Hi all

I thought this could be a chance to introduce myself to those that have not met me yet, and to give you an idea of what will be upcoming/changing/etc. I'll add to this post later if I think up anything, so check back once in a while. Also, if you have any questions for me, please ask them in this thread. I will answer them ASAP.

First off, if you dont know, my name is Sean and I will be your new Head Coach. In terms of my backround, I was a policy debater in high school, doing one or two LD tournaments at the end of my career once my partner left. After High School I attended Loyola Marymount University on a debate scholarship. There I competed in Parliamentary debate (in college it's basically policy without cards) where I was in the final round of our TOC. As a coach, my LD debaters have gotten to deep outrounds at every major national tournament, including a semifinal appearance at TOC. I come to Lynbrook from The Collegiate School in New York, where in one year I took a team that had one bid total in it's history to 7 bids, including a final round team (4-3 decision, Henry on top. How ironic?) at TOC in Public Forum.

None of this is to brag, as I will probably not reference any of this stuff again. I just want everyone to know that I have experience in multiple aspects of forensics, so to use me as a resource whenever possible.

1. As soon as possible (Narayan tells me maybe late in the semester), I'm going to have people sign up for "event lists," by that I mean just put your email down in any events that you would like to receive updates for. This will allow me to more intimately discuss issues with specific events, such as practices, tournament selection, casing, etc. much easier than a mass email to every single kid will do. For now though, that will have to do.

2. While your assistant coaches have not officially been hired yet, you can more than likely assume the following:

LD: Prashant Rai [Semifinals at TOC, nearly undefeated record his senior year], Jon Kwan [top seed at TOC, former Lynbrook debater]
Policy: Jeff Martin [NDT debater at SFSU, cleared at CEDA in addition to other national tournaments]
For POFO and Parli, I will act as your Coach. We should be keeping the previous speech coach for IEs, however I will try to work with extempt whenever possible. This is not to say I wont help anyone that needs it [from LD to Duo], please realize my experience with IEs is quite limited.

3. Practices will be held on M-W, twice a day. The afternoon practice will be held from 3:30-5:30, the evening practice 6:00-8:00pm. Each event will have *at least* one two hour practice a week, with some having more. I would like to allow people to have practices as often as possible, but this depends on how much supervision we can get. At least for the first couple weeks, we are going to keep it structured. Also, and it seems that this is a departure from last year; Novice and Varsity practices will be split up. Team members have told me that last year they were unable to get enough quality time put in because the majority of the time they were helping novices. This change should allow the varsity debaters, at the very least, to get two solid hours of practice each week.

This is not to say that novices can only attend novice practice. Those individuals are absolutely welcome to attend the varsity practices, but must recognize that it will move at a much faster and more sophiticated speed, and will be geared for more experienced members. I would absolutely encourage novices to still attend varsity practices however, just to learn.

Furthermore, the days of showing up to practice unprepared are over. This isn't meant to sound too draconian, but if you attend practice without having done anything or prepared to do something, then you will be asked to leave. Although six practice slots is a large amount compared to last year, it's still very limited so it needs to be used efficiently.

4. My email is sean.mumper@gmail.com, and my phone number is 8083895962. Feel free to email/call me with any questions/concerns. If necessary, anonimity is always protected.

5. I'm unsure if this is already implemented [ritik?], but I'd like to change the lynbrooksd.net site a bit. My goal is that each event will have a database where files can be stored, such as scripts or cases.

6. For tournaments, if limited slots are available, your respective captains will make the decision. I will offer input, and reserve the right to overule any decision, but 99% of the time I will abide with their decisons.

7. Belinda will be entering your NFL points, and we will try to develop a streamlined system so they get entered directly after a tournament. Also, remember that points are awarded by the NFL for ABSOLUTELY ANY type of public speaking, so if you do something, record it!

I look forward to having a great year! Also, please dont call me Mr. Mumper. It's sean, or mr. Sean if you really feel the need. This is my first time coaching over a team of this size, so I appreciate any and all criticism or advice. As you'll probably learn, I'm pretty laidback and usually get along with everyone. No need to be shy.

Congrats to everyone!

All new leadership members are required to come to a leadership meeting next Wednesday, May 28 at lunch in Mr. Church's room.

