After an unusual and difficult year, the Green River High School speech and debate team is getting back to debating.
“COVID hit us hard,” Coach Dan Parson said. Without being able to travel for tournaments or have debates in person last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program struggled to maintain a normal year. According to Parson, many students who would have been involved with speech and debate lost interest and took part in other activities, such as theater, band, and FFA.
“So we were kind of sharing,” Parson said. “But I’m glad those programs are excelling, that’s wonderful,” he added.
Supportive as he is of other programs, Parson is excited to get a bigger team of kids together to get back into a more normal speech and debate season this year.
“I just want to build,” he said. “After that terrible year last year. . .the goal is to try to build a team that is cohesive and is a family and build our skill base.”
Building up the team will also be important this year because many of the members are brand new or haven’t traveled before, particularly since they couldn’t travel last year even if they did participate.
“In a season dominated by young competitors all across the state, we’re younger than most,” Parson said.
He noted only six or seven out of the 39 GRHS team members are juniors or seniors, so the majority are freshmen or sophomores. But Parson is optimistic about having so many young members.
“It’s good for the future of the team,” he said. And even at the start of the season, everyone on the team has been working hard, showing up and doing well.
As the team goes forward into tournaments, one of the most important things to Parson, which he has been working on communicating to the team members and his fellow coaches, is to be unified.
“We have to work on team dynamics such that this becomes a family and that they feel accountable to each other,” Parson explained. He said it’s one thing for students to do what they’re told, but when they love their teammates and respect their coach and it becomes a family, they will do anything for each other.
Parson also noted speech and debate is a unique activity for students, since it requires researching, learning information, presenting in front of crowds, memorizing, performing dramatic or comedic pieces and being vulnerable in front of their peers.
“This is pretty counterintuitive to what most adolescents have in mind for fun,” Parson said. “It’s an uphill battle that way. I don’t know how we get them to do it,” he added with a laugh.
However, despite how difficult it seems like it should be to get students to participate, Parson said they do so willingly and happily.
“They show up and they come every day and they get crazy about it,” he said. “I have to tell them to do their homework and not do debate, and I love that.”
Participating in speech and debate also has positive long-term effects, according to Parson.
“I think it’s the most valuable activity they can do in high school in terms of what they’ll do outside of school,” he said, pointing out it helps with thinking critically, asking good questions and being confident in front of groups. It also helps them start developing those skills even during their high school years. He noted other teachers have told him they can tell who the “speech kids” are because of their confidence.
So far this year the speech and debate team has already participated in a number of conferences and tournaments, which Parson said went well. They participated in the Rock Springs tournament before Thanksgiving break, which is always a good tournament, according to Parson. This week they’ll host a tournament in Green River.
The team will do a total of 17 tournaments, with 12 in person and five online, before the national tournament in June. The GRHS team has always had qualifiers for the tournament, which Parson said he doesn’t take for granted, since qualifying is hard to do.
“I just feel very blessed and lucky,” he said, thinking of the team’s long history of making it to the national championships.
Before they get to that point, however, Parson is just happy to work with the team and build them into a family.
“I want to win tournaments, of course, we all do,” he said. “But the main thing is that these guys come together and they learn how to work together.”
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