Our regular tournament season ended just this last weekend with a trip to Dallas/Ft. Worth area. This would normally make this the actual last speech post of the season but…Charissa is going to Nationals! But, first things first – the results of this recent event…
Amanda did great in Juniors – she competed in three events and ended up with two FIRST PLACE finishes! She even got what is called a ‘picket fence’ award as well – this is where all three judges in a particular round of one of her speeches gave her first place rankings – quite a honor! The hardest part of this event for her was that her best friend in speech, Sarah, will be moving up to regular competition next season while Amanda has to wait until the season after that. She will miss having Sarah to pal around with at junior events, and wishes she could move up with her!
Brenna was healthy and upbeat throughout the competition – she is learning so much about how to handle the pressures and logistics of these events! The most exciting news for her, though, was an 11th place finish in her Open Oratory speech. This was well into the top 40% of this topic, and she even got some 1 and 2 placements on some of her ballets during this speech. I think she was greatly encouraged that she can excel here and it doesn’t just have to be ‘Charissa’s thing’.
I will say, though, that I do think we have found ‘Charissa’s thing’! She is just continuing to improve and loves the competition. At this event she was in the top 10 for all 5 events that she competed in. This is where we found our decision about weather to take her to Nationals in CA or not. She is 129th out of 1648 in the nation for overall speech rankings. In two of her events, she ranks in the top 20 nation-wide – cool, eh?!? Though with her age and experience, I don’t necessarily expect her to medal at Nationals, the opportunity to compete is a privilege. It also helps that her speech coach will be attending, too, so it will be a great learning experience. Nationals is not until May, so you will get a bit of a break from hearing about these events – next week it’s FamilyLife news – I promise:)
As a ‘heads up’ to that – Next week (March 24-28) are Live Radio Days here at FamilyLife Today – Eric will be helping man the phones, I’m sure he will have some great stories. Please pray that this logistical challenge (live radio) goes off without a hitch.