North Carolina States

[cmfutbol]

ii'm new here, but i was wondering who's online from north carolina and going to states?

&&who does everyone think will do well?

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

I'm going in DUO (with Izzy Francke) and DI.
I'm pretty excited!

[airpezman]

Who do you think from NC is destined for the Stage (Top 6 at NFL)?

Also, what are the most successful NFL Schools from NC?


PEZ

[cmfutbol]

ummm i dunno if anyone will make the stage haha, i don't think i've even seen everyone from the state yett.

there's a girl from pinecrest who has a really funny HI. i don't remember her name, but she's going to nationals. all i know about nats is what i've seen from the dvds lol, and i don't think she'll be like top 6. but maybe she'll make the first break? she was hilarious though she does tons of sound effects.

for state, I think those two girls that do the honk! duo will do very good. i'm not sure what school they are frm.

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

I am really interested to see how this year's tournament plays out.

[DavidSSabb94]

I'm going in Congress. Both the bill and the ammendment I sent in made the docket. I'm quite pleased with that.

Anyone else going for Congress? Have you seen the legislation that they put in Supers, some of it is...not of the best quality.

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

Who do you all think will do well in Speech events?

[cmfutbol]

Who do you all think will do well in Speech events?

the girl who won districts HI, one of our college judges told me her name. he competed against her last year. it's Jenny Questell and I think her piece is "The Best Halloween Ever" or something like that. hysterical!!!! everyone watching in finals was dying including me. she changed a lot of stuff since the beginning of the year.

those guys that do the prince and the pauper duo will do well. i thnk, but i can't really understand them sometimes.

i'll be in OI. my coach is making me, lol.

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

Any other predictions from anyone?

[cmfutbol]

I'm not sure of anyone else, but I haven't seen much of the west district kids. I'm sure they're some good kids over there. Any other thoughts?

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

So States are this weekend. Any last minute predictions?

[DavidSSabb94]

I perdict a riot, I perdict a riot!.....especially whenever postings go up.

There's going to be no upperclassmen from my school, both that had originally planned to go to the tournament decided prom was more important. **** the school for schedualing prom the same time as states.

Actually, I'm the only sophmore going. The only one in a Varsity event........

Holy ****, my team sucks.

[Moo3232]

Everyone at the tournament was really good! I was impressed!
I saw the finals of Duo Interpretation, and the results went like this:

1. Brendan Nally / Mitchell Nally - Marvin Ridge HS "Scorned"
2. Hoke Pittman / Izzy Francke - Myers Park HS "Daniels Not Talking"
3. Nathan Bailey / Emily Wallace - Marvin Ridge HS "Friends For Life"
4. Jacoby Baker / Eric Frid - High Point Central HS "How to be a Super Hero"
5. Kyle Ocheltree / Hunter Ocheltree - Pinecrest HS "The Prince and the Pauper"
6. Kelly Pope / John Pope - Marvin Ridge HS "Preteen Sidekick"

The first team to preform was the fourth place team Baker/Frid. they did really well and in my opinion were the best humorous team in all. They had this one part where they talked about different super powers and one was X-ray vision and the two of them pointed at the judges and started humping the air talking about how hot she was! it was SOOOOO FUNNY! Everyone broke out in laughter!

The Ocheltree twins were very good, but at certain times they were too fast and i couldn't understand them effectively. My favorite part of their piece was when they had a battle scene and danced to a techno beat while fighting back and forth. The tech was second best in the room (next to Baker/Frid). But I felt like their lack of basic vocal skills like enunciation and diction were what truly killed them.

In my opinion, The first place team Nally/Nally did an INCREDABLE job! they were amazing! their piece was about a boy that had schizophrenia and his caretaker, and the two of them had the best chemistry in a duo team I've ever seen. The two of them are brothers apparently and one of them is like a senior and the other a sophomore. the older brother played the voices inside the younger ones head and was so creepy it wasn't even funny and then the younger brother was the little boy and he was so good at the dramatic parts that he made me as well as the entire audience cry! The best part of it all was the ending, it like all went crazy and then every thing froze and the little brother had this incredible monologue! I gave them the one!

