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The 2020 varsity soccer season and homecoming festivities are only a few of the events
that students have missed out on due to COVID-19. However, the Speech and Debate Team
has been able to continue participating in practices and competition-only this year, it just looks
drastically different.
During a normal year the Harley Speech and Debate Team practices in-person 1 to 2
times a week, and competes on Saturday\u2019s at schools in the Rochester area. This year, the
team will have to both practice and compete online. These changes have brought some
thoughts related to the benefits and drawbacks of this year, and how they are making the best
of it. Team coach, Sandy Foster, team captain, Hannah Snyder, and team members, Lily
Meiring, Chuck Rutberg, and Cai Rogers gave us their thoughts on the speech and debate
environment this year.
How is this year\u2019s virtual comparable to last year\u2019s in-person experience?<\/strong><\/span>
Being new to the team, Cai explains that the virtual competition is interesting and while
he\u2019d rather be in-person, online is all he knows right now. Chuck states, \u201cIn-person is certainly
much more fun and I do feel that we’re missing out a bit, but I feel that being online has not
decreased the quality of the rounds themselves.\u201d In the same vein, Lily says that the
adrenaline rush on the way to the competitions is missing, and the in-person atmosphere is
irreplaceable. Mr.Foster agrees that the lack of human interaction is unfortunate and, from
the perspective of a judge, it is difficult to see body language through a screen. Hannah also
feels that being able to physically interact with people who share the same love for speech
and debate is missing, and the team huddle\/pep talks are not the same.
Are you getting more out of Speech and Debate this year?<\/strong><\/span>
Chuck and Lily feel that they get less out of speech and debate this year, but both
are still thankful that there is an opportunity to compete even if it\u2019s online. Cai is excited to
start competing and get a chance to feel what it\u2019s like to get his brain working like it does
during tournaments. Hannah explains, \u201cSpeech and debate is all about what you make out
of it. While the in-person environment is irreplaceable and I miss what it used to be like, I
don\u2019t believe the online environment detracts from the quality of debate and discourse that I
love this activity for. COVID-19 is temporary, a passion isn\u2019t.\u201d
Positive aspects of the online format?<\/strong><\/span>
Lily and Mr. Foster agree that it is amazing how innovative the speech and debate
community is by transferring all tournaments to an online platform in one website. Mr.Foster
further explains that this will benefit the team in the long-run because they can now
participate in tournaments outside of our area opening an entire other avenue. Chuck and
Hannah feel that being able to have the option to debate from home is nice sometimes,
while Cai feels that it\u2019s a great way to keep everyone safe.
How is the Harley team environment different?<\/strong><\/span>
Lily and Mr.Foster both explain that the online format takes away from team bonding
and togetherness. Last year the team often ate together during practice and spent time with each other during tournaments. Chuck states, \u201cI feel like less of a team because we aren’t
getting time together in person. Last year I really enjoyed our time together at meetings, meets,
and at Harvard.\u201d Hannah explains, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like gathering in a room after a tournament
with your teammates, talking about the round, laughing at jokes, and chasing after the metro at
Harvard while spilling hot coffee all over the place. These things just can\u2019t safely happen this
year and it\u2019s sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The 2020 varsity soccer season and homecoming festivities are only a few of the eventsthat students have missed out on due to COVID-19. However, the Speech and Debate Teamhas been able to continue participating in practices and competition-only this year, it just looksdrastically different.During a normal year the Harley Speech and Debate Team practices in-person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"

The 2020 varsity soccer season and homecoming festivities are only a few of the events
that students have missed out on due to COVID-19. However, the Speech and Debate Team
has been able to continue participating in practices and competition-only this year, it just looks
drastically different.
During a normal year the Harley Speech and Debate Team practices in-person 1 to 2
times a week, and competes on Saturday\u2019s at schools in the Rochester area. This year, the
team will have to both practice and compete online. These changes have brought some
thoughts related to the benefits and drawbacks of this year, and how they are making the best
of it. Team coach, Sandy Foster, team captain, Hannah Snyder, and team members, Lily
Meiring, Chuck Rutberg, and Cai Rogers gave us their thoughts on the speech and debate
environment this year.
How is this year\u2019s virtual comparable to last year\u2019s in-person experience?<\/strong><\/span>
Being new to the team, Cai explains that the virtual competition is interesting and while
he\u2019d rather be in-person, online is all he knows right now. Chuck states, \u201cIn-person is certainly
much more fun and I do feel that we're missing out a bit, but I feel that being online has not
decreased the quality of the rounds themselves.\u201d In the same vein, Lily says that the
adrenaline rush on the way to the competitions is missing, and the in-person atmosphere is
irreplaceable. Mr.Foster agrees that the lack of human interaction is unfortunate and, from
the perspective of a judge, it is difficult to see body language through a screen. Hannah also
feels that being able to physically interact with people who share the same love for speech
and debate is missing, and the team huddle\/pep talks are not the same.
Are you getting more out of Speech and Debate this year?<\/strong><\/span>
Chuck and Lily feel that they get less out of speech and debate this year, but both
are still thankful that there is an opportunity to compete even if it\u2019s online. Cai is excited to
start competing and get a chance to feel what it\u2019s like to get his brain working like it does
during tournaments. Hannah explains, \u201cSpeech and debate is all about what you make out
of it. While the in-person environment is irreplaceable and I miss what it used to be like, I
don\u2019t believe the online environment detracts from the quality of debate and discourse that I
love this activity for. COVID-19 is temporary, a passion isn\u2019t.\u201d
Positive aspects of the online format?<\/strong><\/span>
Lily and Mr. Foster agree that it is amazing how innovative the speech and debate
community is by transferring all tournaments to an online platform in one website. Mr.Foster
further explains that this will benefit the team in the long-run because they can now
participate in tournaments outside of our area opening an entire other avenue. Chuck and
Hannah feel that being able to have the option to debate from home is nice sometimes,
while Cai feels that it\u2019s a great way to keep everyone safe.
How is the Harley team environment different?
Lily and Mr.Foster both explain that the online format takes away from team bonding
and togetherness. Last year the team often ate together during practice and spent time with<\/p>

each other during tournaments. Chuck states, \u201cI feel like less of a team because we aren't
getting time together in person. Last year I really enjoyed our time together at meetings, meets,
and at Harvard.\u201d Hannah explains, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like gathering in a room after a tournament
with your teammates, talking about the round, laughing at jokes, and chasing after the metro at
Harvard while spilling hot coffee all over the place. These things just can\u2019t safely happen this
year and it\u2019s sad.\u201d<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.harley.org\/thecomet20-21\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}