If you’d told me a year ago that the nearly two yearlong COVID-19 quarantine period would have stifled my love for public speaking, drained my normally supercharged social battery, and snuffed out every bit of confidence I had left, I would have laughed.

Growing up, I had never been the quiet kid. I learned to talk at quite an early age, and once I did, I couldn’t stop.

Public speaking was my sole way of being heard. From reciting the story of the “Three Little Pigs” at family gatherings, to hosting school events in elementary school, I always felt the best way to communicate was oftentimes the easiest—with my voice.

Like it would do to any social individual, a few months into isolation left me feeling burnt out. I hadn’t seen, nor talked to my friends, or anyone other than my immediate family in a long time, and when I finally did, I found myself stuttering, stumbling to find the right things to say and passing nervous laughs as if it would make the conversation end sooner. I had lost my grip on the spoken word, and I didn’t think I was ever going to get it back.

Joining a team

That was until a friend invited me to join a debate team late last year. I had debated for a short while back in the sixth grade, and had some free time on my hands, so reluctantly, I decided to sign up in the hopes that I would see improvement in myself.

My teammates were people I’d known before, as well as a bunch of new faces. Still, that made frantically typing down scripts with barely any research or prior knowledge of the topic, shuffling through stacks of notes and then giving aggressively passionate speeches alongside them a lot better.

But that doesn’t mean it was easy, though. My first debate speech in one of our training sessions was, to put it simply, a mess. I only reached barely a minute of speaking time, had close to zero arguments, and had no idea how to speak on them in a way that would make them convincing. I also didn’t have the slightest idea about current issues, which are most often the topics of debates. To be as honest as one can get on a national newspaper, I remember finishing my awful clutter of a speech and wondering how long it would actually take for me to improve.

Surprisingly, as time went by, after exhausting yet fun sessions with our coach, I did see progress. It started with a little less stuttering, then more organized speeches and then developing a functional dynamic with every partner I had. It wasn’t the drastic, overnight change I originally had in mind, but it was progress all the same, one step at a time.

Joining tournaments

Not long after, it was high time to join some tournaments. I signed up for as many as I could, knowing that even if I didn’t win, they would still look good on my résumé.

My first debate tournament online was the University of the Philippines’ “Fast Forward.” The competition put me up against a diverse pool of talented debaters from all over the country. I was awed by their varying speaking styles, each so different from the other. I had a great time, and though I don’t think I did that good, my first tournament introduced me to the world of competitive debating, and my experience is one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Encouraged, I signed up for the 2021 Ateneo de Manila Debate Camp, and then the Malaysia British Parliamentary Debate Championships, which was my first International competition, and first time making it to the Top 10, with my partner, Janel, and I coming in ninth place overall. Three teams from our school secured spots in the Top 10.

International competition

Earlier this year, it was once again tournament season.

The Royalty Pact Debating Academy’s Uhuru Worlds Debating Championships was a two-division and 45-room tournament and hosted over the span of five days, from Jan. 10-14. Over 40 countries joined, with some 120 high school and college teams from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa.

My school sent six teams, each consisting of two debaters. We fought through a gruelling seven in-rounds, the qualifiers making it to a break to Open Octo-Finals, ESL Quarterfinals, and finally, High School Grand Finals. The rounds were some of the toughest I’ve ever been in. The motion topics ranged from socioeconomic movements, local and foreign relations, politics, animal and climate rights to cultural and religious practices, and even sports.

Unfortunately, my partner, Kimberly, and I didn’t make it past the seventh round and neither did four pairs from our school, but we continued to support and cheer on two of our teammates, Michael and Gabby, who made it all the way to the grand finals. The whole team, along with some friends showed up to cheer the duo on in the last round, even switching to matching profile pictures to show our support, and waiting for the results until midnight.

My partner and I had a great time, and we both ended up becoming friends. We also started conversations with our opponents while the adjudicator or judge was in the deliberation channel, and even exchanged social media pages with some of them. It is my biggest tournament up to date, and I hope to join it again next year.

Educating yourself

If my time debating has taught me anything, it’s that today, there are so many issues that need to be resolved, and young and inexperienced as some of us may be, it’s important to be aware of both sides to it so we know where we stand. As Jose Rizal said, “The youth is the hope of our fatherland.” Especially since the election season is near, educating ourselves on current news and reports from reliable sources is more important now than ever.

Sometimes, we underestimate and even discredit how far critical thinking and communication skills can get us in life, two areas of competence that debating hones. Debaters have also been statistically proven to score better in job interviews and careers focusing on persuasive and argumentative abilities. It’s definitely one of the more challenging hobbies to take on, but it’s most certainly worth it.

My first few months debating have been an overwhelming experience, most often, in the best way. I’ve connected with wonderful people from all over the world, as well as competed on far larger scales than I could’ve ever imagined. I owe a lot to my coach, advisors and teammates for reintroducing me to debating, as well as helping me overcome my nerves and providing a healthy, fun environment to learn and grow as a debater. —CONTRIBUTED INQ