After competing in the State Qualifying Tournaments A, B and C, the Bonita Vista High (BVH) Speech and Debate team qualified a record-breaking 16 students into the California High School Speech Association (CHSSA) State Championship tournament, set to occur April 24-26. However, due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus across California, the tournament was officially canceled on March 11th.  

“Considering that we are still a young team, qualifying so many students who were going to experience this kind of tournament for the first time was very exciting,” BVH Speech and Debate Advisor and coach Eric Helle said. “As a coach, I don’t like to raise expectations as we prepare for CHSSA, but we were bringing some very accomplished and hardworking competitors.” 

After qualifying more competitors in the BVH Speech and Debate team’s 10-year history, the team felt “super confident” preparing for the State Championship tournament, according to junior and BVH Speech and Debate President Ursula Neuner. However, after the tournaments’ cancellation was announced, disappointment amongst the team was “heartbreaking,” as stated by senior and Head of Interpretive Events Cassandra Ugarte. 

“I’ve seen so many kids work so hard this year; they sacrificed so much of their time for it. It’s so sad knowing they didn’t get the full state qualifying experience, and as the year is ending my Speech and Debate career is as well,” Ugarte said. 

To seniors of  BVH Speech and Debate, it was especially devastating as it was one of the last tournaments they would ever compete in before moving on and graduating from BVH, according to Neuner.  

“[Seniors] may never have another chance to compete. As some of them put it, ‘they weren’t ready to be done with Speech and Debate,’” Neuner said. “The news was just so sudden that it was shocking.”

To the group of sophomores and juniors who qualified for the first time in their Speech and Debate careers, it was the cancellation of their first “validating experience” as they made sacrifices for it throughout the season, according to Helle. To the team, every qualification acts as its own victory contributing to a greater whole. Taking that away also affects the team as one unit.  

“A student’s qualification is like throwing a stone into a pond; there are ripple effects felt throughout the team. [CHSSA’s cancellation] was a bitter pill to swallow,” Helle said. 

Although the tournaments’ cancellation has been a setback, many believe it was a mandatory health precaution to take as the events would host nearly 1500 competitors and parents alike in the bay area, the first district in California to be affected by the Stay-at-Home policy.

“I believe it was necessary [to cancel the tournaments] seeing how fast the virus spreads, but I wish they could’ve simply postponed the tournament to take place during the summer,” Ugarte said. “I’m sure a majority of the students who qualified are willing to wait just to have that State experience. Nevertheless, we won’t let this virus beat us.”

Regardless of the effects of COVID-19, BVH Speech and Debate had considerable victories in the tournaments preceding CHSSA and having qualified 16 competitors as well as earning 2nd in Sweepstakes after the three week tournament period, are victories that will not be forgotten in the face of hardships. 

“We made a huge showing and proved to the league [San Diego Imperial Valley Speech League] that we are a force to be reckoned with, which, regardless of the outcome, is something to be extremely proud of,” Neuner said. 

Going forward, the team’s next goal worth striving for is “complicated,” as Helle described it. The National Qualifying tournament has since also been canceled, leaving the National Championship tournament up in the air. Helle holds cautious optimism towards a tournament in Albuquerque, but the District Committee is looking for alternative options. For now, their Slam Poetry competition is the only event the BVH team will be preparing for. 

“[The BVH Speech and Debate team] had every right to feel disappointed by the cancellation, but attending this one tournament doesn’t define anyone. What defines us is how we prepare for the opportunities to compete and how we manage both victory and defeat with grace,” Helle said. “Life has a funny way of throwing us obstacles and barriers that are completely out of our control. Our character is stamped with how we handle these slings and arrows.”

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