesy post title, but, hey, debaters are known for our zany sense of humor, and we have to get as much mileage out of this year's policy topic as we can. (It's SPACE, in case you haven't heard.)

If you are planning to attend the UT Austin debate workshop (UTNIF) in June, please let me know ASAP if you want to ride down there with me. I'm planning to take a school Suburban, but you will have to get home on your own, since I will only be down there for one week.

Enjoy a restful summer and be safe in all your travels. We have a busy year ahead!

Teams Compete at St. Mark's Novice Round-Up

Three novice teams traveled to Dallas to compete in the selective St. Mark's Novice Round-Up tournament this past weekend. The competition included 38 novice teams with the best records from Texas and across the country. We ran the Korea aff, and on neg, we primarily ran the Resolve DA, PTX DA, Fem K, Consult NATO CP, and case arguments. Some teams faced critical aff's we had not seen before, such as the Social Networking K and the Language K. It was a great learning experience for all of us, giving us a glimpse of the level of competition we will face next year on varsity, especially when we travel out of state.

The team of Macy Miller and Eihab Khan came away with the best record at 3-2. Eihab earned the honor of 5th Top Speaker out of 76 total participants. Congratulations, Eihab! You continue to lead the team in trophies.

Tony Analla and Survaish Khastgir finished with a 2-3 record, and the freshman team of Haris Ijaz and Shiva Bhupathiraju finished with 0-1-4. It was a tough weekend, but all agree that we learned a lot and are ready to turn our minds towards summer camp and next year's topic: space!

All participants earned more NFL points, so check the list in the sidebar to see where you now stand. We have three debaters who have earned enough points to judge novice rounds next year, so congratulations to all of you.

Be sure to join our Relay for Life team, and let's plan to bring lots of goodies to celebrate not only the fight against cancer, but all of the hard work we have put into this year's debate season. It has been an incredible year!!! We have come so far, that it is hard to imagine that our team is only one year old. As we look forward to the year ahead, we will plunge into the high-stakes world of varsity CX, where the real glory is, and we will welcome and mentor new members in novice as our team grows. Always remember that at the heart of it, debate is about preparing your minds with the critical, analytical and persuasive skills, the knowledge, and the confidence to go out and make a difference in the world both at Casady School and beyond. All of your hard work and preparation for tournaments makes you more efficient with time and information management and technology, and more aware of the complexity of events and ideas in our world. Every debate makes you a stronger, more knowledgeable person, a better thinker and a better leader.

I'm immensely proud to be your coach! Thanks for an awesome year!

Sign Up Now for Casady Pre-Season Workshop

The Casady Debate Team's preseason workshop will be held August 1-4, from 12:30-4:30 in Hightower 6. Cost is $149 and includes t-shirt and flash drive containing camp evidence. All students planning to compete in the 2011-2012 season must attend. Seventh and eighth-grade students planning to participate on the competitive squad should also plan to attend. Sign up now by clicking the Summer by the Lake icon on the Casady home page, and then register through the online registration button. Let me know if you have any questions.

Camp Deadlines Approach

Now is the time to get your applications in for summer debate camps. Most of the deadlines are in May. Explore the links on our blog page to find out information about each camp, and choose a camp that best suits your interests, budget, and summer schedule. It is not necessary to attend camp with your partner, but it can be beneficial. I will be attending the camp at UT Austin in June. Anyone who attends this camp should let me know, and we can arrange to drive down there together. Let me know if you need your tournament record or NFL points for your application.

What a District!

We made it through districts with a respectable showing for this our first year of policy debate. I am proud of you all for fighting hard through tough rounds against so many varsity teams from the best programs in our state. As a team, we advanced five rounds through double eliminations, with Jake and Eihab finishing in the top 12. Way to go, Cyclones!

It was a great learning experience for us all in preparation for our first year as a varsity squad. We know we have a lot to read and learn. It is often said that 90% of winning a round happens before the round -- in preparation. Thanks for all you do to work on debate in your "free time." I know it isn't easy.

Some of us are going to compete in the St. Mark's Novice Round Up in May. If you are not competing, please help the others prepare so that we can bring back some more swagger for Oklahoma and the Casady Cyclones!

Districts This Week!

NFL Districts... No, we will not be squaring off against hulking linemen and superstar receivers from the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, or Denver Broncos. Actually, we will be facing any and all high schools at every conceivable level from our West Oklahoma District of the National Forensic League! That's right, this is where all the teams from schools in our district compete for the 2 or 3 coveted spots at Nats, otherwise known as NFL Nationals. Do we stand of chance of getting one of those spots this year? Not likely -- remember, everyone is in one big division -- novice, jv and varsity. With five rounds of prelims, we will face a variety of teams; some will be top-notch varsity teams with four or more years of experience, and others may be brand new like us. We will do our best and try to learn as much as we can from each round. 