Bailey / Wallace had two of the cutest kid voices I've ever seen. They were lovable for most of the piece but made it obvious that they weren't the best actors in the world. However the team had great chemistry and work off each other well (but I think Bailey / Wallace were dating cause my friend said she saw them kiss). I felt like their overall performance for these too was definitely solid and seemed like it had a good standing amongst everyone in the room.

I was really impressed with the Pope / Pope use of voices. However everything they did was followed by some kind of action that either seemed unnecessary to me or almost annoying. They were very good but I felt like they tried too hard to make it entertaining. The boy was hilarious but seemed to take a backseat in almost every moment of the piece. the girl was really strong (great actress) but for some reason she was playing a boy in the piece and I wasn't really feeling it (if she was a girl it would have been higher ranked). Their piece also had a lot going on in such a short period of time, so i got confused and lost here and there.

Pittman/Francke were in my opinion the least entertaining. they were good at their characters and seemed to have a grasp on the story, but they failed to really have anything entertaining in their piece. It consisted of random moments in a couples relationship where each of them took turns to talk to the audience ignoring one another and then interacted with an imaginary child that was basically lost mid way through the piece. The ending way very flat as well... it kind of just stops after some big fight the two of them get into. The girl was strong at certain parts, but I felt like the guy was not on his A game.

Overall I felt the top six were all good teams, The three teams from Marvin Ridge really impressed me! (their team won IE over all by like 40 points) and the other three and their teams were top notch! As far as top 6 in National... I'm not too sure any of them will make it, Nally/Nally could quite possibly make like semifinals (top 12) if they did that well in every round, but I'm not putting too much money on it. my ranks were as follows

1. Nally / Nally
2. Bailey / Wallace
3. Baker / Frid
4. Ocheltree / Ocheltree
5. Pittman / Francke
6. Pope / Pope

[pcplayer]

HI Finals:


Jenny Questell- “The Best Halloween Ever”
Minali Nigam- “Judy Moody”
Michael Griggs- “The Bad Beginning”
Sarah Vansickle- “The Wizard of W”
Alex Kryzynski- “Titanic”
Brittany Wallace- something about office workers

I was excited to see this round! It was fun for all the observers. Here are my thoughts:

Brittany Wallace was the first speaker, and she had the misfortune of opening for a quiet room that later livened up. She gave a fine performance, but she wasn’t able to get the crowd (or the judges) enthralled in her piece.

Michael Griggs was next. Wow. What a great performance. It was quite awesome to see what he did with this piece, I’m sure it’s quite a challenge to make a series of unfortunate events book as funny as he did. When he popped into the pedophile character and zipped up his pants as he said “Helloooo children” the room went NUTS! Great performer, great performance. Loved it.

“The Wizard of W” was probably the funniest script in the room on its own but it was not the funniest piece by far. There were really great jokes throughout the piece, but I felt like that was more of the script, not the girl. Not to say she didn’t do a great job, she just could have done more. I felt like the Bush humor was a little tired since he’s not in office anymore. But maybe that’s just me. All in all, solid performance.

Minali Nigam had really great energy throughout “Judy Moody” but I feel like she’d do better with another script. I was honestly surprised that she got the 2, because she didn’t get much response from the crowd. Her characters were great, but she just wasn’t as funny as some of the other performers. Regardless, she was memorable and her narrator was quite fun.

The 5th speaker was Jenny Questell. What can I say? The crowd LOVES this girl. Her piece was extremely creative, she had awesome characters and it was funny as heck. Every character was extremely defined and she had like 15 of them. Her sound effects were ridiculous. She’s definitely someone to watch. Amazing performance. Deserving winner.

The last speaker was Alex Kryzynski. I’m not going to lie, it would have sucked to follow Jenny’s performance, but she needed way more energy up there. It was a funny script but she just lacked the energy you need to finish the round. There were some funny parts though.

I would have ranked the round:

Jenny Questell
Michael Griggs
Minali Nigam
Sarah Vansickle
Alex Kryzynski
Brittany Wallace

So pretty close to what the judges thought. There was a definite difference between the kids in the top 4 and the bottom 2. It was a great round to watch. Congrats to all the finalists!

[pcplayer]

HI Finals:


Jenny Questell- “The Best Halloween Ever”
Minali Nigam- “Judy Moody”
Michael Griggs- “The Bad Beginning”
Sarah Vansickle- “The Wizard of W”
Alex Kryzynski- “Titanic”
Brittany Wallace- something about office workers

I was excited to see this round! It was fun for all the observers. Here are my thoughts:

Brittany Wallace was the first speaker, and she had the misfortune of opening for a quiet room that later livened up. She gave a fine performance, but she wasn’t able to get the crowd (or the judges) enthralled in her piece.

