The End of Something Good

School ended a month ago, and I will admit that it sure felt like it took too long to get to that point.  I'm still recovering in some ways; I was pulled in a lot of painful and trying directions both professionally and personally, and I wanted nothing more than to just call it quits on all of it.  One of my time constraints was being a debate coach.  This wasn't new, but with everything else going on this year it was just one more thing to do.  So at the end of the season, I called it quits.

The thing is, of all the things that claimed so much of my time this year, debate was also one of the most rewarding.  While after school practices and weekend competitions were painful and frustrating and stressful and rushed, there were also so many moments of joy and friendship and learning and success.  I have strengthened relationships with students and the other coaches I worked with.  I have become more aware of issues in the world.  I have become a better writing teacher because of it.  The three years I coached debate were full of self doubt, but by the end I had accomplished some things personally and helped students to grow.  While I won't miss the huge amounts of time needed to help a debate team be successful, I will miss getting to celebrate with the students when they succeed, and helping them to learn when they don't.  Debate was good for me.  And the ending of it is good, too.  It's just hard to let go to some of the things in between.

Debate begins with practice.  Lots and lots of practice.

Ahh, and the bus rides to tournaments.  Sometimes they were quiet.  Sometimes they were loud.  They were always an adventure, and as coaches we sometimes found out a few weeks later just how much of an adventure those rides were for some kids.

Our diet as debaters/coaches consists of a lot of fast food - quick lunch runs for kids in between rounds, or at the end of a tournament for kids who needed more substantial food than gummy worms (they never brought real food even though we told them to).

Warm-ups are an important part of getting ready to compete vocally and mentally.

After warm-ups, it's off to check the postings to know where you need to be, when you need to be there, who you are competing against, and if you made it to final rounds.

Some of my Public Forum debaters preparing for the start of a round.

And while kids are waiting to start competing or are in between rounds, there are all sorts of things going on: games, reviewing cases, socializing, and the ever popular napping.

And while the kids compete, the coaches from our region are in the tab room, keeping track of kids' scores and sometimes having to make tough decisions like tie breakers, tracking down students who haven't shown up to their rounds, and being centrally located in case of judging errors or student (ahem) crises.  As we have done this, we've also become friends.

Sometimes we just get downright silly.  I guess working with teenagers keeps us all a little bit younger.

So even though it's long days and long weekends and little compensation we kept doing it because of this:

And reactions like this:

And faces like this:

And this:

And this:

And this (1st in region):

And the fun we had, like this:

I'm glad I got to be a part of something as great as Cedar High School's Debate Team.  I was able to have conversations with 14 and 15 year olds that I can't have with people my own age.  I saw kids who had little to mediocre success in school in general rise to the occasion and transform their academic focus as their confidence grew and rippled to other corners of their lives.  I heard kids go from being really unpolished and timid or who always sounded like they were condescending when they argued to being very confident (even if it was just an act) and eloquently funny speakers.  And I got to hear other kids not on the debate team recognize kids in class who were on the team, or the jocks asking more about it when they kept hearing our successes being announced over the announcements on Monday mornings as they realized this was a legitimate competitive team.  I'm glad it's done, but I will miss it.