Speech team gears up for their season

The Hot Springs County High School’s Bobcat speech and debate team kicked off their season Nov. 2.

While the team will not be traveling to tournaments until January, coach Cindy Glasson said the next few weeks will be spent choosing pieces for interpretation and writing cases for debaters.

In addition to getting the team ready for competition, plans are being made for this year’s Bobcat Invitational Tournament, which will be held on Saturday, Dec. 12.

“We didn’t do our annual tournament last year since I’d just been hired as head coach,” Glasson said. “This year, however, we’re gearing up to put our tournament back on the schedule.

“Our tournament is the only one being held on this side of the state that weekend, so there is a good chance we’ll have a fairly large turnout.”

The members of the Bobcat team do not compete at their own tournament, but previous years have seen teams from Gillette, Wright and the Big Horn Basin as well as the occasional showing from Wheatland and other schools from that area.

“This year we’re using an online registration program called Joy of Tournaments,” Glasson said. “A majority of other schools in the state and across the country use it and it saves us a lot of time and effort. Our registration went live over the weekend so the other schools can simply log on to Joy of Tournaments, register their students and eliminate us having to do all the work by hand. Its a great resource.”

With the Bobcat Invitational fast approaching, Glasson is asking anyone who would like to assist the team by judging at the tournament to please get in contact with her.

“No experience necessary,” she said. “The community has always been very helpful when it comes to judging and I’d like to encourage anyone who is interested to give it a try.

“We’ll have an evening session to show you how to fill out the judging sheets, what to look for when you’re judging and give you some tips. Even if you only have an hour or two on Saturday, we’d love to have you.”

Glasson said she likes having a variety of folks judge to show the students their judges could be anyone, from a sheriff’s deputy to a minister to someone’s grandmother.

“We have a lot of talent, not just on our own team, but across the state,” she said. “This is a great opportunity to see what these kids can do.”

If you would like to assist with tournament by being a judge, please contact Glasson via email at cglasson@hotsprings1.org or by phone at 307-331-0566.