6:7 - Camp One Clap 2024: Day 7
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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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lyle Wiley (00:09):
well, hey campers.
It's been a whole week ofcontent here at camp one clap
two on the one clap speech anddebate podcast.
Day seven of the clapocalypseis here and josh thompson,
cheyenne east alum and 2023expository National Champion, is
back to camp for a chat.
I'm your camp director and hostof the One Clap Speech and
Debate podcast, lyle Wileyhere's hoping we can provide
(00:32):
folks some inspirational fire toovercome fears and bring their
powerful voices into the speechand debate season.
Quick reminder check the OneClap socials for today's social
media challenge.
I love seeing all theengagement and it's been a lot
of fun to see so many campersgetting involved.
Let me tell you about Josh, whois here to talk about overcoming
(00:53):
fears and obstacles in speechand debate.
Josh Thompson is an upcomingcollege freshman who competed in
speech and debate for fouryears in high school.
He went to nationals every year, even becoming the national
champion of expository speakingin 2023.
He's competed at the NationalIndividual Event Tournament of
Champions several times and wasa finalist at James Logan Martin
(01:14):
Luther King Jr MemorialTournament with his duo partner,
ben.
He's a major advocate forspeaking up for what you believe
in and looks forward tocoaching novices and, hopefully,
judging in college.
So let's go ahead and hop rightinto my interview with second
year camp staffer Josh Thompson.
Welcome to Campbell and Clap 2.
I'm here with Josh Thompsonagain back for more.
(01:36):
I don't know, josh, you'reglutton for punishment.
I think a little bit.
Josh Thompson (01:41):
I guess, I don't know.
Lyle Wiley (01:44):
It's so good to have you back at camp this year,
although this is theflapocalypse, which is hard to
say, but uh, it's a, it's a kindof a scary time here at camp.
One clap, two, and we're goingto need your help to navigate
through it.
Um, all right, and first thingI want to talk to you about is
like a scary story or movie orbook or anything that's spooky,
(02:06):
that's really stuck with you.
What's like your favoritespooky, scary story?
Josh Thompson (02:12):
well, I think I have two one that is just my
favorite and one that has, likeyou 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.
(02:33):
She's an incredible actor and,like, the production behind that
movie is horrible.
All the stuff that stanleykubrick did was messed up, but
it's just a great scary movieand I love the vibes and you
know the feeling of the hoteland everything.
I think it's awesome, but I'dsay, like the scariest thing
(02:55):
that has stuck with me.
We actually just watched it.
Have you ever heard ofMidsommar?
Oh, yeah.
Lyle Wiley (03:01):
Yes, yes, yeah, definitely a visually beautiful
movie like yeah, kind of like ina sort of ridiculously
beautiful movie with like some,yeah, absolutely banger
transitions, like I love acouple of the transitions in
that movie.
I will think about them a bunchwhen I think about you know,
good filmmaking yeah, but, andthe music is incredible the
(03:25):
colors.
But yeah, like in terms ofdisturbing factor, it's pretty
pretty, it's pretty up there.
Also kind of like, yeah, interms of psychologically sort of
aligning you with some maybesome problematic, uh feelings
and and because you kind of sortof start to get seduced by the
(03:47):
cult yourself a little bit inthe film I feel like so yeah,
absolutely, especially by theend.
Josh Thompson (03:52):
You're like wait a minute.
Am I agreeing with them or?
Lyle Wiley (03:57):
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 thinkit's a pretty important,
impressive, uh piece of horror.
You know like, yeah, the fairytale stuff too, like the
inverted fairy tale stuff isreally cool.
Josh Thompson (04:16):
Um, yeah, I, I love it, but it is incredibly
disturbing, so okay good choices, good choices, uh.
Lyle Wiley (04:24):
What about like okay .
So I'm curious if there's likean apocalypse, an apocalyptic
type of event, you know so,zombie apocalypse or, you know,
nuclear fallout or somethinglike that, and we have, we're
living in basically a dystopiannovel.
What are you, josh?
What are your chances ofsurvival on a scale of one to
ten?
Are you feeling prettyconfident that you're going to
survive?
(04:44):
Do you have any skills to bringto the table here?
Josh Thompson (04:51):
Or are you in trouble?
