One Clap Speech and Debate
One Clap Speech and Debate is a resource for Speech and Debate coaches and competitors. We interview heroes of the Speech and Debate community about the transformative power of the activity and work to provide free and helpful content for Speech and Debate enthusiasts. Lyle Wiley, an English teacher and Speech and Debate Coach in Thermopolis, Wyoming, hosts the show.
One Clap Speech and Debate
Camp One Clap 2, Episode 7: Chilling Tales and Balancing Acts with Josh Thompson - 2023 Expository National Champion
6:7 - Camp One Clap 2024: Day 7
For notes and details about the episode, check out the website here:
https://www.oneclapspeechanddebate.com/post/camp-one-clap-2-episode-7-chilling-tales-and-balancing-acts-with-josh-thompson-2023-expository-n
Ever felt stretched too thin by a packed schedule? You're not alone. Join us as we chat with Josh Thompson, the 2023 Expository National Champion. We dive into the art of balancing commitments, with Josh sharing his own experiences juggling speech, choir, jazz, and more, all while navigating the pressures of senior year. Learn from his journey and discover the importance of setting boundaries, prioritizing mental health, and recognizing that true worth isn't measured by the number of activities, but by the passion and dedication poured into them. These insights are gold for anyone feeling the weight of overcommitment.
Public speaking can be terrifying, but facing those fears can be transformative. Josh opens up about his personal battles with stage fright, recounting moments of forgetting lines and dealing with tough audiences.
If you’d like to join the discussion here at One Clap Speech and Debate, shoot me an email at lylewiley@gmail.com or reach out here on the website.
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well, hey campers. It's been a whole week of content here at camp one clap two on the one clap speech and debate podcast. Day seven of the clapocalypse is here and josh thompson, cheyenne east alum and 2023 expository National Champion, is back to camp for a chat. I'm your camp director and host of the One Clap Speech and Debate podcast, lyle Wiley here's hoping we can provide folks some inspirational fire to overcome fears and bring their powerful voices into the speech and debate season. Quick reminder check the One Clap socials for today's social media challenge. I love seeing all the engagement and it's been a lot of fun to see so many campers getting involved.
Lyle Wiley:Let me tell you about Josh, who is here to talk about overcoming fears and obstacles in speech and debate. Josh Thompson is an upcoming college freshman who competed in speech and debate for four years in high school. He went to nationals every year, even becoming the national champion of expository speaking in 2023. He's competed at the National Individual Event Tournament of Champions several times and was a finalist at James Logan Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Tournament with his duo partner, ben. He's a major advocate for speaking up for what you believe in and looks forward to coaching novices and, hopefully, judging in college. So let's go ahead and hop right into my interview with second year camp staffer Josh Thompson. Welcome to Campbell and Clap 2. I'm here with Josh Thompson again back for more. I don't know, josh, you're glutton for punishment. I think a little bit.
Josh Thompson:I guess, I don't know.
Lyle Wiley:It's so good to have you back at camp this year, although this is the flapocalypse, which is hard to say, but uh, it's a, it's a kind of a scary time here at camp. One clap, two, and we're going to need your help to navigate through it. Um, all right, and first thing I want to talk to you about is like a scary story or movie or book or anything that's spooky, that's really stuck with you. What's like your favorite spooky, scary story?
Josh Thompson:well, I think I have two one that is just my favorite and one that has, like you said, really stuck with me and has really scared me, um. So first of all, my uh, favorite scary movie is the shining um. Rest in peace. Shelly devol rest in peace. She's an incredible actor and, like, the production behind that movie is horrible. All the stuff that stanley kubrick did was messed up, but it's just a great scary movie and I love the vibes and you know the feeling of the hotel and everything. I think it's awesome, but I'd say, like the scariest thing that has stuck with me. We actually just watched it. Have you ever heard of Midsommar? Oh, yeah.
Lyle Wiley:Yes, yes, yeah, definitely a visually beautiful movie like yeah, kind of like in a sort of ridiculously beautiful movie with like some, yeah, absolutely banger transitions, like I love a couple of the transitions in that movie. I will think about them a bunch when I think about you know, good filmmaking yeah, but, and the music is incredible the colors.
Lyle Wiley:But yeah, like in terms of disturbing factor, it's pretty pretty, it's pretty up there. Also kind of like, yeah, in terms of psychologically sort of aligning you with some maybe some problematic, uh feelings and and because you kind of sort of start to get seduced by the cult yourself a little bit in the film I feel like so yeah, absolutely, especially by the end.
