Lessons from My First Year as a Speech & Debate Competitor:

Introduction

As I look back on my journey, it's hard not to be amazed at how much I’ve grown since the very beginning. Public speaking used to be this intimidating, mysterious world. Something I never imagined myself being a part of, let alone falling in love with. But here I am, almost a year later, more confident, more expressive, and more me than I ever thought possible.

That growth didn’t happen overnight. It came from countless early mornings, shaky first rounds, quiet moments of doubt, and the overwhelming joy of learning to find my voice. And because this experience has shaped me in ways I never could’ve predicted, I wanted to share my story—not just as a reflection, but as a possible spark for someone else.

Maybe there’s a teen or tween out there right now, curious but unsure, just like I was. Wondering if they’re good enough, brave enough, or loud enough to try public speaking. If that’s you—this is for you. I hope my story helps you see that you absolutely can.

My Time in Debate, and Baby's First Tournament

Picture this: you're a brand new middle schooler, just starting 6th grade and feeling ready to conquer the world. With a wobbly personality and an even wobblier voice, I chose to dodge the world of speech and dive into debate, specifically Public Forum Debate. (Spoiler alert, this turned out to be a bad decision.) For those not aware, Public Forum Debate is a partner debate format. It kicks off with an introduction, followed by crossfire (where you fire questions at the other team and answer theirs), rebuttal (where you challenge their points), another crossfire, a summary, a grand crossfire, and finally,

a conclusion.

Once I got the hang of that, I teamed up with a partner. Not to throw any shade, but she clearly wasn't as into debate as I was, leaving me to handle most of the work, both before and during the tournament. Our topic was, "The United States federal government should substantially expand its surveillance infrastructure along its southern border." I remember diving into way too many podcasts, spending ages on Google, and jotting down note after note on our case, all in hopes of winning at least one round.

Tournament day rolls around, and I'm pumped and ready to show everyone what I can do! Until the first round, when we totally bomb. No worries, though! There's always the 2nd—oh wait, that bombed too. Well, there's still the 3rd round! And that one actually wasn't too bad! They handed us everything we needed to beat them in crossfire and the rebuttal! But then the 4th round hits, and we had a conflict with one of our judges.

Sigh, sometimes that is just life.

The award ceremony comes, and surprise, surprise, we don't place. But when I get home, I check our results on Tabroom, and we actually won a round! Goal achieved! But after that tournament, I realized my mental health was at an all-time low.

To put it in perspective, before I joined debate, my mental health points were at 1500. After writing my case and going through my first tournament, they dropped to 25. If you can't do math, that's really bad.

So, after realizing debate wasn't for me, I asked my coach if I could switch to speech instead, since I was way better at presenting rather than arguing. After that, I finally got into Novice Reading! And five months ago, I had no idea how much that would change my life.

(DISCLAIMER!! Just because I had a bad time in debate doesn't mean you shouldn't try it. It's just not my thing, and that's okay! No hard feelings towards debaters or debate. Hope to see debaters next year at club! <3)

Meme of the chapter;

Real random internet user, real.

Beginning in Speech

So, Novice Reading... It's the best pick for newbies, if you ask me. Mostly because you're just going up against other first-years, and you can basically pick any piece that's around 10 minutes long to perform. I went with "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Probably not the smartest choice since every adult has heard and watched that story a million times. But hey, I actually had fun with it, unlike ANOTHER EVENT (yeah, I'm talking about you, PFD).

The first tournament I did speech in was in Charlotte, NC (which was out of state for our school). Kind of sad, because I totally bombed that tournament (to be fair, the competition was insanely good, even though I did beat them later in the year). BUUUT—my friend in Declamation made it to finals. So naturally, I did what any good friend would do...

I dragged another friend to her room, pressed an ear to the door since we were too late to watch, and paced around until she came out. Hm... Looking back, that probably wasn’t the best plan. But it worked out, so who cares. She ended up getting 4th place, and I nearly lost my voice from screaming when she got called up. Overall, it was an awesome day.. Except for the fact I got dead last

in my event.

