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No Debating They're Good

Tribune photo by JAMIE PILARCZYK

William Rains, left, teaches an elective class on debating to 19 Tampa Prep middle school students with his father, debate coach John Rains, center.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 1, 2008

DOWNTOWN - Tampa Preparatory students are speaking their minds and getting state recognition for doing so.

Debate partners William Rains and Nick Honegger, who placed first at last year's state championship, can take a complex topic (last year's was public health assistance to sub-Saharan Africa, and this year's is alternative energy) and defend - or deny - its validity.

"When the research pays off, it's exciting," said Honegger, 17, whose research skills are trimming his homework time. "When people spend an hour, it takes me 45 to 30 minutes because I can research so much faster. It makes schoolwork easier."

The duo are part of Tampa Prep's 10-member varsity debate team, which also includes senior Taylor Ayral, juniors Alison Williams and Jonathan Gonzalez, and sophomores Lee Hamilton, Joel Greenbaum, Katie Bui, Aerial Reese and Dominique Barker.

The team meets after school or during lunch about twice a week. Its local competition typically has been Berkeley Preparatory, although less-competitive club teams pop up occasionally, Rains said.

Debaters are given a topic for which they must come up with affirmative and negative responses, a task that requires extensive research online and at the library. They only learn which side they will be defending on the day of the competition, at which point they give their arguments at breakneck speed, much like an auctioneer.

"There is nothing as exciting as destroying someone" in competition, said Rains, 17.

As his father, debate coach John Rains, says: "It's full-contact academics."

The debaters spend two weekends a month traveling to competitions where they face off against some of the 200 or so high school teams in the nation.

After an injury forced him to leave the track team, Honegger looked to the debate team at the beginning of his sophomore year. Now a senior, he's hooked and is talking with colleges about participating on their debate teams.

Rains, who started in eighth grade, thrives on the competition. He and his father also teach an elective class on debating to 19 Tampa Prep middle school students.

Head of school Kevin Plummer has nicknamed him "Teach."

"It's taught me to think and react quickly," Rains said. "I'm really enjoying it."

His father, a Tampa trial lawyer, has been the debate coach for about 15 years. He started when his older son, also named John, joined the team.

"What I like about the activity is that to be successful, you have to make good decisions under pressure," John Rains said.

"And that's true of life."

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com.

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