Josh Thompson:You're like wait a minute. Am I agreeing with them or?
Lyle Wiley:like, yeah, maybe she's better off with this situation. I don't know yeah, exactly yeah, and it's oh man the longer I sit with it, the more I think it's a pretty important, impressive, uh piece of horror. You know like, yeah, the fairy tale stuff too, like the inverted fairy tale stuff is really cool.
Josh Thompson:Um, yeah, I, I love it, but it is incredibly disturbing, so okay good choices, good choices, uh.
Lyle Wiley:What about like okay. So I'm curious if there's like an apocalypse, an apocalyptic type of event, you know so, zombie apocalypse or, you know, nuclear fallout or something like that, and we have, we're living in basically a dystopian novel. What are you, josh? What are your chances of survival on a scale of one to ten? Are you feeling pretty confident that you're going to survive? Do you have any skills to bring to the table here?
Josh Thompson:Or are you in trouble? You know, I think it kind of depends on what kind of apocalypse we're talking about, because if it's one where, like I'm the last human alive, or like one of the last humans alive, I might be okay Because, like my dad grew up in the woods of pennsylvania, he's taught me all these survival skills and everything, so I might be able to last out in the wild for a couple days. But if it's one where I have to, like, kill other people to survive, I don't think I could do that. I I think I'm too nice. I think I would be the first to go, like if it was me versus them, I don't know, I might just be like, can't we be friends? And then they, you know, feed me to the zombie horde or something I don't know.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, josh, you kind of strike me as the kind of guy and don't take this the wrong way this is the kind of guy I am, but the kind of guy that would struggle to, like you know, even slap a mosquito off your arm, you know, like well, I don't, I don't struggle there, I have.
Josh Thompson:I have the type that mosquitoes love the blood type and I I will massacre mosquitoes if that's what it comes down to.
Lyle Wiley:But other than that, yeah, I, I see where you're coming from yes, uh, just just a, a real nice guy who doesn't like to hurt people, which is a good thing. It's a good thing. I will say, like the speech and debate community, that the folks I've talked to about this, like not very many of us, are very confident in our survival skills in the event of the apocalypse.
Josh Thompson:So let's just, yeah, let's hope that civilization doesn't fall. Yeah, we're good communicators, but you know, like yeah, maybe we could be the diplomats that prevent the apocalypse. Let's hope for that. I like that. Yeah, I like that.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, All right, Josh. Well, you know you had another fabulous season this year, your senior year. You went to nationals and had another great year. What were some of your highlights from this season and some of the memories that you're going to treasure the most from your high school speech and debate experience in the season?
Josh Thompson:Oh man. Well, this season was definitely one for memories. As far as competition goes. My duo partner partner Ben and I, uh, we did really good, um, but it wasn't anything like super crazy like what happened at nationals last year, um. So, as far as competition goes, you know, we we did good but it wasn't super like memorable per se. But I'd say the trips that we went on were absolutely very memorable, and especially James Logan, I'd say that was probably my favorite this year. That was in January, I'm pretty sure, and we packed everything up and went to California. It was beautiful, it was warm, but also super rainy, which I didn't expect, but rain's my favorite weather, so I love that.
Josh Thompson:The competition itself was really cool. It was themed about Martin Luther King Jr and we got to see some really cool pieces, met some really cool people and, um, there were actually people that we met that we had rounds with that ended up making it to finals at nationals. Um, and it was just really cool to see them again at night talk and nationals, um, and we actually made friends with them and, um, like they recognized us, they remembered our piece, which was really cool. Um, we did the mitchells versus the machines as a duo and that in itself was just super fun and super memorable.
Josh Thompson:There were so many things we did with it, like the way we performed it at nationals was a completely different piece than what we did at the beginning of the year. We had different characters, we had entirely different scenes, new blocking, new ways of saying the lines and everything. It was just awesome. I don't know if Ben would agree with me on James Logan being that great because he was sick the whole time. He had a really bad stomach issue and that wasn't fun. But the trip itself was really fun and it was really cool because my family got to come to some of the tournaments like NITOC and Nationals. I actually came all the way out to um, iowa, and minnesota was in col.
Josh Thompson:Oh, minnesota yeah yeah, yeah it was. It was just really fun and, um, I did the producers as a humor. It was just a very, a really good way to end high school speech. I'd say it was a, it was a really good year and um, great memories, great inside jokes and just a lot of fun.
