Novice Barefoot Debaters Storm Smith while Varsity Squad Scores Points

Zavier Wingham and Brittany Williams finished in 5th Place in Varsity CX and earned their first TFA points. Kelsey Annu-Essuman who broke at her 3rd tournament and finished 9th. She now has 3 TFA points.

The Velasquez twins also "got their revenge" by going 2-2 and debating in two difficult break rounds.

Twelve novice debaters in both NLD and NCX competed at their first tournament this weekend at Newman Smith. Debating NLD were Nora Garza, Sterling Hopkins, Glyneisha Johnson and Yastril Nanez. Glyneisha broke to quarters and earned the first novice trophy of the year, finishing 5th Place. Yastril finished 3-1 and missed breaking by 2 speaker points.

Debating in NCX were Mike Garcia-Selena Yanez, David Webb-Efrain Vera, Karla Brother-Lopez & Ivan Garcia and Angela Gonzalez-Ruben Howard.

Next week the team will compete at Grand Prairie.

Grapevine Results

The Law Magnet debate team had a respectable showing at the Grapevine Classic. Eddie and Charlie finished 3-2 and missed breaking by 1.5 speaker points. Brittany and Zavier unveiled their new "project" affirmative with some positive results. One judge (and even one of their opponent teams) commented they were mesmerized by the melodic approach.

The sophomore LD'rs continue to excel as all went 2-3.

This week the team returns to its local TFA schedule at Newman Smith while Eddie and Charlie travel to Houston Memorial in pursuit of their first TOC bid.

Law Magnet Breaks New Ground @ Greenhill

Eddie Camacho and Charlie Stephens (CS) established a new landmark in Law Magnet debate team lore this weekend by breaking at the Greenhill Classic.

CS advanced to the elimination rounds in pursuit of their first TOC bid. They missed earning a bid by one ballot as they fell to Coppell KD on a 2-1 decision. Nevertheless, the 17th place finish is the best performance by a Law Magnet team at Greenhill which is considered one the three most competitive tournaments in the nation.

The team's strong finish indicates they are on the path to the TOC.

Kelsey Breaks @ Southlake

Kelsey Annu-Essuman broke to double-octos at the Southlake Carroll TFA Debate Tournament. This is the second week in a row she has qualified to elimination rounds. Kelsey is setting a new standard for first year varsity debaters at the Law Magnet.

Her next challenge (and the rest of the squad) will take place at the Grapevine Classic next week. Grapevine is a TOC qualifying tournament and will host some of the best debate schools in the US.

Law Magnet Lassos Points @ Plano Sr.

Charlie Stephens and Eddie Camacho plowed through prelims going undefeated. After winning in quarters, the team finished in 3rd and earned the first TFA points of the season.

Two of our new varsity LD debaters broke at their first ever varsity tournament: Kelsey Annu-Essuman and Keyonna Hall.

Congrats to them for a very successful weekend.

Next week...Greenhill & Southlake!

September/October NFL LD Topic Announced

The new topic is:

2009 September/October Topic

Resolved: Public high school students in the United States ought not be required to pass standardized exit exams to graduate.

To discuss on our wiki click here. You will only be able to post topic analysis if you had previously registered on the wiki. I will be posting my early thoughts in the next few days.

Anyone who discussed this at camp and has evidence should send an email out to all with a copy of that evidence.

iDebate iTunes Application Review

This application may be downloaded to your iPhone or iTouch. The best features in my opinion are the judge paradigms, the timer (all debate formats) and the break calculator. Best of all it is FREE.

Click iDebate to download.