1. My Am
merica: Findin T-E-A-M In Competi
ng M ition
It was the final round of the Virg
e d ginia High Sc
chool Leagu state deba
ue ate.
My being here was a culmination of three ye preparin and two years particip
g n ears ng pating asteam
m
captain o the speech and debate team in high school.
of h h
As our te advance into the final round of the 2010-20 state tou
eam ed f 011 urnament, I wwould have t
to
decide on whether or not to run f Presiding Officer. In debate, the p
n r for g presiding of
fficer is a
competitor from one of the sever participat
ral ting teams w is elected to be in ch
who d harge of
controllin and enfor
ng rcing the rule of the deb while st being jud
es bate till dged as a com
mpetitor.
On the la day of the tournamen my teamm
ast e nt, mates and I stood anxiously in the lob of Liber
bby rty
Universit where the event was h waiting for the judg to post w would ad
ty e held ges who dvance to the
e
final roun
nd.
My coach happroached me and ask me for m thoughts on the final round. He a explaine if I
d ked my also ed
were to m
make it to the final round I should at
e d, ttempt atrunnning for presiding office as this wo
er ould
greatly help our team members p
m placement in the state.
Fear grab nking about his advice. I had little ex
bbed hold of me just thin
f xperience ac
cting as presi
iding
officer an was resig
nd gned to lettin him know that I could do it.
ng w dn’t
When the list of final
e lists was rele
eased, it bec
came apparen that nearly all of our c
nt y competitors h
had
advanced making the final round very crowd
d e d ded.

2. It was at that moment I realized, as team captain, my duty was to give my teammates the best
chance for them at success I possibly could. Despite my understanding of this, I still couldn’t call
myself to run for presiding officer- I just didn’t have confidence that I could do it properly.
Prior to the start of the final round, everyone had two hours to prepare. And it was during this
time thatI was feeling especially awful about the presiding dilemma.
Then something happened that day I will never forget.
A competitor from a rival school noticed my pacing and made a point to stop by and check on
me. He asked if I was okay.I revealed to him in detail what was playing through my head.
After patiently listening to me, he calmly explained that the tournament was about teamwork,
leadership, and trust.
It was not about winning.
He proceeded to sit down next to me and shared with me everything I needed to know about
presiding. For the next two hours, we went over every last detail I needed to learn and perfected
what I was going to do.
Once the final round had rolled around, I decided to run for presiding officer and was successful
in being elected by a majority of my peers.
After a long session of careful control, planning, and ultimately, confidence, I emerged winning
second place in the state of Virginia. Along with my second place finish, two other teammates
from my school had placed in the top ten.
The first thing I did after I received my award was find the guy who helped me and hug him.
When I found him, we talked.
“I don’t deserve this,” I said,“you do. If you had presided you would have won.”
He responded, “That’s not what I wanted to do when I decided to come to this tournament.
“I wanted to help somebody who cared enough about their team to reach their goal.
“Your teammates are all that matter.
“You deserved to do as well as you did, because you did it for your team.”
Author: Anonymous
Location: USA
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