Posts
The Policy team of Mary Bobbit and Chetan Mishra took first place with teammates Nick Lepp and Shashwat Sharma (who has sadly passed away since the tournament from a tragic skateboarding accident) placing second. Bobbit and Mishra had an 8-0 record with Lepp and Sharma finishing 7-1 (the loss coming on a coach's decision). Bobbit, Lepp and Mishra were named the top three individual speakers in Policy.
In Public Forum debate, Leah Melcher and Nazaneen Pahlevani finished as semi-finalists with a 5-2 record. In Lincoln-Douglas, Ryan Ceresa and Anjana Radhakrishnan both advanced to quarter-finals with 3-2 records. In Student Congress, Tim Waterman advanced to the Super Session, which is essentially the final round of this competition.
In addition to the 13 state championships, Richards' teams have won their district tournament 21 times and produced 45 individual regional champions and 28 individual state champions.
Despite Broad Run's overwhelming success through the years, Richards said he is still thrilled by a state championship: "It doesn't get old; I still love it as much as I did the first time. Same with teaching; I love teaching as much as the first time I walked into a classroom. It's still exciting for me.”
Richards added that this team was one of his best.
“I'm ecstatic for what I've seen this team do this year. I've had some great teams in the past…but I've never had a team…dominate like these…kids dominated.”
Richards said this team “closed out” more competitions than his previous squads. Closing out means the last two teams in a competition are from the same school. In such cases, the coach chooses the winner (usually the higher-seeded team or a team that features seniors).
“I've had other teams dominate; I've never had so many closeouts.”
Not only was the Broad Run team good, it was very large. It featured 80 students that were heavily involved in debate. (The organizational meeting was so large that Richards had to move it from his overflowing classroom to a packed library.) The Spartans took two full busloads of debaters to one competition.
“They were excited. They stayed excited all year. I was amazed at how many stayed excited the whole year.”
The sheer numbers mean he can't coach individually like he used to, said Richards. Older team members help younger ones with research and drills. Richards reserves Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after school for debate activity. Usually, different squads will practice on one of these days under the supervision of their respective captains. This year, Richards said squads practiced on all three days. “I'm amazed at what they get done on their own initiative.”
Richards downplayed his role as the team's coach. “I'm nothing special in the way of a coach. I'm not all that smart. I've just been here a long time and the program has just taken root and grown and grown and grown.”
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHA) would beg to differ…
The association honored Richards with its Outstanding Speech, Debate and Theatre Educator Award. In addition to his work at Broad Run, Richards has served the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensics League as policy debate tournament director for the past 10 years and is currently the league's policy debate vice president. He is also a Double Diamond coach in the National Forensic League (an award based on the accumulated accomplishments of his students). Richards has served the Virginia High School League (VHSL) for three years on its Debate, Drama and Forensics Advisory Committee. He also assisted the VHSL in securing sponsorship for its state debate trophies for the past six years.
Richards' award came as a result of nomination by peers who serve on the VHSL Debate, Drama and Forensics Advisory Committee. It is a Section Award, which means it encompasses nominations from seven states (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Delaware) and the District of Columbia.
Article source: Loudoun County Public Schools
No comments:
Post a Comment