Let's Talk About AFA

The last blog was about AFA prep, and I feel like I just hit publish on that. Yet somehow, a week has flown by and now AFA-NST 2023 is over! BUST is officially back on the Hilltop for the rest of the season! AFA marked the last tournament we will travel to this year, since NFA the final tournament will be hosted at Bradley. AFA was hosted in sunny Santa Ana, California by Santa Ana College. Obviously getting out of Illinois is always fun, but California specifically was such a wonderful backdrop for my last travel opportunity as a member of  BUST.  

Before the Tournament 

We arrived in Cali on Wednesday, March 29th, and spent most of that day traveling. The flight from O'Hare to Orange County is about 4 and a half hours, so most of the day is lost to transit. However, that night we had the opportunity to eat dinner at the home of one of our alumni, Sal! Sal actually helped host the tournament and is a super supportive alumnus. It was so nice of him to host us for the evening, and it was a great way to end a long day of travel. We stayed at a nice hotel in Laguna Woods, only 10 minutes from Laguna Beach! After our last trip to Cali, I've been dreaming of Laguna Beach and was SO glad we got to go back. Somehow though, I think the water was even colder than when we were there in January. I told myself I wasn't going to get in, but my teammates pressured me into it, and I was glad they did, we had a blast. Even though we got all kinds of crazy looks from the Californians who were shivering on the beach, as Midwest kids we weren't going to pass up the opportunity to enjoy the ocean while we could!!

Prelims 

The first day and a half of the tournament were completely preliminary rounds. The 11 speech events get split into 3 "flights". Each flight has 3 prelim rounds, so a total of 9 preliminary rounds happen between Saturday and Sunday morning. Because I had 6 events, this meant I gave 18 speeches in prelims alone. My voice was extra tired at the end of Saturday, but luckily I had some hot tea and lots of cough drops and was good to go the rest of the tournament!! Prelims are really fun because you can watch so many new performances you haven't seen before. The first day especially is full of good vibes, because breaks are still so far away, and the reality of the intensity of competition hasn't fully set in yet. 

Out-rounds 

AFA breaks to Quarterfinals (top 24) > Semifinals (top 12)  > Finals (top 6). Before breaks, each event has roughly 100 speeches to start the tournament, so making the quarterfinals or beyond is a huge accomplishment! Qualifying to AFA alone is an accomplishment, and breaking is a really big achievement. This year BUST had 8 non-advancing quarterfinalists, 5 non-advancing semifinalists, and 5 speeches in the final rounds! I was beyond blessed to be one of the finalists at this year's NST. My teammate, and fellow BUST senior, David Daye were able to share the final round of Persuasion together. It was so incredibly special to see the postings say both of our names when they dropped. The final round was full of tough competition from around the country. At the end of the tournament, David walked away the Persuasion Champion for the second year in a row (something that hasn't been done since the early 90s) and I took 4th place. 

AFA was such an amazing experience. From having the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and teammates, to watching some breathtaking performances. I can't lie, everything about AFA is stressful, but it's also so magical at the same time. I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to experience in-person AFA these last two years! But it's true what they say, last AFA, best AFA!

Talk Soon!