Michael Griggs was next. Wow. What a great performance. It was quite awesome to see what he did with this piece, I’m sure it’s quite a challenge to make a series of unfortunate events book as funny as he did. When he popped into the pedophile character and zipped up his pants as he said “Helloooo children” the room went NUTS! Great performer, great performance. Loved it.

“The Wizard of W” was probably the funniest script in the room on its own but it was not the funniest piece by far. There were really great jokes throughout the piece, but I felt like that was more of the script, not the girl. Not to say she didn’t do a great job, she just could have done more. I felt like the Bush humor was a little tired since he’s not in office anymore. But maybe that’s just me. All in all, solid performance.

Minali Nigam had really great energy throughout “Judy Moody” but I feel like she’d do better with another script. I was honestly surprised that she got the 2, because she didn’t get much response from the crowd. Her characters were great, but she just wasn’t as funny as some of the other performers. Regardless, she was memorable and her narrator was quite fun.

The 5th speaker was Jenny Questell. What can I say? The crowd LOVES this girl. Her piece was extremely creative, she had awesome characters and it was funny as heck. Every character was extremely defined and she had like 15 of them. Her sound effects were ridiculous. She’s definitely someone to watch. Amazing performance. Deserving winner.

The last speaker was Alex Kryzynski. I’m not going to lie, it would have sucked to follow Jenny’s performance, but she needed way more energy up there. It was a funny script but she just lacked the energy you need to finish the round. There were some funny parts though.


I would have ranked the round:
Jenny Questell
Michael Griggs
Minali Nigam
Sarah Vansickle
Alex Kryzynski
Brittany Wallace

So pretty close to what the judges thought. There was a definite difference between the kids in the top 4 and the bottom 2. It was a great round to watch. Congrats to all the finalists!

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

Pittman/Francke were in my opinion the least entertaining. they were good at their characters and seemed to have a grasp on the story, but they failed to really have anything entertaining in their piece. It consisted of random moments in a couples relationship where each of them took turns to talk to the audience ignoring one another and then interacted with an imaginary child that was basically lost mid way through the piece. The ending way very flat as well... it kind of just stops after some big fight the two of them get into. The girl was strong at certain parts, but I felt like the guy was not on his A game.

Hey Im Hoke from the DUO "Daniel Isn't Talking" I appreciate your critique. I just wanna say our DUO is very different from what is done in North Carolina (that's just our style.) It's mainly made for the National level because it is just straight Drama with, what I would say, strong acting. I do hope you at least enjoyed it!

[MPHS_IE_Hoke]

Anyone else have their opinions on Final Rounds?

[DD4n6nerd11]

Everyone at the tournament was really good! I was impressed!
I saw the finals of Duo Interpretation, and the results went like this:

1. Brendan Nally / Mitchell Nally - Marvin Ridge HS "Scorned"
2. Hoke Pittman / Izzy Francke - Myers Park HS "Daniels Not Talking"
3. Nathan Bailey / Emily Wallace - Marvin Ridge HS "Friends For Life"
4. Jacoby Baker / Eric Frid - High Point Central HS "How to be a Super Hero"
5. Kyle Ocheltree / Hunter Ocheltree - Pinecrest HS "The Prince and the Pauper"
6. Kelly Pope / John Pope - Marvin Ridge HS "Preteen Sidekick"

The first team to preform was the fourth place team Baker/Frid. they did really well and in my opinion were the best humorous team in all. They had this one part where they talked about different super powers and one was X-ray vision and the two of them pointed at the judges and started humping the air talking about how hot she was! it was SOOOOO FUNNY! Everyone broke out in laughter!

The Ocheltree twins were very good, but at certain times they were too fast and i couldn't understand them effectively. My favorite part of their piece was when they had a battle scene and danced to a techno beat while fighting back and forth. The tech was second best in the room (next to Baker/Frid). But I felt like their lack of basic vocal skills like enunciation and diction were what truly killed them.

