The 2021-2022 national speech and debate season was brought to a close a few weeks ago in Louisville, Kentucky at the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament. This season, like the academic year, had its complications because of the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, but some parts of the country resumed in-person competitions and there were steps back to “normalcy.” And, whether online or in-person, the national circuit continued its operations and the Extemp Central National Points Race came back.
To review the year, Extemp Central compiled the top seven stories from the national circuit, which we hope our readers will enjoy.
#7: Non-Seniors Shine at NSDA Nationals
Continuing a recent trend, non-senior competitors advanced deep into this year’s NSDA national tournament in Louisville. Four non-seniors made the final round of International Extemp, while two made the final round of United States Extemp. In addition, three of the semi-finalists in International Extemp and six of the semi-finalists in United States Extemp were not seniors. And McKinley Paltzik, a junior, won International Extemp. This foreshadows what should be an entertaining season in 2021-2022 and might make the race for bids to the 2023 Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) Extemp Round Robin tighter.
#6: The Rise of the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions vs. The Tournament of Champions of Extemporaneous Speaking
In 2003, Northwestern University created the last tournament of the existing major schedule with the Tournament of Champions (TOC) of Extemporaneous Speaking. At the time, there were no other TOCs available for speech and debate competitors since the University of Kentucky’s TOC was debate specific. All of that changed in 2012, when UK began to offer speech events as part of its TOC and just recently, the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) opened its doors to extemporaneous speakers too. This rise in TOC offerings has fractured some of the post-season, with some extempers and programs having to decide which tournaments to attend. This year, the UK TOC drew a field that was double the size of the Extemp TOC despite both competitions taking place online. The Extemp TOC was hurt by running opposite a few state tournaments, but one wonders whether UK’s TOC is encroaching on the major status that the Extemp TOC has enjoyed for two decades.
#5: Veluvali Comes Close to Adding More Majors
Ananth Veluvali of Edina High School (MN) came into the season as an extemper to watch after winning the 2021 National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand National Tournament. Since Minnesota’s speech season does not start until January, it was not surprising that Veluvali stormed up the National Points Race in the second half of the season, especially in the major tournaments. At the MBA Round Robin, Veluvali lost to McKinley Paltzik by two ranks and finished second. At the Extemp TOC, Veluvali lost to Cameron Roberts by four ranks. A few weeks later, Veluvali’s defense of his NCFL title came one placing short as he was runner-up to Daniel Kind. And at NSDA Nationals, Veluvali returned to the final round of United States Extemp, finishing third. Veluvali also finished second at the UK TOC to Paltzik. Even though he came shy of adding more major championships to his collection, Veluvali posted one of the more impressive runs across major tournaments in recent years and he ended the season third in the National Points Race.
#4: Kind Goes Wire-to-Wire in the Extemp Central National Points Race
This season saw the resumption of the Extemp Central National Points Race after a six year absence. The use of a virtual platform for a lot of national circuit tournaments gave greater access, but that did not make for as close of a competition as expected. Daniel Kind of Lake Highland Preparatory School stormed out to an early lead after winning the University of Kentucky’s National Speech and Debate Season Opener and never dropped from the top spot. The closest that Kind came to losing the number one ranking was when McKinley Paltzik won Yale and the New York City Invitational and trailed Kind by a 128-110 point margin. After that, Kind pulled away by winning the Florida Blue Key, Glenbrooks, and George Mason University Patriot Games. He clinched the National Points Race in style by winning the NCFL National Championship in late May, becoming the first extemper to win the competition before NSDA nationals. When the season was over, Kind set new National Points Race records for total points (1,063), wins (7), top three finishes (12), and final round appearances (12). Those marks will be difficult for future extempers to eclipse barring an expansion of the tournaments that count for the National Points Race.
#3: Alisky Comes From Behind to Win NSDA
Regular readers of Extemp Central knew who Peter Alisky was going into NSDA Nationals. Prior to NSDA Alisky, who competed for Smoky Hill High School (CO), reached the final round of four National Points Race events, most notably finishing fifth at the MBA Extemp Round Robin in March, and successfully defending his United States Extemp state championship. At NSDA, Alisky qualified for the final round of United States Extemp with a cumulative ranking to that point of sixty-three, ten behind leader Kush Narang of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA). That put Alisky in fifth place. However, a powerful and persuasive speech in the final round earned Alisky a cumulative score of seventeen when high and low ranks were eliminated. He won the final by twenty ranks and ended up winning Colorado’s first extemporaneous speaking national championship. What made Alisky’s final round notable is that he earned a first place rank from eight of the thirteen final round judges, thereby posting one of the most dominating final round performances in NSDA history.
#2: Paltzik Wins Two Majors as a Junior
Last season, McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ) foreshadowed what was to come by placing fourth as a sophomore in International Extemp at NSDA. She quickly established herself as one of this season’s strongest competitors, winning the Yale Invitational for the second time, as well as the New York City Invitational. After falling in elimination rounds at Glenbrooks, the University of Texas Longhorn Classic, and Harvard, Paltzik stormed back and won the MBA Round Robin in March, the UK TOC in April, and the NSDA National Championship in International Extemp to end the season. Like Peter Alisky, Paltzik rallied in the final round with a great speech that set NSDA records, overcoming a ten rank deficit against National Points Race winner Daniel Kind by earning nine of the thirteen available first place ranks. Since 2003, sixteen extempers, including Paltzik, have won multiple major championships, and Paltzik has a chance next season to achieve a Grand Slam, something that no extemper has managed to do since 2005.
#1: Back in Person…Sort of?
During the 2021-2022 academic year, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were uneven on the state level. Circuits locally and nationally had to grapple with the best way to mitigate its effects while still hosting competitions. For example, whereas some states like Kentucky and California kept most tournaments online, other states like Texas and Florida hosted more in-person competitions. Many of this season’s national circuit events took place online as the universities that hosted them were not willing or prepared to welcome hundreds of competitors from multiple states onto their campuses. In one instance, Stanford cancelled its regular tournament, but was still able to award National Points Race points after it hosted an online event called the Palm Classic. However, three of the four major tournaments – the MBA Extemp Round Robin, the NCFL Grand National Championship, and the NSDA National Championship – took place in-person. The shift in formats required flexibility among competitors, some of whom attended their first in-person tournament in more then two years at nationals this season. Interesting questions abound for next season as well in terms of whether national circuit tournaments resume in-person and what this does to tournament participation since the financial barriers that kept extempers from traveling before will be reimposed.