Toni's Thoughts...

January Warm Up Recap

Posted from ARC Blogs

Well, it’s been over a week now since Region IV’s first qualifier of the year, and I feel like I’m still recovering.  So before a bunch of ARCers head off for the next tournament, I thought I’d share a few of the important lessons that I learned at the Houston Warm Up

Lesson #1: Bring your dress shoes
(is there really any explanation needed here folks?)

Lesson #2: Friends are amazing
Each year I’m blown away by the awesome friendships that I have with my Region IV friends.  Seriously.  I’m going to be missing everyone so much when this is all said and done.  And the best part is, friends aren’t just from my club, or even my area.  Through speech and debate I’ve made friends from across the state, and region, and country.

Lesson #3: Tournaments aren’t meant to go past 11pm
All right, this will be my fourth year of competition, and I’ve never been at a tournament that was more exhausting.  I guess in some ways that’s good, competing on 5-6 hours of sleep each night is a good exercise in remaining sane and slightly coherent under really trying circumstances.

Lesson #4: The next generation of NCFCAers is here
This was by far one of the coolest things I figured out.  Each year I wonder who is going to take the place of the amazing people that graduated the previous year.  And each year I’m in awe of the up and coming speakers I see.  This tournament was no different, in fact, it might have been more noticeable this year.  It’s so exciting to see all the new faces, and then proceed to be beaten by them :).  I can’t even imagine what the NCFCA will look like 10 years from now–it will definitely be neat to see what God does with all these people.

Lesson #5: I’ve got some amazing parents
I do.  Really.  I can’t begin to thank my parents for the huge, gigantic sacrifices they’ve made on my behalf to allow me, and now my sisters, to be able to participate in this kind of activity.  ((hugs))

Congratulations to everyone who participated–the January Warm Up was a huge success, and I’m looking forward to these next few tournaments!

Untitled Comment

12:49 AM, Feb. 10, 2009 .. Posted by : Oh yeah, you know who I am

You're right, in 10 years time NCFCA will be... amazing.

But what about California? We still wanted to see that.