You know, I think it kind ofdepends on what kind of
apocalypse we're talking about,because if it's one where, like
I'm the last human alive, orlike one of the last humans
alive, I might be okay Because,like my dad grew up in the woods
of pennsylvania, he's taught meall these survival skills and
everything, so I might be ableto last out in the wild for a
(05:13):
couple days.
But if it's one where I have to, like, kill other people to
survive, I don't think I coulddo that.
I I think I'm too nice.
I think I would be the first togo, like if it was me versus
them, I don't know, I might justbe like, can't we be friends?
And then they, you know, feedme to the zombie horde or
something I don't know.
Lyle Wiley (05:36):
Yeah, josh, you kind of strike me as the kind of guy
and don't take this the wrongway this is the kind of guy I am
, but the kind of guy that wouldstruggle to, like you know,
even slap a mosquito off yourarm, you know, like well, I
don't, I don't struggle there, Ihave.
Josh Thompson (05:52):
I have the type that mosquitoes love the blood
type and I I will massacremosquitoes if that's what it
comes down to.
Lyle Wiley (06:03):
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 agood thing.
It's a good thing.
I will say, like the speech anddebate community, that the
folks I've talked to about this,like not very many of us, are
very confident in our survivalskills in the event of the
apocalypse.
Josh Thompson (06:22):
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 thatprevent the apocalypse.
Let's hope for that.
I like that.
Yeah, I like that.
Lyle Wiley (06:36):
Yeah, All right, Josh.
Well, you know you had anotherfabulous season this year, your
senior year.
You went to nationals and hadanother great year.
What were some of yourhighlights from this season and
some of the memories that you'regoing to treasure the most from
your high school speech anddebate experience in the season?
Josh Thompson (06:55):
Oh man.
Well, this season wasdefinitely one for memories.
As far as competition goes.
My duo partner partner Ben andI, uh, we did really good, um,
but it wasn't anything likesuper crazy like what happened
at nationals last year, um.
(07:17):
So, as far as competition goes,you know, we we did good but it
wasn't super like memorable perse.
But I'd say the trips that wewent on were absolutely very
memorable, and especially JamesLogan, I'd say that was probably
my favorite this year.
That was in January, I'm prettysure, and we packed everything
(07:42):
up and went to California.
It was beautiful, it was warm,but also super rainy, which I
didn't expect, but rain's myfavorite weather, so I love that
.
The competition itself wasreally cool.
It was themed about MartinLuther King Jr and we got to see
some really cool pieces, metsome really cool people and, um,
(08:05):
there were actually people thatwe met that we had rounds with
that ended up making it tofinals at nationals.
Um, and it was just really coolto see them again at night talk
and nationals, um, and weactually made friends with them
and, um, like they recognized us, they remembered our piece,
(08:27):
which was really cool.
Um, we did the mitchells versusthe machines as a duo and that
in itself was just super fun andsuper memorable.
There were so many things we didwith it, like the way we
performed it at nationals was acompletely different piece than
what we did at the beginning ofthe year.
(08:48):
We had different characters, wehad entirely different scenes,
new blocking, new ways of sayingthe lines and everything.
It was just awesome.
I don't know if Ben would agreewith me on James Logan being
that great because he was sickthe whole time.
He had a really bad stomachissue and that wasn't fun.
(09:15):
But the trip itself was reallyfun and it was really cool
because my family got to come tosome of the tournaments like
NITOC and Nationals.
I actually came all the way outto um, iowa, and minnesota was
in col.
Oh, minnesota yeah yeah, yeah itwas.
It was just really fun and, um,I did the producers as a humor.
(09:36):
It was just a very, a reallygood way to end high school
speech.
I'd say it was a, it was areally good year and um, great
memories, great inside jokes andjust a lot of fun.
Lyle Wiley (09:51):
So, um, I'm satisfied you had a really I
mean a really great group ofEast teammates this year.
Josh Thompson (09:59):
So yeah, absolutely Everyone.
Even the novices were justpowerhouses.
It was crazy.
Lyle Wiley (10:05):
Well, I'm glad that you had a good year for your
senior year.
It's probably prettybittersweet 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 ofthat stuff behind.
Josh Thompson (10:16):
Yeah, that's true , there's there's things I won't
miss, and then there's a lot ofthings that I will you know
that, I will you know.
Lyle Wiley (10:26):
Yeah, yeah, I understand that.
So is there anything that youlike specifically uniquely
learned about this activity oryourself this season, you think?
Josh Thompson (10:32):
Yeah, I, I definitely.