All current and new leadership members must also come to the banquet on May 30th.
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President – Narayan Subramanian

Vice-President – Caroline Tan, Ritik Malhotra

Treasurer – Pooja Makhijani

Secretary – Belinda Tang

Event Manager – Anu Prasad, Armita Pedram Razi

Assistant Event Manager – Alyssa Zhang, Diana Ding

LD Captain – Rohit Ramkumar, Carl Shan, Soojee Hahn

Policy Captain – Ben Liu, Conrad Chan, Bhavna Challa

Parli Captain – Tejas Navaratna, Aditya Majumdar, Artem Raskin

Pofo Captain – Sonya Aggarwal, Trisha Parikh, Alan Kao

Congress Captain – Danielle Sze

Oratory Captain – Vani Narayan

Expos Captain – Chinmay Jaju

Interp Captain – Deep Sathe, Connie Ju

Spontaneous Captain – Mihir Deo

Decisions will be posted at 3pm in Mr. Church's room on Friday, May 23.

Good luck to everyone who applied!

Due to communication issues and some students unable to properly download the application, I have decided to extend the application deadline until Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 03:30pm in Room 75. You are still to submit the application in person to Mr. Church anytime before Wednesday. Remember, you are not allowed to drop off applications without seeing either one of us under any circumstances.

Reminders / clarifications:
1. You must type the Free Response completely. The one page limit only restricts the length of the essay, irrespective of how you utilize the one page. You must type or write neatly in pen the first page of the application and all signatures must be written in pen. Any applications with pencil marks will not be accepted.

2. You must specify your top 3 choices for position interests by ranking the three numerically, the "1" being your first choice, "2" being second, and "3" being third.

3. For extra-curricular, be sure to specify all activities you know you will be involved in for AY 2008-2009, even if your involvement is/will be marginal.

4. Every applicant must independently submit an application.

These instructions will supercede all previous instructions on the application process. If there are additional instructions, you will be notified.

The leadership applications for the 2008-2009 school year are out. It can be accessed by clicking here (new link, same application).

We encourage everyone to apply and not to hesitate applying for any position. Everyone must apply even if they are holding positions with legacy (assistant positions). Please drop off completed applications in the designated box in Mr. Church's room during the next week. The deadline to submit the applications will be 3:00 PM on Friday April 25. We will not be accepting any late applications. Feel free to email us with questions at gupta_gaurav@yahoo.com or post on this thread.

-LSD Presidents

Post on the forums to indicate you are available to help tomorrow!!

Please go to this website and download this word document.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/a0e19c/

-Henry

Logistics will come later.

Hey guys, LSD will be having a social on Friday, February 1st from 3:15-5:15. There will be food and a movie for people to watch. This is a great way for people on the team to get to know everyone while having fun. Everyone in LSD is invited! Please post here to RSVP. We need to know about how many people are coming.

If you did not have points recorded for tournaments you have attended during the last school year, please post and list the following for each tournament:

1. Tournament Name
2. Tournament Date(s)
3. Event and Division
4. Record and Ranks (Include Prelim and Elim)

Because there is a high probability that I do not have the cumulation sheets for your missing tournaments, unfortunately the burden of proof will be on you to provide me with evidence that you rightfully earned any missing NFL points. Acceptable forms of proof are:

1. Cumulation sheets
2. Ballots
3. Online results (Specific websites will be approved on a case by case basis)

Third CFL League Debate Tournament will be at DeAnza College in Cupertino this Sunday, November 18, 2007.

This tournament has concluded. Congratulations to the following students:

Soojee Hahn (2009): 4-0 undefeated in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

Ji Ahn (2011) & Alan Kao (2011): 4-0 undefeated in Varsity Public Forum



Congrats to everyone on a job well done!

Second CFL League Debate Tournament will be at Presentation High School in San Jose this Sunday, October 14, 2007.

This tournament has concluded. Congratulations to the following students:

Artem Raskin (2009) & Mary Wu (2008): 4-0 undefeated in Varsity Parliamentary Debate

Congrats!

Due to Valley, there will be no practice this monday. Practices will resume at the normal schedule on Wednesday, 10/3.

First CFL League Debate Tournament will be at St. Francis High School in Mountain View this Saturday, Sept. 29, 2007.

Congrats to the following student:

Stephen Leung (2009): 4-0 undefeated in Junior Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Congrats!

For those of you that did not come to registration night, you can pick up packets from Mr. Church in room 75. Please get them back ASAP.