Training Minds Ministry Events
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Success: 2010 | 2009 | 2008
Tournament season for the 2009-2010 competitive year is on its way. Training Minds Ministry will be posting success stories as news comes in of the hard work and training paying off.
Nationals SuccessHow well did our alumni (both NITC and our 2009 Camps) do at the end of the year? |
Stoa NationalsNationals #1, San Diego -- May 24-28 Lincoln-Douglas Champion of Stoa NITOC -- the #1 LDer in the 78-debater tournament -- is camp alumni Chase Harrington. Congratulation Chase! NITOC served to be a fantastic representation of "training the mind for action." Here are some results, more to be posted after the official postings are made known...
Cool Story: Special recognition was given to Shane Baumgardner who, in 2009, was not recognized as the 1st place Extemporaneous speaker. As the finalists were announced, twins Cody and Travis Herche (previous year title winners) were handing out awards. The names were called off, one-by-one, with little brother Jesse Herche waiting to be called. When arriving to second place, Tournament Director Van Shalin announced, "And in second place, nearly missing a repeat national championship..." the crowd went wild. Cody and Travis cheered--and cried--for their little brother receiving 1st place. See the YouTube video below captured by ministry president Chris Jeub: Students of Training Minds Ministry Extemporaneous Program graduated the 2009 and 2010 National Champions. Both Jesse and Shane attended NITC the weekend before, where Cody and Travis were coaches. NCFCA NationalsNationals #2, Virginia Beach -- June 7-11
This picture makes it look like we played at the beach all weekend, but we actually spent considerable time at a pre-weekend of training, drills and scrimmages. Training Minds Ministry Coaches Cody Herche, Travis Herche, Matthew Baker, Vance Trefethen, Rob Parks, Chris Jeub and Maggie Carabellos were there to strategize with the debaters. It paid off big time:
Cody Herche, one of Training Minds Ministry's top coaches, is former Hall of Famer in debate, apologetics and extemp. He coached students throughout both National tournament, very proud of how his students faired in speech events:
Is there anything more convincing than these numbers? We take competition seriously AND we have a lot of fun "training minds for action" (1 Peter 1:13)... Register today for our Training Minds Ministry events. |
Heading to NationalsTraining Minds for Christian Homeschool Speakers and Debaters |
Regional and Open Tournaments are over, and the lineup of Training Minds Alumni is more impressive than any other year. Here's a rundown of the incredible outcomes of preparation:
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Team-PolicyR4: Last Regional Tournaments Delivers 1st Place Alumni
Posted 5/9/10
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All the regional tournaments are over, and the final tournament was an incredible event. Both 1st Place Champions in Region 4 (the largest NCFCA region this year) were Training Minds Ministry alumni. Other alumni were at the top of the list. Congratulations competitors!
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas: Pete Ehrett
- Other LD teams who broke to outrounds: John Ehrett and Adam Nasser (PQ).
- 1st Place Team-Policy: Ben Snodgrass with partner Laura Strack
- Other TP teams who broke to outrounds: Harding/Pinero (PQ), Craig/Heise (Q), Cromer/Patel (Q), Davis/Davis, Lil/Upham (Q), Maisano/Morgan (Q).
An outstanding finish for the pre-nationals standing. Everyone knows who's going to Nationals. Sign up for NITC if you are, and sign up for our summer events if you aren't. Early training = success later.
R5: BOTH Finalists Camp Alumni
Posted 5/5/10
The Russells (Missouri) took a caravan of debaters to the Colorado Conference last summer. Together, the team of families attended the workshops and brought their knowledge home with them. Not a bad strategy that pays off at competition time! Register today.
Check out the representation of Missouri at the Region 5 qualifier...
- Cara Alexander & Mary Russell - 1st Place
- Joseph Martin & Christian Wiese - 2nd Place
- Cara Alexander, Joe Martin and Mary Russell were also the top three Extempers, all three alumni of Cody Herche's Extemp Camp.
R8: 1st Places Awarded to Camp Alumni
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Posted 4/30/10
- 1st Place Team-Policy Debate team: Jacob Dean and his partner, Whitney Rutherford.
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas: 2nd-year camper Christian Fernandez.
