The Forensic Union Speech and Debate Team participated in the annual Choate Invitational Debate Tournament on Monday, Jan. 10. Each school sent four students: a team of two in the novice division and a team of two in the advanced division.
Seniors Teddy Schwartz and Sam Merkatz made up the team of advanced speakers representing KO at the Choate Debate. Sophomores Minnila Muthukumar and Saanve Bathula represented KO in the novice division.
Teddy signed up for Forensic Union in his freshman year at the annual club fair. Soon after, he found himself looking up to some of the leaders of the club who were more experienced debaters. He wanted to be able to speak like them, and that motivated him to strive to get better.
Four years later, Teddy leaves the Choate Debate winning the award for best speaker and has been invited to Worlds to participate in an international debate competition. In addition, Teddy and Sam won the best advanced team in the tournament.
This is Minnila’s first year as a member of Forensic Union, but she has previous experience debating in middle school. Though she greatly enjoys speech and debate, there are also many challenges. “One challenge is when I have a topic that I don’t know a lot about ” she said. “We’re not allowed to do research, so we have to use what we know previously”.
Going into a debate, the participants don’t know the topic, so once they find out, they have around ten minutes to prepare with their partner. Debaters are not allowed to look anything up on Google, so the debate is based on the argument and not on facts.
“I had a topic once that was about the India-Pakistan nuclear missile crisis,” Teddy remembered, “I was like, ‘I don’t know anything about that, this is going to be a really tough debate.’”
Many times you don’t get to argue the position you truly believe in or support because positions are decided on by a coin flip at the beginning of the debate. “A big skill you have to work on is arguing against things you believe in,” Teddy said.
Teddy recalled how nervous he was at his first debate competition freshman year at a different school. “It was in this cold science room and I was so scared, I spoke for like two of the eight minutes we had to speak,” he said.
Minnila explained how starting debate club has helped her. “It’s easier for me to choose my words and speak more professionally,” she said.
Teddy loves how much easier it has gotten to do an impromptu speech. “It becomes really fun once you can throw down a speech on the spot about things,” he explained. “It just feels really good and you feel really confident in your abilities”
Minnila’s favorite part about debate is when she is able to find a hole in her opponent’s argument and then asking them a tough question. “They just freeze because they don’t know how to answer the question,” she said.
According to Teddy, starting debate takes patience and everyone gets better with practice. “No one’s going to laugh at you, no one is going to be mad at you, and no one is going to think less of you if you mess up,” he explained. “But the more you do it, the better you get every single time.”
Minnila agreed, “It can be very daunting at first, but if you get into it slowly, and maybe find someone who can help you ease into it, it can be easier.”