Um, this was definitely maybeit competes with my junior year.
Uh, that was pretty crazy.
But this year was very busy.
I had a lot of stuff going onBesides just schoolwork.
I had speech, obviously, I hadchoir and our small singers jazz
(10:57):
group and I was in the NationalHonor Society.
So I would volunteer andobviously, you know, applying to
college and scholarships andgetting all that stuff figured
out.
It was crazy.
It was very busy year and Idefinitely in the past I've kind
of gone all out with speech anddebate.
(11:18):
You know I've done three orfour events at a time and I just
kind of loaded up and dideverything because I wanted to
do everything.
But it was also very drainingand very I got burnt out by the
end of the season and I was likeI even got to the point, like
last year, where I was like Idon't know if I want to do this
next year.
(11:39):
I was just so like worn out andthis year I definitely took it
a lot easier.
Um, I kinda paced myself and Irealized like it's okay to just
focus in on one event or twoevents by the end of the season.
It was just duo that we werefocused on and, um, honestly,
(12:01):
I'm I think it was morebeneficial that way, because
even if we didn't break atnationals or anything like that,
we still something.
You know, it was one of thosethings and we talked about this
(12:28):
because we did work on it a lot.
We were talking about how we'drather have worked on it and not
break than not worked on it andnot break.
You know, I think I said thatgrammatically very incorrect,
but it's like if we did breakand we worked that hard, we
(12:49):
could be that much more proud.
But since we still put in thatwork, we can just be proud of
what we did and we tried ourbest, and no one can say we
didn't, because we did put hoursupon hours into it.
And I think that was definitelyreally, really good and it's way
different than anything I'vedone in the past, because in the
(13:11):
past I've done a lot of events,but I kind of got them to a
point where they worked and thenjust let them go, because I was
like, well, they've beenworking, I've been winning
things, so I don't need tochange them.
They've been working, I've beenwinning things, so I don't need
to change them.
Then I would stop going topractice.
I would just let it sit.
(13:32):
That's one thing you can'treally do once you get to
nationals, because you have tofreshen it up.
What works in Wyoming does notwork at a national level
tournament with people from allover the states, national level
tournament with people from allover the States.
So I definitely learned a lotabout how speech works, how what
really does work at thosebigger tournaments and what
(13:53):
doesn't, what people are kind oflooking for.
Um, I learned a lot aboutmyself, about doing what I need
to, and you know, like I was, Iwas planning on doing expository
again.
Um, there was talk of maybewinning twice in a row, like how
cool would that be?
You know, maybe coming back andbeing the reigning champion at
(14:14):
um expository and everything.
But I got so busy by the end ofthe year that I just kind of
talked to Mr Viney and I waslike this is getting insane.
I can't write this and doeverything I need to to be
successful at the end of highschool, you know.
And so I didn't have a backup,I didn't have a supplemental and
(14:38):
I put all my chips in, so tospeak, for Duo and I ended up
losing that bet.
But I'm still glad that Ididn't add more stress to my
plate with an entire other eventand I think that's a good
lesson for people, because Iknow a lot of people who they're
(14:58):
all in and sometimes they cando it.
Sometimes you get a Dani Schultzwho does eight events at one
tournament and is stillgraduating high school and she
did it and you know she loved it.
But for anyone who's feelingoverwhelmed with it, it's okay
(15:19):
to not do everything.
You can take a weekend off.
You know you don't have to goto every tournament.
Not do everything.
You can take a weekend off.
You know you don't have to goto every tournament.
And, um, I think that wasdefinitely the biggest lesson I
learned this year.
Lyle Wiley (15:35):
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 importantknowing your limits and like
what is healthy for you.
Yeah, absolutely.
I've had a lot of folks talkingabout that realization for them
in this year and in the lastcouple of years.
Just like that, you're okaythat you, josh Thompson, are as
you are, uh, the.
(15:56):
You don't require validationthrough the, the events that you
do in this activity, that youare a valuable and talented and
hardworking person who putseverything that they can into
what they do.
And so you know, uh, but it's adifficult thing sometimes
because we, you know, we setcertain expectations for
ourselves.
We want to try to do it all, butyou can't do it all.
(16:19):
Sometimes you have to take astep back.
That's a tough, tough lesson tolearn, but it sounds like it
was healthy for you this year toknow your limitations and then
be careful about those.