In my opinion, The first place team Nally/Nally did an INCREDABLE job! they were amazing! their piece was about a boy that had schizophrenia and his caretaker, and the two of them had the best chemistry in a duo team I've ever seen. The two of them are brothers apparently and one of them is like a senior and the other a sophomore. the older brother played the voices inside the younger ones head and was so creepy it wasn't even funny and then the younger brother was the little boy and he was so good at the dramatic parts that he made me as well as the entire audience cry! The best part of it all was the ending, it like all went crazy and then every thing froze and the little brother had this incredible monologue! I gave them the one!

Bailey / Wallace had two of the cutest kid voices I've ever seen. They were lovable for most of the piece but made it obvious that they weren't the best actors in the world. However the team had great chemistry and work off each other well (but I think Bailey / Wallace were dating cause my friend said she saw them kiss). I felt like their overall performance for these too was definitely solid and seemed like it had a good standing amongst everyone in the room.

I was really impressed with the Pope / Pope use of voices. However everything they did was followed by some kind of action that either seemed unnecessary to me or almost annoying. They were very good but I felt like they tried too hard to make it entertaining. The boy was hilarious but seemed to take a backseat in almost every moment of the piece. the girl was really strong (great actress) but for some reason she was playing a boy in the piece and I wasn't really feeling it (if she was a girl it would have been higher ranked). Their piece also had a lot going on in such a short period of time, so i got confused and lost here and there.

Pittman/Francke were in my opinion the least entertaining. they were good at their characters and seemed to have a grasp on the story, but they failed to really have anything entertaining in their piece. It consisted of random moments in a couples relationship where each of them took turns to talk to the audience ignoring one another and then interacted with an imaginary child that was basically lost mid way through the piece. The ending way very flat as well... it kind of just stops after some big fight the two of them get into. The girl was strong at certain parts, but I felt like the guy was not on his A game.

Overall I felt the top six were all good teams, The three teams from Marvin Ridge really impressed me! (their team won IE over all by like 40 points) and the other three and their teams were top notch! As far as top 6 in National... I'm not too sure any of them will make it, Nally/Nally could quite possibly make like semifinals (top 12) if they did that well in every round, but I'm not putting too much money on it. my ranks were as follows

1. Nally / Nally
2. Bailey / Wallace
3. Baker / Frid
4. Ocheltree / Ocheltree
5. Pittman / Francke
6. Pope / Pope

I would truly have to disagree with you about the Pittman/Francke Duo. As a judge at the tournament and coach of the Baker/Frid duo (beeteedubs, we put that huge Mortal Combat Scene in on Thursday Night aka the Night before the tournament. I just paced their driveway for 2 hours while they practiced trying to think of a bigger, better ending. haha), and having seen every duo in that final round, I can agree with the top two, but I would easily switch them. The Chemistry between them was so REAL and I LOVED the subtly. See, in NC, there seems to be this idea that there HAS TO be some big, grand, tragic thing to happen in a dramatic piece in order for it to be dramatic, but I find the most powerful DI's are the ones that expose the true human heart in every-day life. THEY DID THIS. Not only that, but their blocking was so innovative. Pittman's attempt at controlling Francke's actions and at the end unable to - BEAUTIFUL SUBTLETY. IMO, this would be my dream for what NC Duo's should look like.
Subtle Drama/Humor.
Real Characters in Real Environments.
Innovative Blocking.
Great Chemistry.
Easily the State Champions in my Mind (not to take away from the true state champions of course).

[DD4n6nerd11]

Everyone at the tournament was really good! I was impressed!
I saw the finals of Duo Interpretation, and the results went like this:

1. Brendan Nally / Mitchell Nally - Marvin Ridge HS "Scorned"
2. Hoke Pittman / Izzy Francke - Myers Park HS "Daniels Not Talking"
3. Nathan Bailey / Emily Wallace - Marvin Ridge HS "Friends For Life"
4. Jacoby Baker / Eric Frid - High Point Central HS "How to be a Super Hero"
5. Kyle Ocheltree / Hunter Ocheltree - Pinecrest HS "The Prince and the Pauper"
6. Kelly Pope / John Pope - Marvin Ridge HS "Preteen Sidekick"

The first team to preform was the fourth place team Baker/Frid. they did really well and in my opinion were the best humorous team in all. They had this one part where they talked about different super powers and one was X-ray vision and the two of them pointed at the judges and started humping the air talking about how hot she was! it was SOOOOO FUNNY! Everyone broke out in laughter!

