Courtesy of Anushka Gupta

Posing for a photo along with other debaters, Anushka Gupta ’26 smiles with her trophy. One of three sophomores invited to this prestigious debate tournament, Gupta advanced to the semi-finals of the competition.

On Saturday, Feb. 10, Hendrickson High School was adorned with Valentine’s Day-themed decorations, including red tablecloths, paper heart cutouts, and garlands. Tables were lined with cups of coffee, pizza, and Lunar New Year-related sweets – all for a prestigious speech tournament. 

Two of the 20 people invited to attend this extemporaneous speaking event, the Capital City Round Robin, were extemporaneous speakers Anushka Gupta ’26 and Kate Peckham ’24. 

“The Round Robin is one of several invite-only tournaments, where coaches review your skill set on the circuit through a variety of tournaments,” Gupta said. “They talk to your coach as well, and they determine whether or not you’re qualified to be invited. And if you are, you get an invitation.”

While typically only juniors and seniors are invited to the Round Robin, Gupta was one of three sophomores to attend this year. Because a high number of Round Robin attendees usually end up going to national speech tournaments, this opportunity provided Gupta with a chance to get valuable feedback on her speeches before national tournaments begin. 

“At local tournaments, you usually only get judges that are parents, or competitors that might just be there for the grade in their class,” Gupta said. “But at a Round Robin like this, you get a lot of curated feedback, you get to talk to the judges one on one, and you get to question your competitors after every speech.”

The night before the Round Robin, Gupta practiced her extemporaneous speaking by preparing information for 20 minutes and then giving a seven minute speech on the content she researched. 

“Usually you’re given 30 minutes to [prepare] a seven minute speech, so by doing it in 20 minutes or [less], you just get faster,” Gupta said. “The end [of the speech] might be bad, but the faster you get, the more time you have to add funny jokes into your speeches or to just make it more fun and exciting.”

Gupta also prepared for a new aspect in the Round Robins, called cross examination. In cross examination, which happens after a speaker’s opponent gives a speech, consists of the speaker questioning their opponent on their speech in front of the judges for about three minutes. 

“I had never done something like that, because usually it’s just at finals and national tournaments,” Gupta said. “So I prepared by watching some NSDA (National Speech and Debate Association) final round speeches, and then making questions and practicing memorizing them.”

At the Round Robin, Gupta made it into the semi-finals, where she was one spot away from making it into the finals. 

“Eight people make it to the semis. and then top four go to finals,” Gupta said. “The pool cuts down significantly, but because there’s six preliminary rounds, it’s definitely a good evaluation. I got some bad ranks in prelims but I also got some good ranks.”

Round Robin attendees were scored out of six points, with one being the best and six the worst. Gupta’s scores varied from ones to fours, due to the judge’s unique perspectives and opinions. 

“You get good ranks, bad ranks, okay ranks, and some judges had really good feedback, but others don’t. If there was something I would change, it would be being a little bit limited on what feedback I take,” Gupta said. “One judge [told me] they didn’t like how formal [my] language was, and I think that’s really peculiar. I think it’s important to take what helps and leave what doesn’t.” 

Gupta got a glass plaque in remembrance of her experience, and in the future, she hopes to attend the Round Robin again to further hone her craft. 

“I’d like to give a huge thank you to Ms. Nash, the tournament director at Hendrickson,” Gupta said. “It’s a lot of work to put on a tournament and it was a really great experience for me. I’m excited for the opportunity to go again.”