Before the start of every sports season, athletes go through weeks of intensive training, building up muscle, stamina, and a competitive mindset in order to be successful in the upcoming season. This holds true for the Ridge Forensics Team, which has been practicing for the upcoming season since the end of August. And it looks like all the hard work is already paying off.
The 2013 State Champions have captured First Place in Overall Team Sweepstakes for both speech and debate at the first two national tournaments of the year—The Yale and New York City Invitationals. At the 2013 New York City Invitational, seniors Atreya Misra, Gabriella Schnell, Michael Cervino, and Connor Murphy, and sophomore Katie Kleinle all reached the finals in their respective events.
While at the Yale Invitational, seniors Connor Murphy, Michael Cervino, and Atreya Misra also placed in the top 6 for their respective events, with sophomore Vaikunth Balaji and junior Alison Shim finaling as well. This competitive success puts the team in a fantastic position for the upcoming competitions on both the national and local level.
Katie Kleinle ‘16 is excited to compete this year after her competitive success at the New York City Invitational, even though the competition “was tiring, now I’m inspired to final again and do even better at other tournaments.”
Indeed, members of the team echo this collective sense of inspiration and teamwork; Saloni Singhvi ’15 voices, “Being successful felt really good because all the work had paid off and I’m really excited to be able to keep debating.”
Aside from its competitive success thus far, the team is also re-organizing itself from the inside out, starting with the redesign of its website. Junior and External Public Relations head Alison Shim explains that “the new website allows team members more access to updates and lets parents and the public know how we’re doing at our latest tournaments.”
Next, team practices have been extended from 5:30 to 8:30 in order to allow for a more efficient process. Kunal Patnaik ’15 adds that “although the practice times can become overwhelming, it’s worth the effort when we do well at tournaments.” Clearly, the forensics team is ready to dominate this season.
President Vaishant Sharma ‘14 states that “The forensics team has had a great first two tournaments at Bronx and Yale— both of which Ridge received first place team sweepstakes. The team is really looking forward to our upcoming local tournaments which will hopefully be a continuation of our recent showings at Yale and Bronx.”