The Ocheltree twins were very good, but at certain times they were too fast and i couldn't understand them effectively. My favorite part of their piece was when they had a battle scene and danced to a techno beat while fighting back and forth. The tech was second best in the room (next to Baker/Frid). But I felt like their lack of basic vocal skills like enunciation and diction were what truly killed them.

In my opinion, The first place team Nally/Nally did an INCREDABLE job! they were amazing! their piece was about a boy that had schizophrenia and his caretaker, and the two of them had the best chemistry in a duo team I've ever seen. The two of them are brothers apparently and one of them is like a senior and the other a sophomore. the older brother played the voices inside the younger ones head and was so creepy it wasn't even funny and then the younger brother was the little boy and he was so good at the dramatic parts that he made me as well as the entire audience cry! The best part of it all was the ending, it like all went crazy and then every thing froze and the little brother had this incredible monologue! I gave them the one!

Bailey / Wallace had two of the cutest kid voices I've ever seen. They were lovable for most of the piece but made it obvious that they weren't the best actors in the world. However the team had great chemistry and work off each other well (but I think Bailey / Wallace were dating cause my friend said she saw them kiss). I felt like their overall performance for these too was definitely solid and seemed like it had a good standing amongst everyone in the room.

I was really impressed with the Pope / Pope use of voices. However everything they did was followed by some kind of action that either seemed unnecessary to me or almost annoying. They were very good but I felt like they tried too hard to make it entertaining. The boy was hilarious but seemed to take a backseat in almost every moment of the piece. the girl was really strong (great actress) but for some reason she was playing a boy in the piece and I wasn't really feeling it (if she was a girl it would have been higher ranked). Their piece also had a lot going on in such a short period of time, so i got confused and lost here and there.

Pittman/Francke were in my opinion the least entertaining. they were good at their characters and seemed to have a grasp on the story, but they failed to really have anything entertaining in their piece. It consisted of random moments in a couples relationship where each of them took turns to talk to the audience ignoring one another and then interacted with an imaginary child that was basically lost mid way through the piece. The ending way very flat as well... it kind of just stops after some big fight the two of them get into. The girl was strong at certain parts, but I felt like the guy was not on his A game.

Overall I felt the top six were all good teams, The three teams from Marvin Ridge really impressed me! (their team won IE over all by like 40 points) and the other three and their teams were top notch! As far as top 6 in National... I'm not too sure any of them will make it, Nally/Nally could quite possibly make like semifinals (top 12) if they did that well in every round, but I'm not putting too much money on it. my ranks were as follows

1. Nally / Nally
2. Bailey / Wallace
3. Baker / Frid
4. Ocheltree / Ocheltree
5. Pittman / Francke
6. Pope / Pope

I would truly have to disagree with you about the Pittman/Francke Duo. As a judge at the tournament and coach of the Baker/Frid duo (beeteedubs, we put that huge Mortal Combat Scene in on Thursday Night aka the Night before the tournament. I just paced their driveway for 2 hours while they practiced trying to think of a bigger, better ending. haha), and having seen every duo in that final round, I can agree with the top two, but I would easily switch them. The Chemistry between them was so REAL and I LOVED the subtly. See, in NC, there seems to be this idea that there HAS TO be some big, grand, tragic thing to happen in a dramatic piece in order for it to be dramatic, but I find the most powerful DI's are the ones that expose the true human heart in every-day life. THEY DID THIS. Not only that, but their blocking was so innovative. Pittman's attempt at controlling Francke's actions and at the end unable to - BEAUTIFUL SUBTLETY. IMO, this would be my dream for what NC Duo's should look like.
Subtle Drama/Humor.
Real Characters in Real Environments.
Innovative Blocking.
Great Chemistry.
Easily the State Champions in my Mind (not to take away from the true state champions of course).

[CLT787]

See, in NC, there seems to be this idea that there HAS TO be some big, grand, tragic thing to happen in a dramatic piece in order for it to be dramatic, but I find the most powerful DI's are the ones that expose the true human heart in every-day life. THEY DID THIS. BEAUTIFUL SUBTLETY. IMO, this would be my dream for what NC Duo's should look like.
Subtle Drama/Humor.
Real Characters in Real Environments.
Innovative Blocking.
Great Chemistry.
Easily the State Champions in my Mind (not to take away from the true state champions of course).

