The shoe drops

I’ll try to be civil.

There wasn’t much to say about this year’s LD competition at NYSFL in Albany. People debated on the same side for round after round, occasionally against the same opponent. The same judges judged the same people on the same sides. Friday night lasted beyond all imagination. Students who won outrounds didn’t advance. The most qualified judges were given rounds where students were unable to advance. It was, in other words, an adventure, not unlike previous NYSFL adventures. Ultimately the organization posted a message on their website, ostensibly apologizing but in fact explaining to the students who suffered through the experience that there are often bad experiences in life, and that growing up requires you to pull through them. Talk about your cold comfort.

As members of the VCA know, I long ago voiced concerns officially to the organization, and was, for all practical purposes, told to take a hike. Over the years I came to the position that my team attends the state finals on their own dime, against my advice. But after this year’s fiasco, which is not all that different from every other year’s fiasco, truth to tell, I am removing official support completely. If Sailors wish to attend NYSFL’s debate competition in the future, they will be doing so unofficially. Presumably NYSFL has rules against that. ‘Nuff said.

But there’s more to the story. After years of complaining, officially and unofficially, about a state organization that is seemingly deaf to the concerns of the debate community, a number of coaches—ostensibly the chief membership of the MHL—have posted a letter to the organization yet again outlining our issues. But this time the signatories have, like me, insisted that if their issues aren’t adequately answered, they will no longer participate in the league. Additionally, we are creating a New York State Debate Coaches’ Association, which, if necessary, will run its own tournament at the end of the season, starting next year.

No doubt this will be seen as establishing a level of serious political discord in the region, but in reality, the political discord already exists, and the creation of the NYSDCA merely reifies it. Sometimes you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do. We have now, officially, done it.

Alea iacta est.