Rats - 2/16/2002

Debates yesterday. One win one loss. Sadly, the team that loss debated excellently, had superb arguments and was the better team - even according to the adjudicators. And we lost on a technicality. Which is very sad. Anyway I think they did marvellously and have every right to be proud of themselves, the way they acquitted themselves. Obviously we'll have to work extra hard now for them to get into the quarters ... with that one loss ... but I'm sure they can do it.

What got me was the coach from the other side. Ok- so we know that debating is scummy and full of psycho games etc - but the adults involved don't have to encourage it. He kept vigourously shaking his head whenever OUR speakers made a point or rebutted something. I mean, if you want to encourage your own speakers with a thumbs-up or nods of the head - that's fine - but to actually try to distract your opposition by shaking your head vigourously (and he wasn't the only one - he got the teachers along his row to do the same - so that's evidence of a concerted effort to distract) is pathetic. It's merely a clear demonstration of the utter lack of confidence such that you have to resort to such tactics. Fine - I may sound naive and idealistic about fair competition - but look - if we can't win on our own merit or ability, or performance on the day, and need to resort to extraneous help, it's not worth even trying to win. People that want to win no matter what miss the point of a competition.

Which is why I'll say what I do and hope I will continue to do for these debates. I'll sit at the back with notebook and all. I'll watch, nod my head when our speakers speak, jot down things that we need to work on and make soft comments to whoever's near by. But I won't feed ideas to the reserves or point out the flaws to the reserves. I think we shouldn't - no matter what anyone else does. I probably sound more moralistic than usual but it isn't so much about morals as it is about believing in the people up there doing the job and showing your confidence in them by not helping.

Ah well that's that. Going to replay the tape now and make notes.