Pictures, Tournament Day One

Matt and Adrian, Akron's sweathearts

Dance party in the parking lot

Lookin' good, Tyler

The team, heading towards the vans

Manly coaches

Jacob loads the extemp tubs

Team Flickr Page

We've been posting a sampling of the amazing pictures Charles has been taking all weekend. If you'd like to see all the pictures, here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmuforensics/

Tournament Day One

We're half way through the first day of the tournament. So far, so good.

We left the hotel at an insanely early 6:30, but everyone was wide awake and excited. After a few wrong turns (thanks Jeremy) we finally made it to the Akron campus. For a while, we weren't sure the vans would fit in the parking deck - low ceilings - but we risked it and barely made it in. Even though it was freezing in the parking deck, we had an impromptu dance party.

Warm-ups were great. Because we were there so early (extemp draw wasn't until 9) we had more than an hour to get ready. They were full of energy and loads of fun! First round went off at 9:30. Everything was great - except for the shockingly cold wind. Luckily things have warmed up as the day has gone on.

As we've seen kids between rounds, they seem to be happy with their performances. Everyone's focused and staying positive. They all are buzzing about the great performances they've seen from other teams.

The last round should wrap up at around 7. We're having dinner brought in to the hotel, so we should be able to get plenty of sleep tonight. Sleep is a weapon at nationals.

Thanks for the well wishes. We'll keep posting whenever we have some downtime.

Day Three Pictures

Thanks to Victoria for the fruit

Jason thrown into the pool

Jer-Bear and Peter in the pool

Freshman meeting with Peter at the pool

Jeff gives a speech at the district dinner

Quincey and Regan

The team (and Melody) rock the district dinner

Day Two Pictures

Kyle and Kevin

A good omen

Katie and Quincey

Mickey

The team

Pictures from day one

Jeff reading an alumni letter

Jeff, Nick, David, Katie, and Kevin

The team in the lobby, waiting for dinner

Cookie cake from Debbie Simon

The team

Thoughts after day one of hotel prep...

Hello everyone,

We made it through a long day of work sessions in our hotel. We're all exhausted, having performed our events several times each. The progress we've made today is exceptional, and everyone is in good spirits. Despite the hour, I think we'll still find time to rock the hotel's awesome pool (it's open 24 hours. Score). 

As I write, we're reading through the first few of the many letters of support we've received. Thanks to everyone who sent us good luck messages. You have no idea how much we appreciate it. 

Check back soon. We hope to be posting pictures from our trip so far.