I'm still blogging at http://happymomsramblings.blogspot.com/.

I have decided after much consideration to change blog locations. Many of my most faithful readers at this location had difficulty commenting on my blog. Part of the fun of having a blog is being able to have a two way conversation with the friends who read it. Since that was not happening I have decided to try a different location.

I made some wonderful friends who I have never met face to face here. I will continue to visit their blogs and I hope they will continue to visit mine.  You will find my new blog at http://happymomsramblings.blogspot.com/ .  Hope to see you there soon!

Saturday was an amazing day!  When I got up to the obnoxious sound of my alarm clock at five in the morning I had no idea how wonderful this day would turn out to be. 

We left at about 5:40am and drove to Pleasant Hill to pick up my son's debate partner, Alyssa, because her parents couldn't come to the debate tournament.  Then we drove on to San Jose.  Arriving a little late but not too late to register.

William and Alyssa were both nervous and didn't want Bill and I to watch their early rounds. I timed random teams for rounds one and two.  My husband served as a judge.

The thing I was looking forward to the most this day was being able to see my daughter, Jennifer.  Her college is only a half hour away from where the debate tournament was going to be held and she took a bus from her college town to San Jose. She arrived in time for round three and she and I played hooky from round three and sat in the car and talked for the whole round. 

Jennifer and I, then,  watched Alyssa and William debate in round four.  Other than some practice rounds at club this was the first time I have watched them debate.  I was very impressed.  They worked well together and when I considered that this was Alyssa's first real debate tournament I was amazed at her poise and speaking ability.
Here is a picture of William During the round:


Here is a picture of William and Alyssa right after the round:


Bill and I left during round five to drive Jennifer back to school.  We did not want her taking the bus at night. We were on the road heading for the school when I received a text message from William.  They had walked into their room and discovered that they had a panel of three judges instead of just one judge.  This meant that they were one of the top ten teams going into the final round.  They were so excited. They didn't know what place they were going in but guessed they might be fighting for 9th or 10th place or if they were really lucky 7th or 8th. Just being in the top ten is quite an accomplishment.

We we hugged Jennifer good-bye in front of her dorm and drove back wondering how the round was going.  Later, as everyone hung around outside the buildings talking about their rounds it started to pour down rain. Some debaters got soaked because they were far from the buildings. Everyone headed for the shelter of the chapel where the awards ceremony would eventually be held.  Our club sat together and waited excitedly.  Our club had only one other team competing,  Nic and Esther. They had gone to nationals last year and had also had a panel of judges for the last round.  There was great excitment knowing that our little club had both it's teams in the top ten.

Finally the awards ceremony started.  William had gone into this tournament with the dream of just winning a speaker award.  That was his goal. Speaker awards are based on how well the judges rated your speaking and not so much on whether you won or lost.  As they started to announce the speaker awards.  Twentieth place...sixteenth place....tenth place....  We heard names of debaters that in previous years had won tournaments and placed at nationals.  William began to think a speaker award was not going to happen this year... Ninth place..."William M_____"  Our entire team erupted into applause as a stunned William went up on stage to claim his speaker award.  Here is a picture of William and some other top speakers:



 

Finally, they began to announce the winners in team policy.  Tenth Place....ninth place.  As they kept going down the excitement in our club began to build as we realized that both our teams had not yet been called meaning they had placed high.  Fourth place..."Nic and Esther ___________"  As we appauded Nic and Esther a realization came over us.  Third place would go to the team Nic and Esther went against in the last round.  William and Alyssa were either first or second.  Was that possible?  The Announcer asked the remaining debaters who had a panel of judges in round five to come on stage.  Four nervous and excited kids, all underdogs, who no one was expecting to win this tournament, walked up on stage.


Who is first and who is second?

Second place goes to....The name of the other team was called.  The stunned look on William and Alyssa's faces were priceless.  Finally, the official announcment came.  "First place goes to William M______ and Alyssa _______ of Kairos.  After all the heartache and dissapointment that William experienced last year because of losing his partner... to stand on stage at the first tournament of the year and receive the first place prize was almost surreal.


Fourth place: Esther and Nic;  First Place: William and Alyssa 
                        The Kairos Debate Team!

I am so proud of Alyssa and William.  They aren't letting this win go to their heads.  They know that they could have hit much tougher teams than they did.  They know they have to keep working hard. Although they won all five rounds, they learned what the weaknesses are in their affirmative case and they learned what negative evidence they will need more of if they want to do well in the future.  They are even more motivated to work hard and research and prepare. Alyssa was nervous that her lack of debate experience would hold William back and William had lost confidence with all that happened last year. This win is the confidence boost they needed.

I can't think of a better ending to all that happened last your. Perhaps it would be better to say that I can't think of a better beginning to an exciting new year.