MHLI

Sometimes things move remarkably fast.

There is a discussion thread on the NDCA listserver that I alluded to yesterday. The whole thing started with a message about this and that, which sort of bothered me because it was concentrating on issues relating to the $ircuit which I think are, well, just too parochial. I love having kids seriously compete for TOC bids, but I love having kids who don’t seriously compete for TOC bids as well. My skills and my energies are mostly in aid of the latter group, and there is no question that one of the most successful things we in the northeast have accomplished the last couple of years is the institution of novice divisions throughout the region, often replacing JV divisions. The logic of this stems from many novices being (rightly) afraid to participate over their heads, especially when some JVers might be in their 3rd year of debate. Plus, if it’s a college venue, the cost of attending (time and money) is set in the cold perspective of an almost guarantee of not doing very well. While I am a strong believer that second-year debaters need to suffer and learn in varsity divisions, I am also a strong believer that first-year debaters need to be nurtured and to learn in novice-only divisions. Novices do not debate like varsitians, nor should they. Master the basics first, then move on to the finer points. And we are enabling that in the region beyond the MHL alone, which, of course, is founded on that principle of getting rounds to newer, younger debaters. Additionally, I have always been a strong supporter of the non-bid tournaments in the region, offering whenever I can to help run them (I’m good at that) and certainly getting as many of my Sailors to participate as possible.

So I responded to the listserver about getting our attention away from the $ircuit, and was met with general agreement. Frankly I feel that much of what is often complained of as wrong with our activity is a direct result of $ircuit concerns, but that is neither here nor there at the moment. The key issues being kicked around in this thread are the costs of tournaments, the availability of tournaments within reasonable distances (most of the costs of tournaments actually being the getting and staying there and not the registrations) and the need to provide training to coaches and debaters. As explained above, we’ve already got the second item of concern—the existence of tournaments—under control in the region. But what about the other two?

As for costs, obviously I do run the Bump tournament, which is not cheap. Then again, it is expensive to feed 400 people a couple of meals plus maintain a stocked judges’ lounge, and we do house most of our entrants, and we provide quite a bit of extra judging, so is not as if we are simply taking the money and running with it. Additionally there are dozens of trophies and gavels, and a charge from the school for custodial fees (in two buildings). But at the same time, this is our only meaningful fund-raiser, and we are not out of line with other major invitationals in the region (or most everywhere else). In a word, our tournament allows us to go to your tournament. Still, we can freeze costs, and I will commit to doing that for the foreseeable future.

As for training, the usual suspects in the region and I have committed to begin brainstorming this weekend at Scarsdale for a day or three of free camp in September, probably at Bronx Science. We will create a program for both coaches and students under the auspices of the MHL (which is already dirt cheap and supportive of newbie-ism on all fronts). I mean, we still do have the odd weekend in September when we’re not doing anything debate related (a situation that does not repeat again in the school year until April, not counting Christmas and Thanksgiving, which are weekends when people, while not debating, should be at least thinking about debating). Why not put it to good use?

As I said, sometimes things move remarkably fast. Thanks to a random post in a listserver, we are creating a specific, organized, free debate training program beginning this fall. Let’s call it the Mid-Hudson League Institute. MHLI. Is that cool or what?