Then the second tournament came around, and it was virtual because of a recent hurricane in the area. Plus, it was the day before my birthday! Kind of funny since none of us from my school placed, but it was all good because we got to hang out in between our rounds. Honestly, one of the most fun tournaments of the season! Except for the fact I got pretty much dead last AGAIN.

Meme of the chapter;

True story

The Shift.. Ominous Heading, I Know

At some point, I had to accept the harsh truth: my piece just wasn’t going to get me anywhere. It wasn’t working. So, I scrapped it.

One of my friends (bless them) suggested I try The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. At first, I was like, “Isn’t that a picture book? For toddlers?” But then I read it... and I kind of fell in love with it. It was simple, it had fun characters, and I could already imagine the voices. So, I printed it out, grabbed my highlighters, and started practicing like my life depended on it.

Winter break rolled around, and I used the time to rehearse between naps and excessive coffee consumption. And before I knew it, February hit, and it was time for the first tournament of the season.

Let me just say.. I did not do well. Again. But honestly? It was probably the most fun tournament of the entire year. (Notice I said most fun, not favorite. the favorite one is coming up. Stay tuned.) My friends and I were in peak chaotic mode—giving fake interviews like we were celebrities, messing around with school laptops, and generally being menaces to society in the best way possible.

Did anyone from our school place? Nope. Not a single one of us. But we wore it proudly. Because even without the shiny medals or the dramatic award ceremony shout-outs, we had fun. And honestly, that’s what made it awesome.

Oh, and get this, I didn’t get dead last this time! I was solidly in the middle of the pack. A huge improvement!

Meme of the chapter;

Average Speech & Debate tournament experience.

My Favorite Tournament

This is probably my favorite day from my entire life, so don't be surprised if there are many paragraphs on this section.

I wake up 6:00 AM on a Saturday, like normal. Brush my hair, put on my khakis, my button up, my blazer, almost forget my black binder, get in the car, and off I go into the sunset!

More like pitch dark.

When I arrive at the school, the cafeteria is basically empty of all life. Which means we get first pick on our tables! YIPPIE!! Slowly, more people arrive from my school. Which means it is time for me to put on my headphones and ignore everything around me. (In all honesty, TV Girl and Mitski were life savers during this tournament).

1st round.. Goes fine from what I observe at the time.

2nd round, goes not very great. I went up against really good competitors. After that round, one kid goes crazy and STEALS MY FREAKING PHONE. They then proceed to drop it on the floor and break the pop-socket.. Fun times, fun times. After that I buy a kid a Monster Energy and go practice for 30 minutes.

3rd round pretty much bombs, from how it went at the time and the results afterwards.

4th round was actually pretty interesting. I went up against pretty much everyone I had gone against in the past, AKA the kids I said I would beat later in the year.. (Subtle foreshadowing).

Eventually, the awards ceremony starts after what feels like years. And our school sits in the VERY BACK of the auditorium (bad idea). I try to record a video, which looking back I should have kept, but I realized no sound was being recorded. So I deleted it.

Then the awards ceremony finally starts.

Congress,

then Lincoln Douglas Debate,

then PFD,

before the debate section is over.

Side story real quick; according to my mom, the Novice Reading results were up for a split second at PFD awards. AKA, while I wasn't paying attention, leaving problems later. Yay!

The 1st event for speech, Novice Reading, shows.

I am FINALLY on the FREAKING BOARD!! (That means I placed).

Everyone is going on stage while I'm still sitting at the VERY back of the auditorium. So, I have to run as if I was running the mile in P.E to the stage. (This is the problem I was talking about earlier).

"In 6th place from insert school name.. insert name!"

Not me..

"In 5th place from insert school name.. insert name!" NOT ME EITHER YIPPIE!!

"In 4th place from Green Charter Middle, Emma Borchardt!"

To this day, there is no word in the dictionary to describe how much awe, excitement, fear, accomplishment, and joy I felt in that moment.

