Around the Globe:
International Competition Heats Up for USA Debate
DEBATE
by Liz Yount
I
never truly understood what it meant to be an American representing my country in international competition until the chief adjudicator of our octafinal round in Zagreb, Croatia, announced, “It was a unanimous decision for the United States.” The impact of that statement resonated again during the final round, when I hugged my teammates on stage in front of hundreds of cheering people after the judges revealed we had just championed the largest tournament ever held in Europe.
Six debaters and two coaches from across the country traveled to Zagreb, Croatia, December 16-22 to compete in the Winter Holidays Open tournament. After nearly 15 hours of travel and three unsatisfying airplane meals later, we all arrived at the quaint Croatian hotel on Thursday night, exhausted yet eager to begin preparation for the tournament. We practiced in the hotel and sharpened our knowledge on topics ranging from advanced artificial intelligence to Chinese economics. At the tournament on Friday, the USA Debate team
entered two teams into a pool consisting of 88 teams from 18 countries and four continents. Both American teams advanced far into the elimination rounds, where USA Blue took third place overall, and my team, USA Red, won first place, beating the Croatian national team in the final round. All three members of USA Blue also placed in the top 10 speakers out of 280 total debaters. This tournament was my first adventure ever leaving our country, and it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The nine-hour time difference resulted in a few sleepless nights and
missed alarms—but more importantly, I gained a new respect and appreciation for the demands of international competition. Debate is something very familiar to me, and witnessing students in a foreign country participating in the same activity brought me comfort. It created an immediate sense of unity and mutual understanding, not only with debaters from other countries, but also within our own team. “The bond of the team seemed genuinely closer,” team manager and coach Cindi Timmons said. “We seem to have
(left to right) Members of the 2015-2016 USA Debate team include Matthew Zheng, Julia Lauer, Amit Kukreja, Joshua May, Sonya Huang, Nikhil Ramaswamy, Milan Amritraj, Liz Yount, and Nikolas Angelopoulos.
Rostrum | WINTER 2016 71