Kind of a goofy picture, but it shows we have a lot of fun at camp...plus learn a lot! We are thrilled to see our campers take their region championship titles, and now they're off to Nationals. Register for Florida Camp today!
Several other Florida Camp alumni made it to Nationals in Debate at the R8 Qualifier. 2/5 Lincoln-Douglas and 5/8 Team-Policy teams qualified:
Christian Fernandez (LD), Nick Aquart (LD), Joshua Schow (TP), Price Baker (TP), Mary Claire Birdsong (LD), Jacob Dean (TP), Patrick Ingoldsby (TP), Haley Russell (TP), Amanda Hearn (TP) and Cameron Rentschler (TP).
R6: Qualifier Tops With Alumni
Posted 4/25/10
Region 6 is a region where Training Minds Ministry has had mediocre presence. We've never held a camp in Region 6, but some families have traveled to our events elsewhere. You'd think our success record would reflect this, but we are very pleased to announce...
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas award to alumni Austin Heath.
- 2nd Place Lincoln-Douglas award to alumni Montana Krueger.
- 3rd Place Lincoln-Douglas award to alumni Caroline McKenzie.
- 3rd Place Team-Policy award to alumni Scheie/Snowden.
All of the above secured slots to NCFCA Nationals. Congratulations alumni!
R10: Qualifier Sends FOUR Alumni to Nationals
Posted 4/22/10
On the other side of the United States, Region 10 hosted the second NCFCA National Qualifier. Out of the 6 who qualified, 4 were TMM alumni. Congratulations to...
- Nathaniel and Mathias White (1st Place)
- Shekinah-Glory Dhanie-Beepat and Isaac Kim (2nd Place)
- David Frye III and Kathryn Lind (3rd Place)
- Devin Creed and Andrew Min (6th Place, already prequalified)
These are fantastic results. As word spreads of the phenomenal results, camp and conference positions fill up. Be sure to register soon!
R3: 1st Qualifier Sends Alumni to Nationals
Posted 4/18/10
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Year after year, validation unfolds: debaters who work hard and receive solid training end up doing well in competition. It makes sense, really: early training = success later. Check out the outstanding results in Seattle at NCFCA's Region III National Qualifier, the first region to host a National Qualifier:
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas alumni Rachel Seay successfully secured the top award after winning all of 12 ballots through semis (5 ballots) and finals (7 ballots).
- 1st Place Team-Policy alumni Shane Baumgardner and Kaitlin Nelson are the Region III Champions. Already prequalified, this allowed qualifications to drop down to 9th seed (qualifying 9 teams) 8 of whom are alumni.
- Advancing in Team-Policy 9/16 are alumni: Baumgardner/Nelson, Bell/Jones, Bradley/Reavely, Cools/Hangartner, Knopp/Miller, Kruse/Whitcomb, Paul/Wolkenhouer, Riegg/Wolcott, Groenevelt/Liddiard.
- Lincoln-Douglas 12/16 quarterfinalists are alumni: Hannah Nadeau, Benjamin Griffith, Rachel Steininger, Marie Jeffries, Sarah Klein, Branden Yeates, George Nye, Andrew Shafer, Josiah Dasher, Joseph Navarro, Rachel Seay.
- Extemp: Coach Cody Herche's extemp program bore much fruit at this tournament. Five of the 8 finalists were alumni: Shane Baumgardner (1st), Rachel Seay (2nd), Sarah Chaffee (6th), George Nye (7th), Bradford Keaty (8th).
This is encouraging! It's so exciting to see the hard work of the students and the dedication of their parents pay off in the end. Be a part of the Training Minds momentum...register for our 2010-2011 events!
Heart of the Valley: Coach's Dream Results
Posted 4/11/10
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Stoa's final qualifying tournament took place last weekend. Typical tournaments in California run very large with over 100 Team-Policy teams and Lincoln-Douglas debaters, as well as some of the largest flights of limited-prep in the country (150 impromptu, for example). Alumni took top awards:
- 1st Place (Chase Harrington) and 2nd Place (Alexandria Nogy) Lincoln-Douglas debaters were 2009 Camp Alumni.
- The top four debaters in Lincoln-Douglas came from 2nd-year alumni coach Rebecca Nogy's debate team, Scarlet.