Lyle Wiley:So, um, I'm satisfied you had a really I mean a really great group of East teammates this year.
Josh Thompson:So yeah, absolutely Everyone. Even the novices were just powerhouses. It was crazy.
Lyle Wiley:Well, I'm glad that you had a good year for your senior year. It's probably pretty bittersweet and I'm sure you're excited for the future, but also, kind of like you know, it's kind of hard to leave some of that stuff behind.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, that's true, there's there's things I won't miss, and then there's a lot of things that I will you know that, I will you know.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, yeah, I understand that. So is there anything that you like specifically uniquely learned about this activity or yourself this season, you think?
Josh Thompson:Yeah, I, I definitely. Um, this was definitely maybe it competes with my junior year. Uh, that was pretty crazy. But this year was very busy. I had a lot of stuff going on Besides just schoolwork. I had speech, obviously, I had choir and our small singers jazz group and I was in the National Honor Society. So I would volunteer and obviously, you know, applying to college and scholarships and getting all that stuff figured out. It was crazy.
Josh Thompson:It was very busy year and I definitely in the past I've kind of gone all out with speech and debate. You know I've done three or four events at a time and I just kind of loaded up and did everything because I wanted to do everything. But it was also very draining and very I got burnt out by the end of the season and I was like I even got to the point, like last year, where I was like I don't know if I want to do this next year. I was just so like worn out and this year I definitely took it a lot easier. Um, I kinda paced myself and I realized like it's okay to just focus in on one event or two events by the end of the season. It was just duo that we were focused on and, um, honestly, I'm I think it was more beneficial that way, because even if we didn't break at nationals or anything like that, we still something. You know, it was one of those things and we talked about this because we did work on it a lot. We were talking about how we'd rather have worked on it and not break than not worked on it and not break. You know, I think I said that grammatically very incorrect, but it's like if we did break and we worked that hard, we could be that much more proud. But since we still put in that work, we can just be proud of what we did and we tried our best, and no one can say we didn't, because we did put hours upon hours into it.
Josh Thompson:And I think that was definitely really, really good and it's way different than anything I've done in the past, because in the past I've done a lot of events, but I kind of got them to a point where they worked and then just let them go, because I was like, well, they've been working, I've been winning things, so I don't need to change them. They've been working, I've been winning things, so I don't need to change them. Then I would stop going to practice. I would just let it sit. That's one thing you can't really do once you get to nationals, because you have to freshen it up.
Josh Thompson:What works in Wyoming does not work at a national level tournament with people from all over the states, national level tournament with people from all over the States. So I definitely learned a lot about how speech works, how what really does work at those bigger tournaments and what doesn't, what people are kind of looking for. Um, I learned a lot about myself, about doing what I need to, and you know, like I was, I was planning on doing expository again. Um, there was talk of maybe winning twice in a row, like how cool would that be? You know, maybe coming back and being the reigning champion at um expository and everything.
Josh Thompson:But I got so busy by the end of the year that I just kind of talked to Mr Viney and I was like this is getting insane. I can't write this and do everything I need to to be successful at the end of high school, you know. And so I didn't have a backup, I didn't have a supplemental and I put all my chips in, so to speak, for Duo and I ended up losing that bet. But I'm still glad that I didn't add more stress to my plate with an entire other event and I think that's a good lesson for people, because I know a lot of people who they're all in and sometimes they can do it.
Josh Thompson:Sometimes you get a Dani Schultz who does eight events at one tournament and is still graduating high school and she did it and you know she loved it. But for anyone who's feeling overwhelmed with it, it's okay to not do everything. You can take a weekend off. You know you don't have to go to every tournament. Not do everything. You can take a weekend off. You know you don't have to go to every tournament. And, um, I think that was definitely the biggest lesson I learned this year.
Lyle Wiley:Setting boundaries is tricky and it's especially hard when you, when you like, put certain expectations on yourself and stuff. But it's super important knowing your limits and like what is healthy for you. Yeah, absolutely. I've had a lot of folks talking about that realization for them in this year and in the last couple of years. Just like that, you're okay that you, josh Thompson, are as you are, uh, the. You don't require validation through the, the events that you do in this activity, that you are a valuable and talented and hardworking person who puts everything that they can into what they do. And so you know, uh, but it's a difficult thing sometimes because we, you know, we set certain expectations for ourselves.