Be sure to pick up schedules and signature sheets for districts this week. Parents must sign entry forms (according to some odd NFL rule). We will miss classes all day Thursday and Friday, so please check with your teachers in advance about work you will miss. Good luck to everyone entering IEs for the first time ever!! What a way to step up and accept the challenge. I am proud of you all!

NFL Districts Schedule Posted

Below is the schedule for the upcoming National Forensic League Western Oklahoma District Tournament. Please check your schedule and let me know if you want to go. It is at OU. We can take as many as 8 teams, but we may need to limit the number due to judging fees.

WESTERN OK DISTRICT CONTEST SCHEDULE (Tentative)

THURSDAY,  March 31, 2011, University of Oklahoma

5:15-7:00        RD I:  LD, POLICY, PUBLIC FORUM Debate

7:00-8:45        RD II:  LD, POLICY, PUBLIC FORUM Debate

FRIDAY, April 1, 2011

3:00                RD III: POLICY, PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE

4:45-6:30        RD IV:  POLICY, PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE

8:15                RD V: POLICY, PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE

SATURDAY, April 2--TO BE ANNOUNCED FRIDAY NIGHT

Information Night A Big Success

Thank you to everyone who helped make our first annual debate parent-student information night a success! We had over 45 people in attendance, and we hope that we were able to provide an introduction to what Casady debate is all about and answer a lot of questions. We appreciate everyone taking time out of their busy week to come learn about our program, and we look forward to working with you in the years to come!

Informational Meeting This Wednesday

This Wednesday night, March 2nd, at 6:30 in the Gaylord Student Center, we are hosting an informational meeting for current and prospective students interested in joining the debate team for the 2011-2012 competitive season. Members of this year's team will share a video journal of their first year as a squad, and we will discuss topics such as course requirements, summer camps, costs, tournament scheduling and travel, and other frequently asked questions. Refreshments will be provided by Rich Bean's. We hope to see everyone there!

Debate Named Honors Course

Honors Debate makes its debut in the Casady curriculum in the 2011-2012 school year. This new designation provides for a weighted GPA assignment for students in debate. In addition, we have been moved to the History and Social Sciences department, further reinforcing the status of our endeavors in the academic curriculum of the school. My hope is that as we grow, we will be able to build out a complete Speech and Forensics program within the department, to include other forms of debate and individual competitive speaking and acting events.

Teams Bring Home Winning Records from Berkeley 2011

The teams of Jake Patton/Eihab Khan and Layne Turci/Catherine White both brought home 4-2 records from the Cal Berkeley Invitational. Congratulations to both teams!

Over the course of our five-day trip, we spent two solid days debating on the Berkeley campus. "The campus was beautiful!" said Catherine White, reflecting on the many hours spent traversing Berkeley's wooded walkways and exploring its many eclectic buildings in search of rounds. The enormous Life Sciences building and picturesque tower became guide posts as we attempted to find our way around the sprawling campus in the rain. Thank goodness for paperless! I witnessed many a "tub tumble" as other teams' evidence-laden carts tipped over into muddy puddles along the winding pathways.

Note to girls: wearing comfortable, waterproof walking/hiking shoes is a definite plus, so forget fashion and pack those pumps in the backpack to change into once you get to your rounds!

Our two teams debated against teams from all over the country. All in all, they never lost on affirmative, which is pretty awesome. In one memorable round, Eihab's exceptional skills in the 2AR succeeded in convincing the judge that their perm was not, in fact, severance, and that the aff should win the round on a number of carefully enumerated points. Way to go, Eihab and Jake. For the girls, Layne and Catherine continued to perfect their skills in outweighing on at least seven extinction scenarios per round. We also touched base occasionally with Heritage Hall's team, whose top team made it to the out rounds and then lost in a split decision in double octas.

Between rounds, we found our way to some of the colorful eating establishments on and around Telegraph street, including the renowned Thai Basil in the "Asian Ghetto," and the always jam-packed Blondie's Pizza. Jake almost bought a shirt that said "The People's Republic of Berkeley" and boasted the iconic hammer and sickle, but passing up that option, forgot to buy much of anything, while the girls and I (mostly I) ended up with so many shopping bags we had trouble packing for the trip home!

Much of this shopping took place after the tournament on our sight-seeing day in San Francisco. We took the BART train into the city, then caught a bus and then a cable car over to Pier 39, where we shopped to our hearts' content, took pictures of the cute sea lions, devoured crepes, and got lost in a hall of mirrors. We then made our way up to Ghiradelli Square, where we indulged in some chocolate before catching another bus up to the Haight-Ashbury District. While on the bus, Layne and I got to practice our French conversational skills with a gregarious little French girl who gave us big hugs before disembarking with her mama and petit frere. While we were in the hippie district, the sun warmed us as we foraged through vintage clothing stores and explored art galleries. For the record, Jake never met an art gallery docent with whom he could not strike up a conversation replete with references to a wide range of literary works. The Dali versions of Dore's Dante etchings prompted one such lengthy exchange, the result of which was that, while waiting for Jake, Layne and I spent even more money in the neighboring Asian gift shop. We deserved to indulge ourselves, though, after racing one another up at least two of San Francisco's infamous hilly streets, in boots.