Coaches, take note. This is significant. Rebecca Nogy came to Training Minds California Camp in 2008 and 2009 to participate in our training programs. She has built quite a club (Scarlet) and dominates the top awards at the largest Christian homeschool tournaments in the nation.
Lesson: Coaches learn just as much as the students at our events. Good news, too, is that they receive significant discounts compared to the students. So, coaches, load up your students and come to Training Minds Ministry!
Heading into April: So far, very good
Posted 4/3/10
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This is it! The final stretch for most of the nation, the last chance to make it to Nationals. Qualifiers across the country will send people to NCFCA Nationals. So far, there are a handful of qualifiers from the NCFCA Opens, and our alumni have most of the slots:
- Team-Policy: 6 of the 7 teams are Camp Alumni teams, 9 of the 14 competitors alumni of our camps.
- Lincoln-Douglas: 5 of the 8 LD qualifiers are Camp Alumni, nearly 2/3 of all of them.
This has been our best year to date! This goes to show that continual hard work and training brings results at the end of the year. We've been doing large-scale training camps since 2005, and our numbers consistently show that training counts. Two things to consider now:
- Our NITC program. If you make it to Nationals (Stoa or NCFCA) be sure to register for this unique training camp taking place immediately before your big week. 2009 Alumni get in free!
- Register for our Colorado Conference or Florida Camp. Word is spreading about how our alumni do so well, and we want you to join us to make for a successful 2010-2011 year. Early-bird savings apply, and we suspect these camps to fill up.
Proud Dad Thankful for Summer Training
Posted 3/31/10
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Approximately 1,300 students and coaches have gone through our camps since we started them in 2005. Quite a track record has built up over the years. Here's an email we received from a Summer 2009 coach:
We just want to say that we are really grateful for all the help your ministry has given [my daughter Ashlyn] this year. She has had her best debate year ever, breaking to quarterfinals in the last 3 tournaments, winning best speaker at the last two tournaments, and winning LD at the Santa Rosa tournament (and winning Impromptu too!). She was 4th in IE sweepstakes at Santa Rosa as well. Overall, she has made great strides in her speaking and debating skills this year. Thank you for all your help! -- Rick Olson
We post our successes here to help convince you that training matters. "Train the mind for action" is a biblical mandate we take seriously. Register for our events as soon as possible. Training in the summer/fall will very likely bring success next tournament season. This email from Ashlyn's dad is validation of that!
Colorado Open: Alumni Everywhere
Posted 3/28/10
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For the third National Open in a row (there are only three this year), Training Minds Ministry alumni secured the top slots in debate, as well as several individual speech events. The big news out of Colorado: 1st and 2nd place contestants both Team-Policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate were alumni of our events. In fact, alumni consisted of a majority of all who broke to outrounds (14/20 TP and 12/20 LD). What a fantastic line up!
- Team-Policy: Paul/Walkenhaur (1st), Kumbera/Payne (2nd), Leath/Waddell (4th), Enos/Griffith (5th), Baumgardner/Nelson (6th), Vaughn/Vaughn (7th), Scheie/Snowden (8th), Harding/Pinero (9th), Kruse/Whitcomb (13th), Friberg/Friberger (14th).
- Lincoln-Douglas: Adam Nasser (1st place and 3rd speaker), Marie Jeffires (2nd place and 1st speaker), Sarah Sanderlin (5th), Blair Bayliss (8th), Joshua Jones (9th), Jon Bateman (11th), Jacob Phillip (12th), Benjamin Griffith (13th), and Christine Reid (14th).
- Sweepstakes: Sarah Klein (1st), Shane Baumgardner (3rd), Kaitlin Nelson (5th), Christine Reid (6th), Rachel Seay (7th), Sam Paul (9th), George Nye (10th), Melanie Rose Whitcomb (12th), Adam Nasser (13th), Colin Scott (16th), Seth Enos (17th) and Kasey Leander (19th).
- Extemp: Half of the finalists were alumni of our extemp program: Adam Nasser (3rd), Kaitlin Nelson (4th), Bradford Keaty (6th), George Nye (7th). Semi finalists included other alumni: Shane Baumgardner, Lael Burge, David Cecil-few, and Sam Paul.