Lyle Wiley:We want to try to do it all, but you can't do it all. Sometimes you have to take a step back. That's a tough, tough lesson to learn, but it sounds like it was healthy for you this year to know your limitations and then be careful about those.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, absolutely, and I ended up having more fun this season because of it, because I was able to just kind of sit back and enjoy the tournaments and I got breaks in between rounds and you know, it was great.
Lyle Wiley:I think there's a lot of pressure that gets put on seniors too. Then, you know it was, it was great. I think there's a lot of pressure that gets put on seniors too. You know it's like weird. Uh, you know, as as leaders and stuff which I mean, like you know, some of that is is good pressure, but then there's like all these like things outside of the speech world that happen with seniors that are really stressful, that I think a lot of times we forget about um other activities, of course, same expectations and other activities, but also just preparation for the world outside of school, trying to figure out what you're going to do for next steps.
Lyle Wiley:A lot of times it's like scholarships and all sorts of like applications that are super high stakes and some hard classes. I mean my seniors in Thermopolis. A lot of them are taking like a full college load, which I mean is is really intense for a lot of students. They're not used to that load, so the academics is really difficult too. So, yeah, I think this is a good reminder to coaches and to other competitors that are going to be seniors that you know just, it's your mental health and your health, your physical health, are the most important thing in the equation.
Josh Thompson:Like you got to take care of yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And having gone through all that and being on this side of it, I can definitely say that it's hard to have that in mind when you're not a senior. But as soon as you are a senior and you have all those pressures, you're like, oh my gosh, how did they do this last year? Like thinking of the seniors who graduated before you, you know, and it's hard to get that perspective and understand that struggle unless you're in it. But it is definitely important to keep in mind for other competitors and coaches, just to remember like, yes, we are at the top, we are leaders and we want to support everyone and kind of set an example, to try to meet. But also we're human and we're, you know, fresh adults in some cases that we don't really know what we're doing, and you know it's just. It's good to kind of put yourself in other people's shoes and understand what's going on.
Lyle Wiley:So boundaries are super important and recognizing that when, when you need to take a step back um, it'll actually a lot of times, like in your situation help you enjoy an activity that you really love to, like you know, be real about what is the correct amount of work that you need to put in for this year yeah, absolutely yeah, I have a ghostly interlude here. I want to like uh, I want to see what josh thompson thinks about ghosts and the paranormal. Are you a believer? What do you think?
Josh Thompson:Wow, you know, I think I definitely pride myself on being very logical and intellectual, so to speak. That might sound bad, but I, you know, I love learning about science and the real world and what's going on, but I definitely am. I definitely do believe. I think there's things that science just can't explain, and sometimes you just got to see those things for yourself. And I grew up like in a Christian home, you know, those are kind of that's kind of my belief system.
Josh Thompson:So I don't necessarily think the paranormal is bad always.
Josh Thompson:I think there can be bad paranormal stuff, but I think sometimes it's really good and, um, you know, believing in like spirits and stuff. It's not necessarily the classic like white bed sheet with two holes cut out, um, it's not like cupboards opening and closing in the middle of the night or things like that. Sometimes it's as simple as like getting a sign from someone you've lost and it's kind of like oh, they're still here, you know. Um, and one thing that my family kind of experiences is my grandpa mayor on my mom's side. After he passed away, my mom saw a monarch butterfly, and so whenever we see one of those, they always like land on us, like they never just kind of pass us. They always land on one of us and we always say that that's grandpa saying hi or giving us a hug, you know, and um, it's just things like that, um, that I kind of subscribe to. But I also think there's really scary haunted places all around the world that are absolutely there's ghosts there and they're not friendly well, that's lovely.
Lyle Wiley:Uh, I uh especially love the butterfly. Um, yeah, that's, that's, that's a, that's a great reminder, no matter what. So yeah, absolutely the folks that that are, that are that are gone, are never really gone for from us. So, yeah, um well, okay, all right, so that's a pretty good answer.
Lyle Wiley:Um, also like funny to me, I know you're a highly logical, like straight, you know, like balanced thinker, but you're also very open-minded man and that's good yeah absolutely so, uh, here at camp, one clap two, we're talking about overcoming fears and obstacles a lot, and I thought maybe you'd have some like spooky stories for us about times that you had oh yeah, scary moments in speech or things that helped you kind of like grow, but at the time were like pretty scary. You have a few stories for us absolutely.
