Visit the newly created 'Student Resources' section of the NFL website and join the "student challenge!"
A lucky group has come to notice that there is a section of the NFL website devoted to the students within the league. One area under Student Resources is the Student Challenge. Each month, this challenge will pose a question to NFL students and the most interesting of the answers will appear in the Rostrum. This past month, the NFL asked students to tell us their "funniest moment as a debater/and or speech team member". Here are a few of the entertaining stories that we received:
Camus who?
Abraham from Illinois
In my freshman year of high school, I competed in Impromptu Speaking. During one of the first few tournaments of the year, I entered a round in which the prompt was "Camus". I know now, of course, that the prompt referred to French existentialist author Albert Camus. However, being a terrified and uninformed 15-year-old at the time, I had no idea as to whom or what that five-letter prompt referred. So, trembling and clammy, I proceeded to give a five-point speech on the nature of lying, claiming that "I could lie to you and say I knew who 'Ka-muss' is, but that such mistruths are hurtful to oneself and others." I was the first speaker, and the judge (an English teacher), was clearly displeased with my obvious ignorance of Mr. Camus. I plodded out of the room, my tail between my legs, expecting a last-place ranking. Later in the day, I learned that no one else in the round had known who Camus was either, and I have been awarded first place!''
The Parent Trap
Rory from Texas
My parents were watching me in an OO round. Before the round actually began (we were waiting for a judge) my mother began flirting with one of the judges. Eventually, after several agreements and nonchalant conversation between the two of them, my mother was declared "his girl". My mother proceeded to tell him that he could date my sister and gave him her details. After the first couple of speakers, we took a small break and once again, the flirtation commenced. At some point during this conversation, my dad interjects, "yeah, but she's old." As the room began to stir with various, "uh-oh's and "oh, he's in trouble", the judge replied, "Someone's not getting dinner tonight." While I thought this would be the end of it, and the next orator would speak, it wasn't. My mother continued the excitement by announcing that my father "wasn't getting something else either." As the stir in the audience grew louder, my father replied, "That's ok, I'm not missing much." By now, the entire room is rolling on the floor laughing. I am sitting in a desk mortified. After the excitement calms down, the round begins again, me still hiding my head feeling like I could literally die of embarrassment. As it turns out, it was my turn to go.
Always leave your mark!
Katie from California
My funniest moment as a speech member would have to be the time a cheeto hit my coach in the head. My friend had been eating a lot of hot cheetos on this day and she had no water to quench her thirst. All of a sudden, she starts choking on a cheeto and can't breathe. My coach had to give her the Heimlich maneuver, so he stepped back so that she could cough it up, and "SMACK!" it hit him right on the forehead and was stuck there. He had to scrape it off. The funniest part was that he had a red mark on his head for three days. We still laugh about it today.
Ouch!
James from Mississippi
Our funniest moment of our team was the time when we were walking back to our bus and our captain was walking backwards giving a motivational speech when all of a sudden he runs right into the bus.
You can submit an answer to the current question by going to the Student Challenge page which is located in the Student Resources section. We look forward to hearing from more students!
