Craig Daily Press

Craig — They practice.

They travel.

They compete.

Still, unlike other winter season competitors, the Moffat County High School Speech and Debate team doesn’t test its mettle on a court or field.

Instead, they face off with other public speakers in competitions throughout the area.

And 14 students from the high school team will compete with their peers from across the state March 14 and 15 in Parker.

The students qualified for the event at a district competition in Delta on Feb. 22 and 23.

Eric Hansen, Speech and Debate coach, said his students are a lot like their peers in winter sports.

With a few exceptions.

“Our season is twice as long as winter sports,” Hansen said. “The kids really have to be dedicated.”

Part of that dedication is measured by how much time the students spend on the road, he added.

This season, the team has spent 20 nights in hotel rooms while traveling to competitions.

Secondly, the competitions pit them face to face against their opponents in ways that Holly Bergman and Brodie Schulze say is distinct from a physical competition.

The two Speech and Debate team members qualified for state in Cross Examination Debate, an event that requires students to argue one topic during the course of the season.

These debates require agility and endurance — not physically, but mentally, Schulze said.

He speaks from experience.

Schulze, a sophomore, also competes in golf, track and cross-country at the high school.

“I think it’s more competitive than any other sport,” he said.

Often, students from different schools develop friendships — relationships that Bergman said are hard to leave outside of the debate room.

“If you’re friends with them, you don’t want to personally be mean to them and trick them (in an argument), but you have to,” she said.

Bergman only sees one way forward.

“You just suck it up, basically,” she said. “You do whatever you need to (do to) win.”

Debate makes up one hemisphere of the competitive speech and debate field. Other events test students in other public speaking performances, including poetry, humor and drama.

Regardless of the event, the prospect of speaking publicly takes courage, Hansen said.

“It takes a pretty strong-willed kid” to speak in front of an audience of peers, he said. “I think it may be a little scary for some kids.”

Regardless, he believes that the skills his team members develop during competition will benefit them after they’ve stepped back from the podium.

“I really think it’s a skill kids will use for the rest of their” lives, he said.

Bridget Manley can be reached at 875-1795 or bmanley@craigdailypress.com