- Though not part of our curriculum last year, we're still proud of our alumni in these other areas: Rachel Seay (3rd Apologetics, 1st Impromptu), Christine Reid (1st Dramatic Interp), Adams/Griffith (1st Duo), Seth Enos (2nd Humorous), Shane Baumgardner (2nd Impromptu, 2nd Original Oratory), Sarah Klein (1st Original Oratory, 1st Persuasive, 1st Thematic Interp), Collin Duncan (2nd Persuasive).
1st Place Award to 4th-year Alumni
Posted 3/15/10
Some debaters have been coming to Training Minds Ministry for years, Montana Krueger being one of them. He secured 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas and 2nd Place Speaker Points at the Region 6 Indiana Qualifier. Montana had this to say about Training Minds Ministry Events:
Attending Training Minds debate camp enabled my brother and me to make it to the regional tournament. This summer is the third time I have been to camp, and each time I have learned new skills and had a great time. If you want to go far, go to the Training Minds debate camp.
Other alumni to advance at this qualifier included Whitney Snowden in Apologetics, Jon Bateman in LD, and Hester Buell in IO. Congratulations!
Alumni Secure 1st Place in second NCFCA Open, Massachusetts
Posted 3/13/10...POSTED LIVE!
We'll post as results come in. The annoucement of Debate Quarterfinal Breaks was extremely encouraging: 4/8 in Team-Policy and 3/8 in Lincoln-Douglas were Training Minds Ministry alumni...
- Team-Policy: Dhanie-beepat/Kim, Creed/Min, Baumgardner/Nelson, Paul/Paul.
- Lincoln-Douglas: Blake Meadows, Marie Jeffries, Natasha Torrens.
UPDATE 1: The following HSD post shows 3/4 Semi-Finalists alumni in both TP and LD, with the following matchups:
- TP 1: Comery/McElwee vs Creed/Min (flip)
- TP 2: Dhanie-BeepatSG/Kim (Aff) vs Baumgardner/Nelson (N)
- LD 1: Michael Mullaney (AFF) vs Blake Meadows (Neg)
- LD 2: Marie Jeffries (AFF) vs Natasha Torrens (NEG)
UPDATE 2: Final Round going on now...3/4 alumni...
- TP: Baumgardner/Nelson (AFF) vs. Creed/Min (NEG)
- LD: Michael Mullaney vs. Natasha Torrens
UPDATE 3: Final Results. For the second Open Tournament in a row, TMM alumni secured 1st Place...congratulations debaters!
FIRST PLACE TEAM-POLICY: Devin Creed/Andrew Min
FIRST PLACE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS: Natasha Torrens
Research Camp Alumni Takes 1st Once Again
Posted 3/8/10
Guthrie Leath with his partner, Jonathan Waddell, took 1st Place for the second qualifier in a row in Region 7 (Cleveland, Ohio). The two were neck-and-neck in speaker points: 3rd and 2nd place respectfully.
Other awards went to our alumni. In Lincoln-Douglas, top Speaker Award went to Florida Alumni Preston Kennedy. Alumni Joseph Samelson took 1st Place in Extemp, and Benjamin Simon took 1st Sweeps for the entire tournament.
We have already started to receive registrations for our Florida Camp, home to many of these Region 7 champions. Success happens for those students who jump in right away in the beginning of the year. Congratulations Region 7 alumni!
Future Interns Score Big in Region 3
Posted 3/7/10
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The streak is rarely heard of: 40 ballots in a row covering three tournaments all flowing to one team. Shane Baumgardner and Kaitlin Nelson, both Lincoln-Douglas alumni debaters, teamed up this year in Team-Policy. They prepared at Research Camp and the summer Conference, and their training is paying off. At last weekend's Region 3 Centennial Tournament in Colorado Springs, they secured 1st Place Team-Policy for the third qualifying tournament in a row. Also secured: Kaitlin 1st Extemp, 2nd Persuasive, 1st Thematic, 1st Speech Sweeps, 2nd TP Speaks; Shane 2nd Extemp, 1st Impromptu, 3rd Original Oratory, 3rd Persuasive, 2nd Speech Sweeps, 1st TP Speaks.