Yep! That's the way it should be. But all of our coaches say "Be either excessively humouous or excessivly dramatic in the Interp events." NC judges don't like a middle-of-the-road approach for interp, it'll take a while before things start to change here.

[DD4n6nerd11]

Yep! That's the way it should be. But all of our coaches say "Be either excessively humouous or excessivly dramatic in the Interp events." NC judges don't like a middle-of-the-road approach for interp, it'll take a while before things start to change here.

There are a number of problems: 1) there isn't enough consistency within competitors year in and year out, and if there is, 2) their coaches don't know how to coach correctly. Kids join for a year for class's sake and then never do it again. Or they join, do poorly because they're new and don't know what they're doing, and become discouraged and don't do it again. 3) It's not taken seriously. It's not something that people really aspire to win at and use professionalism. For most, it's simply a hobby, and if you win, it's awesome, but not necessary. While I think there's a fine line between fun and competitive nature (you err on the competitive side and you get Florida with coaches backstabbing each other left and right to qualify kids for nationals), we sway way too far to the laxed/leisure side.
4) Kids as well as COACHES need more nationals exposure (obviously this takes money, but it really is difficult to grow if you're not continually watching good people around you. I always say you learn with each performance how to be better). 5) The problem also comes with teams bringing in judges who have no idea what they're doing and therefore give terrible feedback. I can't tell you how many judges I've taught what they should be looking for within the round 10 minutes before they go and judge it because they've never judged before.

However, I DO believe the state is getting better slowly but surely, with the exception of some coaches who have been teaching the same way since the 80's and refuse to conform. haha. The only way it will get better is if kids stay in it for the long haul, take it seriously, and are spurred on and learn from those who do it well.

[missque]

There are a number of problems: 1) there isn't enough consistency within competitors year in and year out, and if there is, 2) their coaches don't know how to coach correctly. Kids join for a year for class's sake and then never do it again. Or they join, do poorly because they're new and don't know what they're doing, and become discouraged and don't do it again. 3) It's not taken seriously. It's not something that people really aspire to win at and use professionalism. For most, it's simply a hobby, and if you win, it's awesome, but not necessary. While I think there's a fine line between fun and competitive nature (you err on the competitive side and you get Florida with coaches backstabbing each other left and right to qualify kids for nationals), we sway way too far to the laxed/leisure side.
4) Kids as well as COACHES need more nationals exposure (obviously this takes money, but it really is difficult to grow if you're not continually watching good people around you. I always say you learn with each performance how to be better). 5) The problem also comes with teams bringing in judges who have no idea what they're doing and therefore give terrible feedback. I can't tell you how many judges I've taught what they should be looking for within the round 10 minutes before they go and judge it because they've never judged before.

However, I DO believe the state is getting better slowly but surely, with the exception of some coaches who have been teaching the same way since the 80's and refuse to conform. haha. The only way it will get better is if kids stay in it for the long haul, take it seriously, and are spurred on and learn from those who do it well.

Hi, so I generally don’t like to post on this kind of stuff, but I just kind of wanted to throw a few thoughts out there. I agree with you that the atmosphere of NC forensics can be a bit lacking at times, however I think that can be said of the local circuit in multiple states. There are a lot of us that do “really aspire to win” and do “use professionalism” and are successful on the national circuit. A few examples being:

Chris Harrow- multiple outrounds including Blue Key finals, and Harvard Semi-finals in oratory

Raina Enand and Dallas McKinney- 2nd place at Harvard in duo, NFL duo semi-finalists

Ted Lee and Sunhay You- multiple outrounds including Blue Key finals, and outrounds at NFL and CFL nats in duo, as well as immense success in their respective individual events (HI, Oratory and DI)

Hoke Pittman and Mike Griggs- Emory finals in duo, outrounds at both NFL and CFL, in addition to Hoke winning Blue Key in DI

This is all highlighted success from just a handful of kids from the past two years, and isn’t even touching on what some of us have accomplished this past school year.

I do agree with you that the judging at times is horrific. To be fair though, there is sucky judging everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re at Nationals, Yale, or a tournament down the street, people bring in individuals that aren’t the well-versed in speech. But, yeah, it gets really frustrating at times. I’ve had judges before that didn’t know what popping was. That just needs to be fixed.

