Winning Is Nice but Learn How to Lose

March 1, 2007

Well once again Granada won the JV Division at Stanford which is nice because it was really competitive this year with all of the good speakers. However, even though I had one student that won, there were 10 others that didn’t. I’m glad to say that they handled it much better than one young man who not only threw his briefcase, but yelled at the judges on top of it – not to mention his adult guardian who followed suit. What’s happening with this younger generation? What happened to sportsmanship and proper etiquette? This article is not meant to transform anyone into an angel, but perhaps it will make one think before they act after a loss.

It’s now time for State, Nationals, and of course the TOC. Only one person can win those events. When my novices attend my little mini camp during the first two weeks of school, the first thing I teach them is learn how to lose. My first article clearly states that if one masters the keys of debate, they still only have a 75% chance of winning. I also said the odds of making the elimination rounds greatly increases. But nothing is guaranteed when competing in a subjective event. Everything rests on skills and good fortune. Hopefully there will be legitimate judges available during the break rounds but usually most leave if their kids are eliminated leaving only the competing schools left. I gave up blocking competing schools from judging because it only slows down the tournament; thus, I have to take my chances and hope they’ll truly pick the better debater. When my novices lose, I let them do their whining and then I bring over a varsity member to put them in their place. Why? because my varsity members have already experienced illegitimate loses and they have learned to handle it. Not that all loses are illegit, but if it happens find a way of cooling down besides yelling at the judges or throwing things. Actually, that could even hurt more when encountering the same group of judges at the next event.

When I attend college tournaments, any student that breaks to the elimination round is a winner. After that, everything has to fall into place to actually win the tournament. The last thing one wants to do is be arrogant and boisterous when winning a break round. Everyone is being judged once they enter their first round. Word gets out quickly about attitudes and arrogance so always try to keep composure because it could pay dividends down the road.

If students could understand how hard it is to find judges that actually want to give up their weekends to listen to 12-15 debates, perhaps they won’t even consider yelling or throwing things. There is no excuse for that regardless of the decision. As one of my varsity students once said, perhaps the loss was legit. Instead of getting angry, ask what could have been done better. I’ve had plenty of debaters tell me how they should have won only to watch them and realize why they were losing. If I watch a round or listen to a round and felt my student won, that’s all I need to know. The decision at that point doesn’t matter.

Remember, LD is a subjective event and all one can do is their best. Everything else is a toss up.