Impressive! What should interest you is this: Shane and Kaitlin are helping head up this summer's Internship Program for Training Minds Ministry, a brand new program meant to train aspiring journalists, film-makers and Web designers for action in the publishing world. Others involved include Chris Jeub (president), Rachel Seay (who took 3rd in Extemp, 2nd Impromptu, and 1st Persuasive at the same tournament), Cynthia & Lydia Jeub (quarterfinalist in TP), and graduate Jesse Byrnes. Selected interns will attend up to two 2-week internships where the curriculum--the very curriculum that trained these champions--will be written, edited, designed, marketed, and sold to NCFCA/Stoa communities. This internship may be for you.
This is a great way to give back to the community of speakers and debaters. Like the competitors mentioned above, you may be enjoying your biggest competitive year. You're perfect candidates to help publish bestselling curriculum and resources to help train the next slew of competitors. We are ready to welcome you to Colorado for this special internship that will give back to the very communities that helped train you up. Click here to apply for a Monument Publishing Summer Internships.
The news above wasn't the only good news coming out of this qualifier. Check out Chris Jeub's Buzz from the tournament award ceremony here. Camp alumni stacked up the awards.
Going 6-0 Despite Oncoming Tsunami
Posted 3/2/10
You may have heard the news that Hawaii called their first tsunami drill in 16 years in reaction to the Chili earthquake. Hawaii was wrapping up their first Region 1 Qualifier. They weren't able to finish the tournament because of the alarm, but the result for our alumni was very encouraging. Christa Brown and Catherine Gardner went 6-0! Congratulations Brown/Gardner team.
Here's a note from Christa (pictured here from last summer's Debate Camp):
"Catherine and I went 6-0 in our regional qualifier, and would have advanced to semi-finals had not the last day of our tournament been canceled due to the tsunami evacuation (it turned out to be a three foot tsunami). The Blue Books served us well, as did the training we received at Training Minds Camp. Catherine and I also got 1st and 2nd place speaker positions in 5 out of the 6 rounds. We were super excited. Just wanted to let you know!"
National Opens Bring Top Awards: 4/5 Qualifying Slots
Posted 2/21/10
Pictured: Harding/Pinero at Training Minds Ministry's NITC camp 2009. They took 1st Place Team-Policy at NCFCA's first 2010 open qualifier.
Probably the toughest weekend of competition in the country, so far. Two National Open tournaments coincided: NCFCA Houston and Stoa Inland National Qualifiers. Hundreds of students geared up for qualification straight to the respective national tournaments. TMM Camp Alumni received top awards and slots to Nationals. We're extremely proud of their success! Here are results:
- NCFCA (Houston, Texas): 1/2 of the finalists in both TP and LD were alumni, with 1st Place Team-Policy awarded to Ty Harding (also 2nd speaker) and Brent Pinero! Marie Jeffries secured 2nd place in Lincoln-Douglas. All of these alumni, as well as 3rd place Sarah Sanderlin in LD and Kevin Behne in TP, took qualifying slots to Nationals. That's 4/5 of the awarded slots!
- Speech results: 6/8 apologists, 5/8 extempers, 6/8 impromptu, 4/8 persuasive, and 4/6 thematic finalists were our alumni. Eight of the 20 speech slots were awarded to alumni: Davis/Davis and Pinero/Reid (Duo), Adam Davis (DI), Ty Harding and Adam Nasser (Extemp), Adam Davis (Impromptu), Samuel Paul (OO). Goes to show that debate and speech training go hand in hand!
- Stoa (Inland, California): Lincoln-Douglas 2nd Place to Alexandria Nogy, 2nd year camp alumni. Chase Harrington took 1st Place speaker award, ranking top of his game for the second Stoa tournament in a row. In Team-Policy, Hannah Mollath and Joseph Mollath advanced to semi-finals, and Talia Vlaovich and MacKenzie Ross advanced to quarters. Great job, alumni!
Here's a powerful testimony from an Illinois mom who lacked experienced coaching. She and her son came out to our conference last summer. Jennifer's son, Jon, took 6th in Extemp and broke in Lincoln-Douglas, after just his second tournament this year! Proud mom had this to say:
The credit goes to your summer camp program. Since we do not have a coach for our club, Jon completely relies on what he learned out in Colorado this past summer. Thank you again for your investment in our young people!! I am sure the "pay" isn't very high for your expertise, but we all know that your real payment is a jewel in your crown at the ultimate "Awards Ceremony"!! - Jennifer Bateman, Ill.
