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Re: HS Tournaments/Coaches

As a former college debater and no a high school coach, I do have to 
agree with both Jackie's and Bear's arguments.

While the TOC  circuit does not seem plagued with these problems, the 
state and regional tournaments I have seen often are.  My frustration as 
a high school coach is the very few judges, not just other coaches 
recognize good researched arguments.  (I often ask myself why those CWC 
cards from yesterday really matter...luckily Massey and his colleagues 
appreciated them last weekend.)  It seems that many coaches debated so 
long ago that they aren't willing or don't recognize that debate has 
changed.  Even if they don't like ti, my position is that we should 
adapt to the changes in the activity.

At the same time, I do work with some of the most caring individuals 
around.  They truly recognize that there are benefits to this activity, 
and even though our philosophies about debate are drastically different, 
I appreciate the time that they spend to give students the opportunity 
to compete.  Most of them teach all day, every day, then spend several 
hours after school with their teams.  They also give up countless 
weekends.  The coaches I am most impressed with are those with little or 
no experience.  This activity can be a scary one for those who have 
never competed before.

Several years ago I sat in on an SCA panel that spoke of trying to 
increase CEDA's outreach to high schools.  I would encourage any of you 
with "bad" high school circuits to get your students to volunteer some 
time at a local high school.  I cannot imagine a coach who wouldn't 
appreciate the help.  Tom always tells me he can't imagine why anyone 
would want to be a high school coach and one of the reasons is because 
of the size of the teams.  Many college coaches work with 4 maybe 5 
teams where most high school coaches are dealing with 8-12 teams. All at 
different levels, and these kiddos are like, 15!  You can't imagine the 
frustration we feel unless you've been there.

Okay, I've digressed enough.  Continue this discussion.  I'd like to 
take it up with my colleagues.

Melinda Murphy
Albuquerque Academy
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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