Once again, the forensics team exceled in a three-day tournament Saturday, earning many gold medals and having a member as top speaker in the entire tournament.

“We did very well,” Francesca Bishop, co-director of the forensics team, said. “I knew they would perform well, but it turned out to be better than expected.”

A team member was the top speaker for the three days of the tournament, which, could be considered a sign of undoubted potential.

“That is incredible, that has not been done for more than ten years,” Mark Urista, assistant coach, said.

More than 300 students attended the tournament.

There were four teams that broke, which means they were no longer in the competition after the preliminaries.

The preliminaries consist of six rounds and the best teams move up to playoffs or they break, Urista said.

The team prepares for state and national competition by adapting to different judging styles.

The coaches prepare the team members by playing the role of different judging pools. The goal is to use words of debate coherently and articulately without sounding robotic.

“The idea is moving from a theoretical approach to a narrative approach, which is intended to make it so that an average person will understand, because if a person cannot understand the points of the argument given, they will not vote for you,” Urista said.

Consequently, the events for state and nationals change slightly in comparison to regional and nationals due to the current events of the moment.

“We have a tradition of always adapting well. As for other schools, they stay in the theoretical approach, and because they cannot adapt as well as we do, we end up doing better,” Urista said.

Forensics team members believe it serves as the most valuable extracurricular activity to participate in because of the skills it offers,

“The number one skill employers look for in this country is good communication skills,” Urista said.

Besides receiving admittance to universities like UCLA or UC Berkeley, students learn good communication skills. These skills one can use anywhere they go, Urista said.

With just state and nationals left in the season, the team members prepare for a strong end by practicing different styles of judgment.

“We’ll definitely have students who will be state champions,” Bishop said.