"I'm sending my kids to Training Minds!"
Posted 2/14/10
A dad made these remarks after seeing how many of the top awards at the Rocky Mountain Classic Tournament went to Training Minds Ministry alumni. This is the third year in a row that the RMC has had these kinds of results, a testimony at how training at the summer camps becomes a definite advantage at competition time. Consider:
- Shane Baumgardner and Kaitlyn Nelson (Team-Policy) won every ballot, securing 1st Place. This is the second Region 3 Qualifier for them to do this. Shane & Kaitlyn are both 3rd year camp alumni.
- All the quarter-finalists pictured here are partnered with camp alumni: Baumgardner/Nelson (1st), Groenevelt/Liddiard (2nd), Enos/Griffith (3rd), Kruse/Whitcomb (4th), Jeub/Jeub (5th), Paris/Paris (6th), Carr/Groenevelt (7th), and Vaughn/Vaughn (8th).
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas goes to alumni Marie Jeffries, who debated alumni Josiah Dasher for the top award. Another match of alumni debaters!
- Most of the quarterfinalists (all but 2) were camp alumni: Marie Jeffries, Josiah Dasher, Hannah Nadeau, Kasey Leander, Rachel Seay, and George Nye. Congratulations!
Campers filled the speaking events, too. Training Minds Conference in Monument, Colorado, will be teaching every event + debate this summer. Parents should start planning to bring their competitors to Training Minds Conference. Registration is now open!
Florida Success
Posted 2/13/10
We hosted our first Florida camp in 2009, and the results have been extremely encouraging. Check out the details of the 2010 Florida Camp here. Last weekend's Florida Sunshine State Qualifier had the following impressive results.
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas Debater: Alex Sargent. Congratulations Alex!
- 1st Place Team-Policy Debate team: Jacob Dean and his partner, Whitney Rutherford. Great job!
- Other Lincoln-Douglas Octafinalists include Joseph Rondone, Nick Aquart, John David Woolington, Haley Meadows and Christian Fernandez.
- Other Team-Policy debaters made their impact. Teams in the octafinals included Logue/Logue, Talley/Westmark, Baisden/Carson, Rentchler/Rentchler, and Ingoldsby/Russel.
Pictured holding his Lincoln-Douglas debate trophy is Alex Sargent. He had this to say about his experience at Florida camp:
I attended the Training Minds Florida Camp this past October. At the time, I thought that it was the greatest week of Debate training I had ever received. Last week confirmed that. I competed in the Florida NCFCA qualifying tournament, along with 52 other debaters. I found it incredible that I broke to octafinals and debated a good friend of mine, and fellow TMM alumnus, Kaitlyn Johnston. I found it even more incredible that I won, and proceeded to win my quarterfinal round against another TMM alumnus, Christian Fernandez. As the rounds kept passing, I found myself debating in the Final round. In a 4-3 decision, I won finals.
I wanted to thank you all so much for the time, effort, and energy that you all put into facilitating your camps and publishing the Red Book. Without these resources, I could not have dreamed of being in this situation. I would particularly like to thank Andrew Roblyer and Cody Herche for their teaching and direction. May God bless your ministry in the coming years.
Thank you so much, Alex Sargent
DFW Qualifier Shows 1st Places All-around
Posted 2/1/10
Both Lincoln-Douglas and Team-Policy champions in Region 4's first qualifier were our camp alumni. Competition is tough in the largest NCFCA region. Congratulations, gentlemen!
- 1st Place Team-Policy goes to alumni Ty Harding & Brent Pinero.
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas goes to alumni Adam Nasser.
- 1st Place Lincoln-Douglas speaker goes to alumni Pete Ehrett.
- 1st Place Apologetics goes to Alumni Adam Nasser.
Vector Icebreaker Qualifier
Posted 2/1/10
The ice was broken with several of our alumni making an impression in Region IX. Good job, everyone!
- Lincoln-Douglas Debate: 3/8 of the quarterfinalists were alumni: Michael Skerry (8th), James Flanagan (7th) and Natasha Torrens (2nd). Natasha took 2nd place on a 4/3 decision and secured 2nd Speaks.