The girl who got 3rd is someone I went against in pretty much every round. The girl who got 2nd will be important in a second. And the girl who got 1st isn't exactly important to the story considering I didn't go against her ever

(past and future).

As I walked back, I could hear my name being screamed from the back. Very chaotic, but also very empowering.

Sometime later, my friend in our S/D team got 6th in Informative. And I once again broke my vocal cords screaming when they went up.

When we were dismissed from the auditorium, I got a few congrats from people I competed against. But I especially remember how my team reacted. It was the most appreciated (and popular) I have ever felt.

When I looked at the results the next day, I saw something really interesting. First of all, the results were;

1st round, 1st place. (YIPPEEEEE)

2nd round, 3rd place. (Not bad).

3rd round, 5th place. (Out of 5 people... Ouch.)

4th round, 1st place. (YIPPEIEIEIE)

Secondly, remember that girl I said would be important later? Well, I beat her in my 4th round! Yay! (Obviously no hate to her I just thought it showed how much I have improved.)

Meme of the chapter;

Life would be so much easier if this was allowed

State Tournament

Okay, it’s two days before the tournament, and I suddenly get thrown into Impromptu. Surprise! I'm doing a whole new event now! Yay!

Next, cue the panic. I spent the next 48 hours frantically prepping. And when I say prepping, I mean spiraling while pretending to be productive. I watched Impromptu videos, practiced giving speeches to my mirror, talked to my cat like they were a judge, and wrote down random topics just to practice. By the end of it, my brain was essentially not functioning. I was tired. I was emotionally

drained.

And that’s exactly the energy I brought into the tournament building. Tired and burnt out—arguably the worst combo you could bring to a Speech & Debate event. But you know what? I did it anyway. Was it pretty? No.

Did I survive? Barely.

Round 1 was just… meh. Like, not a trainwreck, but not a standing ovation either. I gave a speech, the judges nodded.

Round 2, though? I pulled the color black for my Impromptu card, and something in me just unlocked. I went into this speech about individuality. I made a whole joke about how I dress weird. And somehow tied it all together with a motivational message about embracing who you are. It was a spiritual experience, for me anyway. Not sure about the judge.

Round 3? Let’s not talk about it.

Round 4? I honestly don’t even remember what happened. Could’ve given a killer speech or just stood there blinking. Who knows? It’s all a blur, if you asked me that day - I could have told you everything, its lost in the void now.

Then came the awards ceremony. I wasn’t expecting to place (and I was right), but I still held on to that tiny sliver of hope. You know, the kind that whispers, “Maybe you are better than you think you are!” I wasn’t - BUT!! Three kids from my school placed! Which was amazing and kind of bittersweet. On one hand, I was screaming for them like a proud, emotionally unstable cheerleader. On the other hand, I was kind of sad because I really worked hard on Impromptu and came out empty-handed. But it’s fine, I'm still proud of myself.

Meme of the chapter;

Reminds me of a time.. Hmmm

Epilogue

Looking back, it’s hard to believe how far I’ve come.

What started as a nervous step into the unknown. A new club, unfamiliar faces, and a fear of public speaking, turned into something so much bigger. Speech and Debate became more than just an extracurricular. It became a space where I learned how to be bold, how to fail with grace, how to try again, and how to trust my voice.

There were tough tournaments and long nights, moments when I felt invisible, and others when I finally got to shine. I didn’t win every time, and I didn’t always feel like the strongest speaker in the room. But I always grew. And honestly, that means more to me than a medal ever could.

The friendships I’ve made are what I’ll remember most. These are people who’ve seen me at my most tired, most chaotic, and most determined. We've laughed together, lost together, and cheered each other on through every round. They’ve made the early mornings worth it, the long drives bearable, and every single tournament unforgettable.

And maybe someday, someone else will read this and feel just brave enough to try. I hope they do.

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this; your voice matters. And the world needs to hear it. <3 Written by: Emma Borchardt 6th Grade