From Oct. 28 to Oct. 30, the 39th Annual Florida Blue Key Speech and Debate tournament took place at the wonderful campus of the University of Florida (UF). Heading into my second year as a speech and debate member, this was my first national-level competition, with competitors coming from all over the country, including from California, Virginia, Ohio, you name it. Some of the most experienced and achieved competitors came, having previously won places at national and even international championships. This is my experience as a freshman.
Blue Key is usually the first national-level tournament the Pine View Speech and Debate team enters, making it an annual tradition. PV usually has about two dozen python competitors head into the various events to compete for top prizes. I was one of the few freshmen to have entered, and one of only two competitors from the Pine View Speech and Debate team in extemporaneous speaking, a speech event where you prepare a seven-minute speech on a political or cultural topic in 30 minutes. Excited for my first overnight travel, I set out for Gainesville on Friday, Oct. 28.
We arrived in Gainesville to our hotel a bit after noon, where we headed to our rooms. Though our hotel wasn’t known for being the best, with many 1-star reviews, I already knew I would be able to be comfortable in that room as there were only two of us in the room, meaning I didn’t have to share a bed, unlike most weekend competitions. After Just a few hours of preparation and revision, and we started for the UF campus. Upon arrival, we got lost. Yes, we got lost in a massive campus spanning 2000 acres. Luckily, Google Maps exists, and I managed to make it with my friend to the building where my event was happening. Or so I thought.
Usually, each event has its own building, or its own set of rooms. However, extemp (short for extemporaneous speaking) was split across four buildings — Weimar Hall, Weil Hall, Williamson Hall, and the Reitz Union. Williamson Hall was where the preparation would occur — where speakers would prepare their speech based on the question they receive — and then they would need to walk to one of the three other buildings , depending on where they are assigned to. This caused understandable frustration as speakers would lose part of their preparation time going to different buildings, and in extemp, every minute is critical. Regardless, my first round on Friday night went well, with my judge commenting that she enjoyed my speech.
After my first round, I headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day. Saturday would be a long day, starting at 7:30 a.m. with my second round and ending around 5 p.m. with my fifth round. Throughout, I delivered speeches on all sorts of topics, ranging from the U.S. federal interest rate hikes to the war between Ukraine and Russia. It was a great learning experience, and I got to watch some of the best speakers deliver topics, including the person who would go on to win the whole competition. At the end of the day, breaks — or the top speakers who would advance to elimination rounds — were posted. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to advance, but when I received my results in the preliminaries, I was happy with the feedback I received.
Looking back at the tournament, I am definitely thankful for the experience. I met all sorts of people from all over the country with different backgrounds, and look forward to heading back next year, and hopefully doing better!
3 comments
Nobody is doing it like him!
Best experience of speech and debate.
getting lost is a tradition. #real