All in all, it was a journey full of challenges and memories. Hopefully we will be able to make the trip again next year.

St. Mark's Novice Round-Up Sign-Ups

Please read the following notice:

St. Mark’s will host the Novice Round Up Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7, 2011.

We will again use a four pod round robin system with appropriate awards.

Each school may enter up to four novice policy teams. For us, novice means:

1) In their first year of policy debate

or

2) Someone who has debated at 3 or fewer policy debate tournaments

or

3) Any ninth grader

To compete they just need to fit in any of the three categories listed above. We have a pretty lenient definition of what constitutes a "novice".

Currently, we plan to limit the field to 24 teams.

Fees for each team will be $100.

A drop fee of $100 will be assessed for any entry you drop after April 30.

Casady debaters:
Since we can only take four teams, you will need to communicate early your interest in competing. If we have more than four teams interested in going, I will prioritize based on demonstrated commitment to the team, both this year and next; team record; and order of sign-ups. Generally, this is not an event designed for graduating seniors, but I am open to discussion if seniors think they will still be interested in practicing and competing at that point in the year.

Since we will not have after-school practice times anymore after the winter term, those teams attending this tournament will need to commit to practice times during B Blocks twice per cycle and possibly a Sunday afternoon or two. This is a prestigious tournament, and we want to do the best we possibly can.

In addition, we will need a parent to accompany us as a sponsor and driver of the second vehicle. The schedule is as follows:

Friday May 6, 2011 

3:15 pm            Registration - Hoffman 112 (Debate room)
3:30 pm            Pairings                       
4:00 pm            Round 1           
5:30 pm            Dinner in the debate room
6:00 pm            Round 2
8:00 pm            Round 3 

You may store your evidence in any room that debates were held in.

Saturday May 7, 2011 

9:00 am            Round 4
11:00 am          Round 5
1:00 pm            Lunch in the debate room
2:00 pm            Announcement of elimination round participants and speaker awards
3:00 pm           Semifinals
5:00 pm           Finals

We will plan to return to OKC on Saturday evening.
Thanks, and I look forward to this as a celebration of our first year as a squad.

Inclement Weather Cancels Trip

I'm sorry that we cannot make it to Colleyville. The highway south to Dallas is just too slick and hazardous due to ice.

Colleyville or Bust!

Despite the weather and school closings this week, we are still on track to go to the Colleyville Heritage tournament this weekend. Please be doing your pre-tournament prep work and speaking drills. I will see you Friday morning. I will need help with the computers, so please meet in our room at 8:00 Friday morning. Maybe someone could volunteer to bring donuts for the road....??? :)

Debate Team Participates in MLK Forum

On Wednesday, January 19, 15 members of the debate team participated in a forum discussion in response to issues of economics, poverty, and national priorities raised in a video documentary recounting the final weeks of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The forum was organized by Mrs. Carmen Clay and the YAC group and also included the Multicultural Club and several teachers, including Mr. Wiley, Mr. and Mrs. Miano and myself. The forum provided on opportunity for us to get outside of the unique and highly specialized world of policy debate and use our skills in a way to promote the sharing of ideas and perspectives in the broader Casady community. I appreciate the efforts of all who took the time to participate and look forward to future opportunities to partner with these other campus groups to discuss ideas that are important to the advancement of our community and society.

An overview and slideshow of the event is available on the YAC blog:

http://casadyyac.blogspot.com/

Colleyville Heritage Plans Posted

Check the Drop Box for the itinerary for Colleyville Heritage, February 4-5. This may be our toughest tournament yet! We need a parent to drive the second vehicle. Let me know if your parent is interested.

Casady in the Medals at Jenks

Last year at this time, we traveled to Jenks, OK as a club of CX neophytes, and we watched in wide-eyed wonder as the Champs CX teams from Owasso and Charles Page high schools demolished each other, slinging theory, evidence, logic, some (not-so) choice language, and even a pen or two in a battle we thought was fascinating and crazy and, well, we didn't exactly know what to think of the whole thing. Was CX debate something we wanted to be a part of, or was this just some rare instance of debate gone awry? Turns out, it was the latter, and the experience launched us on our journey to where we are today: one year later, we are a squad with four tournaments, 10 medals and a silver plate on our wall, nineteen students with National Forensic League degrees of merit and honor, and a reputation for excellence both in Oklahoma and Texas.

