Two Students Qualify for National Forensic League District Competition

 When many people hear the words NFL, they immediately think of the National Football League; however, the Parkway North debate team thinks National Forensic League. This year, two students from Parkway North’s Speech and Debate team, sophomores Alex Fredman and Xavier Phillips, attended the District Competition in the NFL (National Forensic League), March 7-9.

“A lot of their preparation comes from doing tournaments. The last three weeks, we’ve done Marquette’s tournament, and MSHSAA districts,” said debate teacher Mike Hazelton.

               The setup for the NFL districts is different than many of the other tournaments that the North debaters have taken part in the past. Despite this difference,  Fredman and Philips made it through the 4th round but were knocked out at districts and didn’t qualify for State.

“The whole setup for NFL districts is very different than a normal tournament, so two loses and you’re out. You could lose two rounds Thursday night and you’re done. More than likely, that’s not going to happen because they’re good at what they do, but they’re going to be debating against kids who have been champ LD debates for the last three in a half year,” said Hazelton.

Even though the Parkway North’s team doesn’t have a secured chance of going to State, the Speech and Debate team worked hard to research and prepare for the district competition.

               “Finding the research to build your cases [was the hardest part] because a lot of time what you think could be a credible source, isn’t. You have to do a lot of checking to make sure that your sources are actually credible, and that your cases don’t have any holes in it because if there’s one part of your case that’s wrong, then everything is all screwed up. So it’s really important to know everything front and back,” said former debater, senior Phillip Oravec.

Although there was a lot of competition, Parkway North still has faith that the students will rise to the challenge.

“This is their second year. My hopes are that they gain a lot of experience…If they qualify, it may be their junior or senior year,” said Hazelton.

 By: Jamie Powell  Entertainment Editor