[CLT787]

I do agree with you that the judging at times is horrific. To be fair though, there is sucky judging everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re at Nationals, Yale, or a tournament down the street, people bring in individuals that aren’t the well-versed in speech. But, yeah, it gets really frustrating at times. I’ve had judges before that didn’t know what popping was. That just needs to be fixed.[/FONT]

You know? If the NFL had a form of training for judges before they judge any event could really make a difference. Judges don't really know what to do, in one of my OO rounds, a judge stopped Hoke Pittman in the middle of his OO (5 min) and told him that his time was up. Well, we had to correct the judge and she let him continue, but that is not good.

[DD4n6nerd11]

Hi, so I generally don’t like to post on this kind of stuff, but I just kind of wanted to throw a few thoughts out there. I agree with you that the atmosphere of NC forensics can be a bit lacking at times, however I think that can be said of the local circuit in multiple states. There are a lot of us that do “really aspire to win” and do “use professionalism” and are successful on the national circuit. A few examples being:

Chris Harrow- multiple outrounds including Blue Key finals, and Harvard Semi-finals in oratory

Raina Enand and Dallas McKinney- 2nd place at Harvard in duo, NFL duo semi-finalists

Ted Lee and Sunhay You- multiple outrounds including Blue Key finals, and outrounds at NFL and CFL nats in duo, as well as immense success in their respective individual events (HI, Oratory and DI)

Hoke Pittman and Mike Griggs- Emory finals in duo, outrounds at both NFL and CFL, in addition to Hoke winning Blue Key in DI

This is all highlighted success from just a handful of kids from the past two years, and isn’t even touching on what some of us have accomplished this past school year.

I do agree with you that the judging at times is horrific. To be fair though, there is sucky judging everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re at Nationals, Yale, or a tournament down the street, people bring in individuals that aren’t the well-versed in speech. But, yeah, it gets really frustrating at times. I’ve had judges before that didn’t know what popping was. That just needs to be fixed.

You are highlighting on all the people whom I think the state should be like. They are all very talented, work hard, and take the competition seriously. However, you also fail to mention that all but one of those groups (Ted and Sunhay) had the same coach, who I think is by far and large the best in the state. (Ted and Sunhay had a former DI Nat Finalist and Harvard Finalist as an assistant coach who attended UNC). I admire her and her work so incredibly much and find it disappointing time and again her great dramatic stuff doesn't get out of the state because it doesn't conform to the excessively dramatic side all judges are so used to and "feel bad for." As for you, I don't know you, but if you're on these boards, you no doubt know what you are doing. haha. Keep up the good work!

As for judging, there is "bad judging" but it's usually around half/half in most states. Yet, in NC, there aren't very many GOOD judges to counter the bad ones (and by good, i don't mean good ranks, but good critique). And what's worse, when I do critique (thoroughly) pieces, kids don't take criticism on ballots. I can even say before the round "Hey - I was State Champion, National Semi-finalist, etc etc etc I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING PLEASE LISTEN" (I hate when I do that btw, but I hope it gives my critique weight) and try to make suggestions, citing pieces online they can even view (how many Nat Tapes are online? haha). Yet, I come back and judge them next tournament and NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Perhaps they've become so desensitized to judging. I don't know. I think it will take 3 or 4 good coaches coming to NC at 3 or 4 different schools to change the state. It doesn't start with the kids (though it most certainly helps), but the coaches and what they are teaching.

And just a sidenote for judging: We have judges training each semester for parents who have signed up in advanced to judge (all this is done months beforehand). We strongly advise them to come to the workshop if they haven't before... This is just a little something maybe teams could start trying.

[DD4n6nerd11]

You know? If the NFL had a form of training for judges before they judge any event could really make a difference. Judges don't really know what to do, in one of my OO rounds, a judge stopped Hoke Pittman in the middle of his OO (5 min) and told him that his time was up. Well, we had to correct the judge and she let him continue, but that is not good.

Each school should be responsible for judges' training. Look at my post above. Have a session where they see one of each piece and see what's good and what wasn't. What to look for. etc etc. Speech is so opinion-driven that not all people agree on "what's good" so the NFL would NEVER do something like that. However, they expect the team to bring in trained judges each time they compete.