Maggie Mills and Sasha Haines, the 2020 Public Forum NSDA National Champions, share their advice for winning in Speech and Debate!
Nathan Fair runs this channel. Nathan is a finalist at the NSDA National Senior Open Tournament. Nathan also broke to semifinals at the National Circuit and Tournament of Champions qualifying Caviler Invitational National Tournament. He has qualified for the NSDA and NCFL National Tournaments. I hope you learned something from this video.
Four-year Chagrin Falls High School public forum debate partners, seniors Sasha Haines and Maggie Mills won the public forum debate national championship on Friday, June 19. The National Speech & Debate Association held their weeklong tournament online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Haines and Mills debated in 16 rounds before advancing to the final round against the team of Erick and Schmitter-Emerson from Campbell Hall School in Los Angeles, California.
“Haines and Mills have been together from the beginning and have seen as much as any debaters could dream of seeing,” said Advisor Ken Kasee.
The future trajectory of their debating career was clear almost immediately. Haines and Mills were the first team in the history of Chagrin Falls High School Debate to qualify for the state tournament as freshmen. As sophomores, they were semi finalists at the state tournament, (losing in a walk over to their senior teammates who won the tournament) and became the first team from Chagrin Falls to qualify for the prestigious Tournament of Champions held at the University of Kentucky. As juniors, they again qualified for the Tournament of Champions while breaking again at the state championships. They put it all together as seniors, qualifying again for the Tournament of Champions, winning the State Championship without dropping a ballot (20-0), and then finishing their career as the first all-female team to win the National Speech & Debate Association Public Forum Championship since 2007. Winning the final round on a 9-4 decision.
Maggie Mills reflects on her experience:
My senior year was the most fun year of debate yet. I had always enjoyed debating, but during my senior year, I focused less on winning and more on enjoying myself. Once I started to think of debate as a fun activity rather than an academic task, my partner and I improved rapidly. I also spent a lot of time with my teammates and coach, people who have become my second family.
My experience at nationals was great as well. We were devastated when we found out that the tournament had been moved online, but once competition began, things ran smoothly. I was so excited just to have the opportunity to debate at Nationals, let alone do well there. My coach, Mr. Haber, was with us every step of the way. I can’t say enough nice things about his generosity and support. He continued to coach Chagrin Public Forum even after his daughter graduated because he truly believes in the value of the activity. As a trial attorney, he is probably the most overqualified debate coach in the country, but he always treats coaching like his full-time job. He has believed in us since our first debate tournament four years ago, and after every loss, he was the first to tell us that we were talented and capable. Without his support, I think Sasha and I would have quit, or at least would have burnt out and stopped making an effort.
In the weeks leading up to the tournament, we prepped as much as we could. Once the tournament started, my partner and I decided to focus on enjoying ourselves and having fun, no matter the outcome. I think that mindset really allowed us to succeed and overcome any residual fear of failure.
My reaction to winning was obviously one of excitement. I was ecstatic that we had won and was really proud of what we had accomplished. The strongest emotion I felt, however, was gratitude. That sounds a little bit sappy, but honestly, my partner and I would never have succeeded without the unconditional support we received from our coaches, our team, and our friends. During the tournament, Sasha and I received dozens of texts of encouragement from fellow debaters, especially female ones. There was an amazing outpouring of support, and the fact that so many people had our backs and were rooting for us really pushed us to persevere right through Round 17.
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