Josh Thompson:um, when you do speech for as long as I have, you get a lot of stories and I think you know I've done humor every year. I'm a humor kid. I can't beat the humor kid allegations because they're all true, but I think the scariest thing that can happen as a humor kid Well, there's two. One is messing up and forgetting all your lines mid-performance and the second is getting stonewalled where no one laughs and it is painful. And the first one that happened at my first in-person tournament. It was at Casper College, my sophomore year. It was finals, humor finals. Everyone was in there, all the people on my team who wanted to come watch, some coaches, some of my friends, my girlfriend.
Josh Thompson:At the time I was doing what is still probably my favorite humor, that I've done One of them and I was going strong. I was getting lots of laughs, I was feeling really good about it, but I had memorized on the way there. I was checking my script on the bus and halfway through the piece I just lost it. I just went blank and I had no idea what I was on next and I was like, oh what, uh, hold on, sorry. And like I just froze and I was like I could feel my face, like it's one of those things like when you're afraid you go pale and like all the blood runs away. But I could feel all the blood rushing to my face and I felt like I was just burning. My cheeks were turning red and I was like, oh, crap, um, and I had to. I literally I had like my school ipad with me. I had to walk over. It was like on a table just in case I forgot. I had to walk over in front of the whole audience and look at my script and, like, continue from where I messed up. And that was still one of, like, the scariest moments of my whole speech career and it, uh, it's, and like I've seen that happen to other people and it's one of those things where I just can't judge them because that's happened to me and I get it and I know how much that sucks. So I I just kind of smile, I'm like you got this. You know like, keep going, you'll find it eventually because your brain knows it, it's up there. But when you overthink it, sometimes it's just gone. And um, that also happens when you get stonewalled, um, because if you're in a bad round where people just don't laugh. Either they're just being mean or they're just not feeling it, because sometimes it's like 9pm at a strange place you've never been to before and you just don't feel like laughing.
Josh Thompson:I make it a point to laugh at every humor I see, even if it's not funny, like I just, even if it's not funny to me. I know how much. I know how hard it is to get up there and just be wacky and goofy with all these characters and you just got to support each other because I've had rooms where no one laughs and it sucks and it makes you think you're doing something wrong and even if every other round you're doing fine, everyone's laughing, that one round can make you feel like you are not funny, you're not doing it right, and that's not the case. Usually there's an underlying factor. Sometimes there's teams that are afraid of you because you have been doing so well and they just purposefully don't do that to try to psych you out. Um, I've seen that happen before and it's it's not, it's not okay, but it happens and that's scary and um, but um, you've, you've talked with solomon, haven't you?
Josh Thompson:yeah, yes, um, so we're actually this is kind of random. I haven't you? Yeah, yes, Um, so we're. Actually this is kind of random. I haven't mentioned this yet, but we're working on a movie right now. Um, we have a friend who's making a movie for a film fest and um, you're involved with that too.
Lyle Wiley:That's cool.
Josh Thompson:Yeah yeah, we're like best friends in that movie Our characters are. But one of the days that we were filming, solomon was talking about this book that he read. That kind of talks about how your brain works in high stress situations and there's like a. Did he talk to you about this?
Lyle Wiley:The Inner Game of Tennis.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, he talked about this.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, yeah, you should tell me what you took away from that, though?
Josh Thompson:Yeah, so the biggest thing I took away is like sometimes there's a disconnect between what you want to do and what you actually end up doing. And usually that happens when you think too hard about something, because if you just go in and do it, you always do better than you do if you think too hard about it. And in this example obviously it's like a tennis match, but it works for speech too. And what Solomon was talking about like what happened at Nationals last year for him was he was overthinking his piece while he was writing it or while he was giving it, because he was worried that oh, everyone else here is in finals, they're all really good, maybe I should change some things. And that just got to him and you know he had a stumble and I just took away that.
Josh Thompson:Sometimes if you're in your own head too much, that can really damage your performance because, truthfully, you've done the work, you know what to do, and the worst thing you can do is try to change what's been working the last second, because that's happened before and sometimes, especially in humor, you're like, okay, no one's laughing, maybe I have to change it up, and that can really hurt you.
