On Saturday, the speech and debate team attended a Tri County Forensics League (TCFL) debate tournament at Valencia High School.

The team did well, winning a total of three trophies and three certificates.

• Seniors Canela Lopez and Summer Al-Saleh were undefeated in Parliamentary debate
• Sophomore Emma Kolesnik and senior Lucas Wiltjer were undefeated in Parliamentary debate
• Junior Khaila Hartung-Dallas and junior Fidelity Ballmer were undefeated in Public forum debate
• Freshman Sydney Wilkov and freshman Eva Shumaker had a 2-1 record in the Public forum debate
• Senior Ben Limpich and freshman Ryan Moore had a 2-1 record in Parliamentary debate
• Kiley Becker had a 2-1 record in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate

The TCFL league includes 30 schools and is the third largest league in the state.

Speech and debate team coach Jennifer Kindred said that she was “greatly surprised and pleased” with the results.

“Everyone was exhausted from finals and a few on the team were ill–including me. I could not be more pleased with the outcome,” she said.

Adding on to the tedious schedule of finals, debate coach Anthony Villa left Foothill last year, leaving Kindred as the sole coach.

“Coaching without Mr. Villa has been a little chaotic. There’s not enough of me to go around. I certainly miss him, and I know the students do too,” Kindred said.

“But, I am grateful that we are doing so well. I’m especially proud of our novices.”

Team members participated in Parliamentary debate, Public forum debate, and Lincoln-Douglas debate.

Speech and debate president and senior Ben Limpich participated in Parliamentary debate with freshman Ryan Moore.

The purpose of Parliamentary debate is to prepare an argument in 20 minutes about a common-knowledge topic, and win the debate against the opposing team.

It was the first time the two had teamed up, and they won two rounds out of three, earning a superior certificate.

Limpich explained that him and Moore lost the last round because the judge had a misunderstanding of the rules.

The two did something called a counter plan, where debaters take the opposite sides’ argument, change it, and make it more extreme and aggressive.

“We lost the debate off the basis that the judge didn’t think we were following the rules,” Limpich said.

“But, even my opponent came up afterwards and told us that we should have won that round.”

Kindred expressed that members of the team work an immense amount in order to be successful in tournaments such as this one.

“Students put in a lot of work outside of the school day and outside of our practices reading and keeping up with current events and researching and writing their cases,” she wrote.

Members of the team explained why they liked being on the speech and debate team.

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“I love debating and the aspect of what speech and debate is- you’re debating and talking about issues that are going on in the world,” Al-Saleh said.

Junior Khaila Hartung-Dallas compared Foothill’s speech and debate team to other schools’ teams.

“I think based from what I see at tournaments, Foothill is a lot more close-knit- and we do genuinely like each other,” she said.

“It’s less of a life-or-death stress situation and more- we like to have fun with it.”

Limpich expressed his appreciation for the speech and debate coaches.

“A lot of schools, even though they’re public, will hire coaches to [coach the team], while our coaches do it completely because they want to do it and out of the pureness and the kindness of their hearts,“ Limpich said.

“They want to be there and they do it completely voluntarily, often using their own money to help keep speech and debate flowing nicely.”

Kindred wrote that she became a speech and debate coach because she wanted to give back to an activity she loved as a student.

Speech and debate also provides students with academic skills for the future.

“College admissions officers cite participation in speech and debate as the number one indicator of future academic success in college,” Kindred said.

“It teaches you to consider all sides of a dilemma. We force students to debate both sides of every issue, so they graduate with the enviable ability to see issues from all perspectives. It [also] teaches you to think on your feet.”

Limpich explained what he thought were important benefits of being in speech and debate.

“One of the largest factors that speech and debate contributes to is [a student’s] ability to express themselves and to speak their minds on subjects that they may have otherwise been silent about,” he said.

Teachers and members said they were excited to see students win at the tournament.

“I love when students win. But I have always felt that students receive even greater gifts from competition,” Kindred said. “Number one, they gain confidence. Even if it doesn’t manifest itself as a trophy, students are better just for participating in speech.”

“Secondly, like any extracurricular, speech and debate bonds you to a group and gives you a sense of belonging.”

Al-Saleh expressed how she felt when her teammates won.

“It was really cool to see so many teams win, I don’t remember any other league meet having this many teams get trophies and certificates,” she said.

“A lot of the people who got certificates are new this year, and that’s a pretty big deal to go to one of your first league tournaments and win.”

Kindred said her favorite memory from the tournament was when junior Fidelity Ballmer comforted another debater.

“A girl from another school came out of her round, and her opponent, who had presumably just won the round, was very derisive and mean to her,” Kindred said.

The debater told her friends that it was an “easy A” round while her opponent was still in earshot. Ballmer comforted that girl after the round.

“Since its formation, our team has been about good sportsmanship and community. And that is way more important than a trophy.”