Regionals Recap

Now that I have mostly gotten over the listlessness that I always get at after every debate tournament, I figured it would be a good time to share what went on at regionals and what God has taught me through this experience.

I went into regionals with to goal of doing my best and having fun, and the hope that it would lead to Alatheia (my debate partner) and I qualifying for NCFCA Nationals in Virginia. Well, I fulfilled my goal; those seven rounds (six preliminary rounds and one out round) were some of the most fun rounds this year, I gave probably one of my best rebuttals ever, we won five of our six preliminary rounds, and my affirmative case went undefeated. But despite all of this success, we didn't qualify for nationals. We lost our octa-finals round to really awesome team, which ended our dream of being able to compete at nationals, and meant we would get 10th at the tournament.

Although I was initially disappointed, going to nationals would have been so much fun and it would have looked great on my transcript, looking back I'm glad we didn't qualify. It would have meant more time to put into debate, and at that point I was perfectly content to be done with the environment. Also, there is the money that would have had to been invested in the trip, money we could ill afford to spend. All in all, I think that God new what he was doing, and he allowed us to do the best we could without qualifying for nationals.

I think Mrs Hudsen (the tournament coordinator for regionals) summed it up best; in the end, all our trophies and awards will just end up in a box, but the experiences that we gain from this will stay with us forever. This past tournament I didn't get that many awards, but I did get a lot of awesome experiences, and I hope that the lessons I learned and the friends I made, will stay with me for years to come.

Before I leave you, I would like to say a big thank you to all of the people who prayed for Alatheia and I throughout this tournament; it was a great comfort to both of us. I would also like to say thank you to God. With Him nothing is impossible, and without Him there is no way would have done as well as we did. He deserves all of the glory and credit for what happened at regionals, and I am so thankful that I have such an awesome God.

Until I write again, au revoir

~Nat