Finals were only minutes away. In the next few hours, the judges would announce the debate champions in policy debate for the National Forensic League (NFL) tournament.
The technical crew rushed up to senior Natalie Knez to hook the mobile microphone around her ear and strap the transmitter around her waist, but all of a sudden, she burst into tears.
According to Knez, although the result of her breakdown was due to being slightly nervous, overwhelmed and pressured, policy debate coach Michael Greenstein reassured her by telling her not to worry. He said that they always win the biggest debates whenever Knez cried.
After the final round against GBS, Knez and partner Nathaniel Sawyer (‘13) were announced the NFL winners for policy debate during the awards ceremony on June 21 in Birmingham, Ala. GBN has won 10 awards at this tournament.
Knez said that the moment she and Sawyer were declared winners, they turned towards their GBS opponents and friends and “jumped into warm embraces.”
Further into the awards ceremony, Greenstein was awarded with the Ted W. Belch Award, which was named after Greenstein’s former debate coach who coached at GBN and GBS. Ted Belch, former District 225 debate coach, presents this award to the coach of the national champion policy debate team.
“I like to look at the history of things that happen and never before has a former coach been able to present an award to his or her student, so that makes [my presenting the award to Greenstein] pretty special,” Belch said.
This award recognized Greenstein for his outstanding coaching performance as he prepared and guided Knez and Sawyer throughout their NFL debate journey.
Greenstein coached Knez and Sawyer in policy debate, which is a form of debate in which teams of two argue for or against a policy change by the United States government.
Greenstein said that in the NFL tournament, the pool of judges regularly judge local and regional instead of national debates. Since he said the style that the judges regularly assess the debate may be different, he prepared Knez and Sawyer, focusing more on adapting to the judges preferences and being persuasive to a wider range of audiences.
“I think the long tournament along with the knowledge of how valuable the victory for the school would be were two things about the NFL that were really different from any other debate tournament,” Knez said.
In addition, Knez, Sawyer and Greenstein share their gratitude for the continual support from the school, district and community.
“I’m glad we could represent District 225 and demonstrate to the whole nation that the support [District 225] shows is something special and takes us really far,” Sawyer said.
Jamie Ellinger-Macon, debate coach of public forum and Lincoln-Douglas, two types of debate, expresses her opinion that GBN can be successful in various focuses of the school.
“A lot of times, [athletic success] tends to overpower the academic events,” said Ellinger-Macon. “And this is a great example of just how strong GBN is in both areas.”
Knez believes that the debate success has brought more awareness of the debate team to GBN. She appreciates the attention people give toward debate because not many people always have a good idea of debate’s existence.
Knez said, “GBN debate has a history of success and so I don’t necessarily think that our achievements have changed history, but I’m proud that Nate and I and the rest of the team … have been able to continue the legacy of GBN debate.”