Do I sound proud? Well alright then, I sound proud. I am proud! What an incredible journey this year has been -- and we're nowhere near finished yet! Our somewhat unexpected degree of success in this our first year as a cross-ex debate squad is a testament to the determination, competitive spirit, and, dare I say, swagger, of our students. We contend with multitudinous obstacles day in and day out, including difficult academic classes, often conflicting commitments to our school's competitive sports teams, and perpetual negotiations with that ever-present monster: Time. Through all of this, we have managed to pull together, combine our efforts, various talents, proclivities and personalities, and forge Casady's new debate program with honor and respect, one exhausting tournament at a time.

I would be remiss if I did not extend our heart-felt gratitude to the parents who have given of their time and resources to support us on our journeys. This time, Jerry and Monica Gliva devoted their weekend to accompanying us to Jenks and helping us make it through the tournament as smoothly as possible. They drove, made multiple trips out for food, supplied us with a table replete with healthy snacks and drinks, the sight of which made us the envy of other squads, helped me through the stress and worry I seem to go through every time we compete, and even provided a mobile hot-spot so that we could access the Internet for urgent card-cutting needs in between rounds. We also want to thank Mrs. Altan for providing goodie bags for us to take with us on Friday; the sandwiches, waters, snacks and toys helped us focus and relax.

All in all, we debated 37 rounds, winning 28 rounds and losing only 9. Congratulations!! We had three teams make it to the semifinals: Analla-Khastgir, Shakir-Shakir, and Altan-Hamid. The two girls teams debated each other in one semifinal round, and the boys defeated Kansas City Lincoln College Prep in their semi-final round.The teams of Analla-Khastgir and Altan-Hamid agreed not to debate the final round against each other, since everyone was tired and ready to head home. We will decide the gold and silver honors after we have a chance to evaluate speaker points. Both teams were undefeated.

This was the first tournament in which we entered two teams in the Champs division, in which all teams compete who have already qualified for the OSSAA state competition in previous tournaments this school year. Due to our status as only an associate member school in OSSAA, we are not eligible to compete in the qualifying divisions, so beyond Novice, our only option in Oklahoma debate is Champs. This is a monumental leap in terms of experience and skill level for our students (who have competed in only 2 or 3 tournaments EVER) to face, and it presents me with an insoluble dilemma. Do I continue to place my top teams in Novice, where I know they will win medals but will be under-challenged, or do I move them up into Champs and make them face the top varsity teams in the state? In the interest of education, I chose the latter. With one team member out due to illness, we had to rearrange our partners, with the result that Catherine White and Jake Patton debated together for the first time. (Layne Turci graciously agreed not to debate, but to go along as an assistant coach instead. Thanks, Layne!) Not only was this their first experience against varsity debate teams, but it was also their first experience debating together, and they had to adapt to new speaker positions in order to make it work. They had a mixed experience. After four rounds of intense, fast, theoretically and analytically challenging debate, they lost three rounds and won one. The one round I watched could have gone either way, but the judge appeared to be an LD judge who favored oratory skills over evidence and analytics, so he voted against them on a disad I thought they had clearly defeated. Oh well. The round they won, however, was a phenomenal and messy K versus double K smash-up! The affirmative team from Belton, Missouri ran a critical aff, which is a highly complex affirmative position that chooses to focus the debate on ideology rather than advocating policy. In a bold move, Patton and White made a snap decision to confront the K aff with two, TWO K negative positions. The debate evolved into a rapid-paced, intense interchange of arguments, steeped in theory, evidence and analytics, about which ideological position was more educational in the round. The aff made the egregious mis-step of refusing to discuss the issue of language, and ultimately our neg team won the round by demonstrating that the aff was essentially imperialist in its attitude toward debate. I wish I could have been there! I am exceedingly proud of Jake and Catherine for rising to this challenge and not backing down until they emerged victorious.

The pride I feel in our team today rivals the extent of exhaustion I'm sure we all feel. We have work to do going forward: we need to focus on the intricacies of the counterplan/perm and K debates, practice to improve our extemporaneous speaking skills in the rebuttals, better organize our nearly 2000 files, develop a couple of new aff positions, and continue to research and update cards and blocks on aff and neg, for starters. It looks like we won't be competing at Santa Fe, since we would all have to compete in champs there, and we are not all ready for that step. I am leaning towards taking the top novice teams to the Colleyville-Heritage tournament in Grapevine, TX, since in Texas we can compete in novice/JV all year, and the competition in those divisions will be solid. After that, our top two teams travel to Berkeley, CA to compete in the JV division of the Cal State Invitational. It is an honor for us to be accepted to this tournament in our first year as a squad, and we are all eager to fly out there and face a whole new level of competition at that national level. We hope to make this an annual spring event for the top teams on our squad to attend (until we earn bids to the Tournament of Champions and NFL Nationals, that is!).


Dr. G