Sophomore Joey Antonelli continues to make strides in his Speech and Debate career even with the change of online debates. On Nov. 14th Antonelli made it to the quarter final round in the Varsity Lincoln Douglas debate during the Toro Classic Speech and Debate tournament hosted virtually by Mountain View High School.

Andrew Martinez: What would you say are your largest achievements in Speech and Debate?

Joey Antonelli: Yeah, so I broke at ASU to octo finals, Grapevine finals, Bronx science semis, meadows 4th place, Apple valley semis finals.

AM: Can you give a basic description of how speech and debate works? 

JA: Yeah so basically since I only do debate the way that works is we are assigned a topic which is about a policy and you have a month to prepare for that topic and you go to a tournament and you have to debate both for it and against of why or why not we should do something.

AM: How long have you been involved in Speech and Debate?

JA: I’m currently going into my third year, I did one year in middle school plus these two years I’ve been at Perry.

AM: What do you enjoy about Speech and Debate?

JA: I really enjoy getting new perspectives on things I usually wouldn’t think about and the reward of working hard.

AM: Why did you join Speech and Debate?

JA: I originally joined speech and debate because an older friend of mine really enjoyed debating and said it’s an experience that everyone should have.

AM: Back when competitions were in person, what was your favorite event that you traveled to? 

JA: Yeah, so my favorite tournament was at UOFA… It was really fun to experience a different part of Arizona and stay at a hotel with the team for 2 days.

AM: How would you describe the feeling of being in an intense debate and doing great, or maybe poorly?

JA: Yeah, I would say no matter what it’s always stressful because it’s very subjective, unlike football where there is a definite winner sometimes judges miss something which always causes a bit of stress.

AM: What would you say to someone who is considering joining Speech and debate?

JA: I would say even if it doesn’t look like something for you, you should try it just for the experience and the ability to travel and become a much better public speaker which helps a lot.

AM: What do you want your future in Speech and Debate to look like?

JA: I think I would like to try and get some people on the team and keep competing as much as we can and win for Perry.

AM: How do you feel being very successful in speech and debate currently, and how do you see this carrying on to future years?

JA: Yeah so I think right now it’s been my best season and I think if I keep working at it I could be going to nationals but who knows with COVID-19 and everything.