For the Sake of Argument

MOORPARK — It’s tough to count the number of trophies that fill the shelves of the Moorpark College forensics team’s practice room.

As the most successful community college debate and speech team in the country, the squad is a force to be reckoned with at tournaments. Since it was started in 1971, it has been among the top three squads nationwide 22 times.

“Among junior colleges, we have the best record of all,” said James Wyman, director of forensics and the team’s head coach. “No school has a record compared to ours.”

But for coaches and speakers, it’s not the medals or trophies that make the grueling hours of preparation, practice and competition worthwhile.

It’s the magic of achieving what seemed to be impossible, the joy of transforming a shy speaker into a champion debater and the sense of accomplishment that comes with competition.

Katina Daleiden, 26, signed up for speech class in 1997 because she heard there wasn’t a lot of homework. In her first semester of college, Daleiden wanted one class where she could catch her breath.

But after she made her first presentation in Rolland Petrello’s class, he knew she could win at a competitive level. A shy woman, Daleiden thought Petrello’s notion was absurd.

“She refused to believe that she could be good at this,” said Petrello, one of the team’s assistant coaches. “She was a wonderfully talented person who was scared as hell.”

Petrello, a Moorpark College forensics team alumnus, has coached speech and debate champions for more than a decade at colleges and universities around the country. And he prides himself on being able to spot, recruit and refine talent.

And he’s good at it. At Daleiden’s first tournament, she took home medals in individual speech events.

At the national competition early last month, where the Moorpark squad came in seventh, she won three of the team’s 22 medals. She then won the Karl Bovero Award, which is given by the Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics Assn. to the most promising community college speaker in the Southwest.

Later in April, Daleiden was one of two speakers representing California at the Interstate Oratory Contest, the oldest forensics competition in the country.

The laurels in recent weeks were the result of hundreds of hours of work. When preparing a speech, Daleiden spent a few weeks researching and writing. She refined her 10-minute orations by working with Petrello.

And every weekend, she memorized and practiced eight hours a day. Part of her repertoire was a persuasive speech about the damaging effects of Norplant, the implantable contraceptive, in which she cited more than a dozen magazine and newspaper articles by date. To memorize those, she carried an index card with her at all times and quizzed herself whenever she had a free moment.

“It’s like a full-time job for me,” said Daleiden, who was also carrying a full class load and works.

During weekend tournaments, the squad’s schedule is most demanding. Depending on the number of events each person competes in, team members can each make as many as 12 speeches a day. And after two days of persuading, arguing and orating, the Moorpark College team gathers for the awards ceremony. Almost no one walks away empty-handed.

No matter who wins, Daleiden has already gotten her prize.

“Those [awards] are nothing to me,” she said. “I have self-esteem.”

Before she started speaking, Daleiden couldn’t get over her insecurities.

“Four years ago, I had no motivation, no self-esteem,” she said. “Now, I’m going for everything I can.”

In the fall, she plans to transfer to Cal State Northridge, where she wants to study communications with the goal of becoming a television news reporter.

It’s people like Daleiden who make coaching worthwhile for Petrello.

“There’s no trophies left to win,” said Petrello. “The growth is what excites me. There’s an addiction to watching a person grow from not believing in themselves to a person who believes in themselves.”

But Petrello isn’t all sunshine and positive affirmations when he’s coaching. He’s tough.

Although Daleiden had been performing her persuasive oratory on Norplant for months, Petrello still took more than two pages of notes recently while she practiced. Make it more conversational in this section, sterner when you get to this spot, and change your tone there, Petrello said as he went through his notes.

Daleiden patiently listened, agreeing in some places and asking questions in others. At the end, he reassured her.

“I’m being picky because you are going to go win another title,” Petrello said.

Wyman attributes the success of his program to several factors. His coaches know how to pick talent from among students who are not always the obvious choices. Petrello said he looks for students who are boisterous in the hall rather than the straight-A students or the confident freshmen who were on their high school debate teams.

The coaches--three full time and one part time--work with the 30-member team between 20 and 60 hours each week beyond classroom time. Because events in forensics range from traditional issues to persuasive speaking to poetry interpretation, the coaches must also be versatile.

“You have to have the talent, but the talent has to have coaches,” Wyman said. “A good coach is someone that not only knows the rules but also has good instincts.”

Dick Strong, who has coached other national title squads, started the Moorpark College team in 1971. In its first year at the national tournament, the team took second place. The next year, it took first. Since then, Moorpark has always finished in the top eight, and usually in the top five.

Strong ran the team with Wyman, whom he had coached in high school, until 1995. Strong has since continued teaching at the college but will retire next month. Both coached Petrello and the squad’s other full-time coach, Charlene Arnold, and its part-time coach, Cal Liedtke.

Although some champions such as Daleiden are leaving, at least 10 are returning.

“Now that they have the experience and they most definitely have the talent, I’m very optimistic,” said Wyman.