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Talkin' Tigers prepare for state's largest tournament
With a little over two weeks before the first events begin, Mountain Home High School expects record crowds when it hosts its yearly speech and debate tournament, one of the largest in the state.
To date, students representing 10 schools across southern Idaho have already signed up for the high school's annual U-Bus-2-Us speech and debate tournament, which begins here Feb. 7, with more expected to confirm within the next week.
Organizers expect up to 24 schools to participate in this year's event. Among them include Weiser and the Idaho Falls Community School in Sun Valley, which would make their first appearances at the tournament here.
"We're all fired up," said John Petti, who coaches the high school's Talkin' Tigers squad.
Last year, budget cuts in other schools districts across the region forced some teams to hold off on attending, Petti said. The year prior, Mountain Home hosted the state's largest gathering of motivational speakers with the tournament featuring more than 500 students representing 22 schools.
This year's U-Bus-2-Us event begins with various public speaking events the afternoon of Feb. 7 with debate rounds scheduled to start at 8 a.m. Feb. 8.
The Talkin' Tigers entered the year as one of the top-ranked teams in the nation and have remained in the top 100 in recent years.
Mountain Home's squad features a number of highly competitive rookies, according to Petti. They include freshmen Rose and Zach Baker, twin siblings who continue to earn high marks in speech and debate events. Zach Baker's prowess in debate allowed him to move into varsity level competition, the coach added.
Meanwhile, freshmen Logan Potter and Rhyan Kelley have made it to most of the final rounds during other debate tournaments so far this year, Petti said.
Other up-and-coming debaters include sophomore Jenna Crowe, who finished sixth overall in expository speaking at the Rocky Mountain tournament, where she also finished as a quarter finalist in debate. Crowe also earned a second-place finish in public forum debate at an earlier event at Centennial High School along with with partners Amy Alfredson and Anthony Frank.
Petti also highlighted students like Mason Tibbitts, who has placed in every tournament he has entered in oratorical analysis. Meanwhile, novices Hayley Smith and Allison Cruiser went undefeated at a tournament in Meridian.
Celebrating its seventh year here, the U-Bus-2-Us competition outgrew its former location at the junior high school. Like last year, Petti expects this year's competition to fill the high school's available classrooms, including the 13 temporary buildings across from Tiger Alley.
The portable classrooms were key to allowing the high school to expand its tournament, he said.
This year's competition features more than a dozen individual speech categories along with three different styles of debate and a student congress event.
One time a year, the U-Bus-2-Us event gives the Mountain Home squad "home field advantage," according to Petti, who developed the tournament's unusual name. During the rest of each season, the Talkin' Tigers travel at least 50 miles to reach the nearest high school to compete, the coach added.
"That means every time we compete in a tournament, we have to go 100 miles round trip per day," he said. "That's kind of tough."
With so many students expected to return this year, the Talkin' Tigers made an urgent request for judges to grade the competitors, including those stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base. Training clinics for new judges are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 and 30 and Feb. 3 and 4 in Room 36 at the high school.
These judges were key to building the yearly tournament here into one of the best in the nation, Petti said. In fact, visiting schools unable to provide a sufficient number of their own judges must pay $50 per judge to make up for this shortage.
"When someone volunteers to judge, it's basically like giving a $50 donation to the debate team because the other schools have to pay for not having enough judges and our volunteers fill in," Petti said.
No experience is necessary for people interested in evaluating the performance of these competitors. In addition to ranking each competitor, judges provide feedback to highlight each student's strengths and weaknesses.
"To be a good judge, you really need one thing: an open mind," Petti said. "You need to listen to what the students have to say and then judge who you felt did a better job persuading you to their side."
For more information, contact Petti at 587-2579 or via e-mail at petti_jh@sd193.k12.id.us.