Whither the NDCA?

Today we settled the Aged P in a nursing home, putting an end to what has been a very rough period in the old chez. Getting old is no picnic, because your body stops being reliable, but short of a true mental impairment, there’s no great reason why your mind should also stop. Mark my words! Learn to appreciate everything in life, and learn to keep going forward. With luck, we’ll all get really old. With determination, we’ll make being old just another phase of life, and we’ll find the good in it. The alternatives—not getting old, and not getting old gracefully—pale by comparison.

Last night on TVFT we talked at length about the NDCA tournament, and the NDCA in general. Here’s the thing. Each of the finals events has its particular purpose. TOC, as I discussed here not long ago, is about competition qua competition, and is rather fierce and narrow in that regard. (This was not a value judgment on my part, merely a reflection of what I saw.) CatNats and NatNats are, in their way, culminations of local debate, but as Bietz pointed out last night, quite limited. Only 2 people in a district go to NatNats, even if there are 20 people in the district who are just as good. TOC, because it breeds in the $ircuit pool, is fairly limited to schools/students who are resource-rich. (In policy, especially, it requires a full team, whereas in LD a lone wolf, albeit with some long green, can do fine.) The point of NDCA is to provide a culmination tournament that is not artificially limited in numbers, and is not fiscally limited vis-à-vis resources. That is good on face, but we’re not sure how it’s coming off. I think that what we were batting around on the show was that fact that you’ve gotta have a gimmick, and aside from good intentions, NDCA doesn’t have one yet.

Give it a listen. I really enjoyed the NDCA experience, not only because B Manuel and Schenectady made for excellent hosting, but because the organization seemed determined to listen to the community, which cannot be said of any of the other culminators. If NDCA can carve out its niche, not replacing anyone but complementing everyone, it would be a very good thing. Curiously enough, the feeling is that the tournament is there when it comes to policy. LD? Still a bornin’.