ASDC is only halfway done, but we’ve already exceeded our own expectations. Round 1 was on the first day, and we went up against Ateneo 6. We beat them by a clear margin, and it was exactly the confidence boost we needed to push us on.
Coming into the second day, we wanted to start strong. However, we were set back while debating a topic (homosexuality) which I’d done well in in the past. We lost to St. Scholastica’s College 2 by a close margin. Knowing that there was no need to let one loss push us down, we capitalized in the next round, winning by another clear margin against Benedictine International School 3. The last round of the day was the most dramatic, the most intense. We were pitted against a fellow Southridge team, a higher one at that, in Southridge 2. It wasn’t that we weren’t confident that we could beat them, it was that we didn’t want to have to cannibalize so early in the tournament. It was a tight debate, and a very close one, but we ended up winning by a close margin. I personally felt bad for SR 2, but all is fair in the debate field.
In order to qualify into the next round, we needed six points. We had three, and we came into today, Day 3, needing to win at least two more rounds.
Round 5 was against Miriam College 2. It was a pretty good round, and we won with a clear margin. With four points, we knew that we would have to win at least one of the next rounds (which would be silent rounds, meaning the winner would not be announced). In Round 6, we were originally pitted against Xavier 1, one of the more powerful teams in the tournament.
However, after resolving some issues, we were rematched with Ateneo 2.
Ateneo was a tough opponent, mainly because one of their members was a part of the Philippine Team which competed in the World Schools Debate Championship. Throughout the whole debate, which was on drunk driving, there came a point in which, even before the debate was over, I already conceded defeat. Of course, this was all in my head, and I knew that we would have to fight until the end. I wasn’t even convincing myself anymore! I knew that we lost the round, and that we would have to win the last round in order to break.
I decided to pray. My lola told me before the tournament to pray the rosary and the Prayer to the Holy Spirit whenever I could. I prayed the rosary going to the tournament, and realized that, with thirty minutes left till the last round, it was an opportune moment to pray the rosary. So, I walked down twelve flights of stairs, and back them up again as I prayed the rosary, entrusting everything to God.
As we went back into the convening room to wait for the match-ups for the last round, I tried psyching myself, and the team, up. As they showed the match-ups, my eyes gauged themselves out of the sockets. We had apparently won the last round! Since we moved up in the match-ups, this meant we were going to a higher room. I couldn’t believe it. Was my prayer answered that quickly? I wanted to err on the side of caution, and went into the last round, against Woodrose, with a must-win attitude.
The round was on, interestingly, women. It was a very heated debate, which was on the verge of becoming personal, and the debate could really have gone either way. We knew that Woodrose 2 would be a tough team since they had won five straight rounds coming into the competition.
We headed straight to the Break Night Party (which was literally a party, dancing, games, and all) to await the decision. After a couple of failed attempts to dance, I decided to just hang around and watch people. I’ll blog about that another time, since it’s getting late.
And then, it was time to announce the breaks. First break, South Korea. No surprise. Second break, Ateneo 1. No surprise. Third, fourth… fifth break, Southridge 3. We all cheered and literally jumped for joy. We were the fifth best team in Asia, as of the elimination rounds!
I was aiming to get five wins, and we got six. I was aiming to break as one of the bottom eight teams, and broke in the top five. What else could be better? What, did any of us make Top Ten?
Props go out to Pempen and Julian, my two teammates, without whom, none of this would be possible. Congratulations also to Southridge 1, RJ, Marty, and Justin, who broke third! And of course, to our whole team for their support, and those who trained us, Mikki, James, and even Ely, whom I learned a lot of useful stuff from in one day.
Please pray for our success tomorrow. We’re up against Philippine Science, whom we know we’re more than capable of putting up a fight against. God is Good!
Mutually Exclusive 