On the weekend of Feb. 3-4, Samford’s debate team won the UT Austin Tournament. This makes it the second back-to-back tournament they’ve won recently, following a tournament win at the University of Indiana in January.
The win was secured by junior varsity team partners Madison Hackett and Mary Grace Hammond, but Ryan Galloway, the executive director of the debate team, emphasized that the victory was a group effort.
“All of the students had rallied behind them the night before the final round to help them with research scouting, judge adaptation, getting breakfast for them, all kinds of things,” said Galloway.
The team’s biggest key to success has always been their teamwork.
For example, freshman Laurel Pack couldn’t compete at UT Austin because she was presenting an undergraduate paper at a conference, but still drove back on Sunday to help with research and prepare Hammond and Hackett for the tournament.
Another example is Aaron Gill, who, after being eliminated from the tournament earlier that weekend, helped the team with preparation and research.
After the Indiana debate last month, the team was propelled to 4th in the American Debate Association rankings. However, they were not able to attend the Minnesota tournament the following weekend, which slipped their ranking down to 6th place, where they currently reside.
“One of the crazy things about doing well is that there’s a lot of pressure to sustain it,” Galloway said. “I think we felt more pressure last year in trying to defend the novice national title that we had won in 2022 than we did the year where we were trying to win it.”
The team’s main goal for this year is to win the JV National Championship of the American Debate Association, but as they grow closer to this goal, Galloway wants to stay humble. Citing his second favorite Bible verse, James 4:6, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
“Inevitably, in any activity, you’re going to win sometimes and you’re going to lose sometimes, but the most important thing is to be kind to your opponents, to be kind to your teammates, and to be kind to your judges, and to represent Samford University well,” said Galloway.
Galloway follows four major principles, borrowed from the late Scott Etheridge of Northwestern University (who won the national debate tournament seven times out of 11 years), which he guides the team with: commitment, hard work, teamwork and character. Of these, the team emphasizes character the most.
“We win some awards and we do great things for the university, but really what I’m trying to teach my students over time through my own admittedly flawed leadership perspective is that we should be good people, and that we should be servants of the Lord,” said Galloway.
The American Debate Association Tournament in JV nationals will be held from March 8-10, and Galloway admits he doesn’t know if his team is going to win. As he puts it, “only the Lord knows that.” What he does know is that they’re going to try their hardest and do their best to represent the university well.
“Those are the real principles of Samford debate,” Galloway explained. “You know, there’s some awards, and we’ve got some trophies over there, and over time they’ll rust, and they’ll be covered in dust, and no one will remember who won those, but maybe some things that my students did on this team [will] help them in their future lives to help others.”
For more on the Samford Debate Team, click here.
Contributing Writer