Josh Thompson:So I would say, as far as those situations go, even if no one's laughing, you just got to do what you know, because even if the judge isn't giving you reactions, they might still give you the one because they just like your piece that much and how you have been doing it. If that's been working, there's no reason to change it and obviously, like I said earlier, it's good to keep things fresh and work on things, but the time to do that is not when you're performing or like before you start. That's not the time to start making changes. So, um yeah, just just don't get in your own head and just do what you know, because you know that's how you get through your whole speech without missing out you know like trusting yourself and trusting the process.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, and that's the thing, especially when you do have anxiety Cause you know, I I have that and I I deal with that a lot and, um, it does feel like the end of the world sometimes and you're like, how will I ever recover from this? Like I can never show my face at a speech tournament. Ever again I've I've felt that, and but the reality is like people are already so like involved in themselves that, even if that does happen, you usually forget about it and no one in a speech round, unless they're a jerk, is gonna judge you for that. They're just gonna be like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry that happened. Like I've been there, we've all been there.
Josh Thompson:That's that's happened to literally everyone who's ever done speech debate, because getting up and talking in front of people is scary, um, but no one's gonna judge you. Everyone, just like you know, can sympathize with that pain and that fear, but it it really isn't the end of the world and no one's going to remember it. You know, next round, once you get them laughing again, they'll already forget about it. And so, yeah, just keep that in mind. Yeah.
Lyle Wiley:We have this tendency to sort of like blow things up in our head sometimes, especially us anxiety folks, where it's like, oh no, I'll never be able to share my face again. I show my face and there's like what, what's happening in our head and what we think are happening in other people's heads, it's pretty much just happening in our head.
Josh Thompson:Usually it's not happening in their heads.
Lyle Wiley:So yeah, the the worst case scenario very rarely is what actually happens, you know yes, exactly so, although if you're like me, you're really good at like projecting those worst case scenarios in your head.
Josh Thompson:That's true, and sometimes they happen because you think it's gonna happen.
Lyle Wiley:So much you're like. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, you know, it's true it's so.
Lyle Wiley:It sucks well, josh.
Josh Thompson:Uh, what's next for you and your anxiety riddled self well, I've actually been doing really good this summer, but during the season it was, it was rough, um but. So next up, obviously we have this movie we're filming. I don't know if I could say too much about it but I don't know if you.
Josh Thompson:Broadcast. Yeah, I'm super excited and we're going to wrap up filming in August and then I have a senior trip coming up. I'm going to go to Universal Orlando with Ben and his brother for five days, so that'll be really fun. I'm really looking forward.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, um, and you know we have Cheyenne frontier days in town right now, um, so there's the carnival and all the rides you can do and that's my favorite part. So I'm going to be going on those rides all day. Once we're there, it's that's. I'm, I'm super excited, um, and then I'm off to UW. I'm going to going to move in at the university of Wyoming on August 16th and, um start my first semester as a college freshman, which is really weird to say.
Lyle Wiley:It's exciting. What are you? What are you planning to study, josh?
Josh Thompson:I'm going into biology. Um, there's a lot of things I'm thinking about doing with it. I'm not entirely set on any yet. Um, I thought about coming back and being a teacher. Um, I thought about just being like a research assistant or like a genetic counselor. Um, the baseline is I just want to help people with whatever I go into. Um, so still deciding on that, but biology is going to be my major.
Lyle Wiley:So, yeah, awesome, I do think you'd be a great teacher. I mean I, you know, obviously I'm always looking that we need good teachers, we need great teachers, so I try to encourage people to think about it. Yeah, I know, it's not the most sexy profession in terms of like pay and status and all that good stuff.
Josh Thompson:But I think that's great.
Lyle Wiley:Thank you, yeah, but yeah Are you at all interested in, like staying in touch with the speech and debate community in the future, are you going to try to do some, like you know, coaching on the side, helping people out?
Josh Thompson:Yeah, I'm not planning on doing it. I'm not planning on competing again at UW, but I am. I signed up for an alumni membership for the NSDA and I'm planning on coming back to Cheyenne to help coach and judge tournaments. And a couple of years from now, when I'm able to, I'd love to help judge at nationals or something like that. I think that'd be really cool. If I'm able to, I'd love to help judge at nationals or something like that.
Lyle Wiley:I think that'd be really cool. Um, if I'm able to, so yeah, that's awesome man. Uh, hopefully I can continue to snag you to, to get you on the podcast too, to give your awesome perspective and help people out in that way too.
Josh Thompson:So yeah, I would. I would love to whenever. Whenever you need someone, let me know.