- Team-Policy Debate: 1/4 of the top 16 speaks went to alumni Jack and Joni Leetun, Joshua Clark, and Andrew Hughey. In the outrounds, alumni included de la Pena/de la Pena, Leetun/Leetun, Guy/Wingard, and Clark/Hughey (3rd place) led the charge.
Peoria Qualifier: Hard Work From Novice Pays Off
Posted 1/22/10
The Peoria Qualifier in Region 6 took place last week, and we caught wind of one of our novice extempers/debaters doing quite well. Cody Herche, head coach of our extemp program and former national champion himself, received this email from a proud mom:
I wanted to share with you how my son, Jon Bateman, placed at our first NCFCA qualifying tournament last week. It was his first time to attempt Extemp since camp out in Colorado this summer. He ended up placing 7th place in the final round!!! What was even better, was that he caused quite a stir because word got around really fast that he was OFF card!! He decided that it would be easier to memorize his sources and start off card than to become dependent on the card and have to try to kick the habit later. He keeps his card in his suit jacket pocket just in case!!
Thank you again for all of your encouragement this past summer. Jon is really looking forward to pursuing Extemp!!
After asking for permission to post this, she included that Jon took 3rd place in Lincoln-Douglas debate. The Batemans drove out to Colorado last summer for training, and the result is plain to see: early preparation pays off at competition time. Register for Summer '10 today!
Largest Homeschool Tournament in History: Alumni takes 1st Place
Posted 1/20/10
Training Minds Ministry has hosted debate camps in California for the last 4 years, and results keep showing impact in tournament results. January's Concordia Challege was home-school debate's largest tournament in history: 112 team-policy teams and 84 Lincoln-Douglas debaters. Competition was extremely challenging, yet alumni Chase Harrington managed to come out champion as top seed 7-1 and undefeated through the outrounds, taking 1st place Lincoln-Douglas award.
Pictured here is Chase with Ashlyn Olson scrimmaging at Training Minds Debate Camp. Ashlyn, too, took top awards and qualified to Stoa Nationals. Camp was in October, showing that the early start to the year pays dividends come competitive season. Congratulations LDers!
Region 3 First Reg'l Qualifier: Majority Are TMM Alumni
Posted 1/10/10
Region 3's most widely represented qualifier welcomed seven states (WA, OR, ID, MT, WY, UT, CO) in Salt Lake City. Results showed good news from the top: 1st Place Team-Policy Debaters were 3 and 4-year alumni team Shane Baumgardner and Kaitlin Nelson. They were matched up with a team in Washington consisting of LD camp alumni Catherine Jones, also taking 3rd speaker. Other notable successes of our alumni:
- 7/8 of the Team-Policy speaking awards were alumni.
- 6/8 quarter-finalist TPers were alumni.
- 7/10 of the Lincoln-Douglas top speaker awards went to alumni.
- 4/8 quarter-finalist LDers were alumni.
- 1st, 2nd, 3rd sweeps to alumni.
- Speech 1st placers as alumni: Impromptu, Extemp, Duo.
Region 7 First Reg'l Qualifier: Mom Testifies to Camp Value
Posted 1/10/10
Again, waiting for official results, but the news is good. Jared Hooper of our Florida Camp made it to semi-finals in Lincoln-Douglas. Research Camp alumni Guthrie Leath and partner, Jonathan Wadell, took the prize trophy of 1st place in Team-Debate. Brother/Sister team Samelson/Samelson of our Florida '09 Camp and Vance Trefethen's online course were beat out by Leath/Wadell in Semis. From Suanne, mom of the Samelson/Samelson team:
I want to thank you so much...Joseph and Rebecca made it to semi-finals. I never dreamed that they would improve so much in a year. Thanks to you and all of the coaches at camp this fall, and especially to Coach Vance and his online class through Training Minds, they have increased their speaking and debating skills so much. I also want to thank you for the opportunity Joseph has had to work with the Blue Book Report. He is so excited about the opportunity. --Suanne Samelson
Pictured here: Coach Vance (right) coaches two teams at the
Florida Debate Camp.
Joseph Samelson is speaking on the left.
Success: 2010 | 2009 | 2008