Lyle Wiley:I, uh, I want to close out our interview. We're like closing out interviews with discussions about you know, you know there's a lot of like stats and surveys thrown around about how, like, folks really really are afraid than public speaking, and then you get these surveys, which is crazy, but so like, if that's true, like what? What do you think? Like, why is participating in speech and debate worth all of that fear and terror of presenting things in the public? What do you think?
Josh Thompson:That is a great question, and I asked myself that a lot while I was competing. I was like, is this really worth it? Cause, again, doing this activity with anxiety seems like it's kind of self-defeating, um. But then you ask literally anyone who does it and they're like, oh yeah, I have anxiety. You're like, oh okay, so we're all crazy, um, but no, it's I.
Josh Thompson:I'd say the most important thing about speech and debate is just like getting a message out. That's why we do it, and it can really be anything. Sometimes it's incredible and groundbreaking and you know it changes someone's perspective on the world for the rest of their life. And other times it's just a silly message about how important family is, or dad jokes, and you know it can really be anything and that's what's so special about it. I've seen people just get up and talk about nature because they love it. I've seen a poetry that was just about how cool nature is and I loved it because it is great and, um, you could talk about whatever you want to talk about, and I think you'll get more out of it if it's something you believe in personally, um, but if you just do something because it's fun, then by all means more power to you, um, and the skills you get with, uh, learning confidence and just how to communicate effectively. That's a very important skill that a lot of people lack and even if you're playing a character with big emotions, sometimes it helps you to express your emotions effectively, even if you don't realize it.
Josh Thompson:Sometimes that happens on the subconscious level, but sometimes, like there were times doing the Mitchells versus the machines you know it's a very funny piece. We had crazy blocking. There's a giant furby at one point that ben and I like combined into and I played the ears with my elbows, you know, and um, but it's also a very grounded, heartfelt family story and there were some times while I was performing and you know whether it was thinking about oh my gosh, this is the last time we're performing in Cheyenne or in Wyoming, or just the last time we're performing in general I just it kind of hit me and I was like, oh my gosh, this piece is really important and I felt it and like sometimes I would just tear up, like I would look at Ben after we were done and I'd just be like, okay, I'm going to cry now, you know, like it, it just hit me and that is what is so incredible about speech and debate is sometimes there's a message that just lands at the right time and it it, it just there's. There's no other feeling like it, like when you feel spoken to, there's nothing else like it. And I think that's also that's half of it. Half of it is giving your story and half of it is hearing someone else's, and both are just so important.
Josh Thompson:And once you get past the initial layer of fear and sometimes that never goes away, like I even my last round I still got that anxiety before going up but as soon as you kind of get used to it and you get over that, once you start seeing the benefits that doing this activity brings, it's just it's all worth it. And sometimes you don't see that until you're done with it. Until you're done with it. But you can always look back and be like oh wow, this really helped me become a better person. And sometimes you might have a bad community, you might run with a tough crowd or your family might have some not very good opinions, and sometimes you just need to hear perspectives from other people to realize like, oh my gosh, I never thought about it that way or I never knew this was a problem and you just learned so much and it's, it's awesome yeah, I mean the.
Lyle Wiley:The level of advocacy that's at our fingertips with this activity is really pretty special and neat.
Josh Thompson:It really is.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, yeah, and you know we can all learn, so it's great to have so much different information out there for us to learn from. All that said, it doesn't really alleviate the terror, I'm sure for many of us of speaking with people. That's true, but maybe, hopefully, it makes it worthwhile.
Josh Thompson:Yeah, yeah, yeah. When it's all said and done.
Lyle Wiley:Well, thank you, Josh, for being here to help us navigate the clapocalypse.
Josh Thompson:I love having you here.
Lyle Wiley:I hope to have you back on the podcast again soon and I appreciate everything that you bring.
Josh Thompson:And I wish you the very best in the future man.
Lyle Wiley:Thank you so much. Thanks so much to Josh for coming by Camp One Clap again this year. What's new at camp tomorrow? Well, sisters and speech superstars Ella Goodman and Addie Goodman will be here to talk about ways to manage anxiety in speech and debate performances. Remember social media challenges are live for every day that we have camp this August. We'll see you tomorrow, campers. Oh, and also, if you get kissed by an alpaca, don't worry, it's not the end of the world, it's just alpaca lips For Camp One Clap. This is Camp Director Wiley signing off.