Josh Thompson (16:28):
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 thetournaments and I got breaks in
between rounds and you know, itwas great.
Lyle Wiley (16:42):
I think there's a lot of pressure that gets put on
seniors too.
Then, you know it was, it wasgreat.
I think there's a lot ofpressure that gets put on
seniors too.
You know it's like weird.
Uh, you know, as as leaders andstuff which I mean, like you
know, some of that is is goodpressure, but then there's like
all these like things outside ofthe speech world that happen
with seniors that are reallystressful, that I think a lot of
times we forget about um otheractivities, of course, same
expectations and otheractivities, but also just
(17:03):
preparation for the worldoutside of school, trying to
figure out what you're going todo for next steps.
A lot of times it's likescholarships and all sorts of
like applications that are superhigh stakes and some hard
classes.
I mean my seniors inThermopolis.
A lot of them are taking like afull college load, which I mean
is is really intense for a lotof students.
They're not used to that load,so the academics is really
(17:24):
difficult too.
So, yeah, I think this is agood reminder to coaches and to
other competitors that are goingto be seniors that you know
just, it's your mental healthand your health, your physical
health, are the most importantthing in the equation.
Josh Thompson (17:42):
Like you got to take care of yourself.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And having gone through allthat and being on this side of
it, I can definitely say thatit's hard to have that in mind
when you're not a senior.
But as soon as you are a seniorand you have all those
pressures, you're like, oh mygosh, how did they do this last
year?
Like thinking of the seniorswho graduated before you, you
(18:06):
know, and it's hard to get thatperspective and understand that
struggle unless you're in it.
But it is definitely importantto keep in mind for other
competitors and coaches, just toremember like, yes, we are at
the top, we are leaders and wewant to support everyone and
kind of set an example, to tryto meet.
(18:28):
But also we're human and we're,you know, fresh adults in some
cases that we don't really knowwhat we're doing, and you know
it's just.
It's good to kind of putyourself in other people's shoes
and understand what's going on.
Lyle Wiley (18:47):
So boundaries are super important and recognizing
that when, when you need to takea step back um, it'll actually
a lot of times, like in yoursituation help you enjoy an
activity that you really love to, like you know, be real about
what is the correct amount ofwork that you need to put in for
this year yeah, absolutely yeah, I have a ghostly interlude
(19:11):
here.
I want to like uh, I want tosee what josh thompson thinks
about ghosts and the paranormal.
Are you a believer?
What do you think?
Josh Thompson (19:21):
Wow, you know, I think I definitely pride myself
on being very logical andintellectual, so to speak.
That might sound bad, but I,you know, I love learning about
science and the real world andwhat's going on, but I
(19:43):
definitely am.
I definitely do believe.
I think there's things thatscience just can't explain, and
sometimes you just got to seethose things for yourself.
And I grew up like in aChristian home, you know, those
are kind of that's kind of mybelief system.
(20:04):
So I don't necessarily think theparanormal is bad always.
I think there can be badparanormal stuff, but I think
sometimes it's really good and,um, you know, believing in like
spirits and stuff.
It's not necessarily theclassic like white bed sheet
with two holes cut out, um, it'snot like cupboards opening and
(20:28):
closing in the middle of thenight or things like that.
Sometimes it's as simple aslike getting a sign from someone
you've lost and it's kind oflike oh, they're still here, you
know.
Um, and one thing that myfamily kind of experiences is my
grandpa mayor on my mom's side.
After he passed away, my momsaw a monarch butterfly, and so
(20:54):
whenever we see one of those,they always like land on us,
like they never just kind ofpass us.
They always land on one of usand we always say that that's
grandpa saying hi or giving us ahug, you know, and um, it's
just things like that, um, thatI kind of subscribe to.
But I also think there's reallyscary haunted places all around
(21:17):
the world that are absolutelythere's ghosts there and they're
not friendly well, that'slovely.
Lyle Wiley (21:24):
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 folksthat that are, that are that are
gone, are never really gone forfrom us.
So, yeah, um well, okay, allright, so that's a pretty good
(21:44):
answer.
Um, also like funny to me, Iknow you're a highly logical,
like straight, you know, likebalanced thinker, but you're
also very open-minded man andthat's good yeah absolutely so,
uh, here at camp, one clap two,we're talking about overcoming
fears and obstacles a lot, and Ithought maybe you'd have some
like spooky stories for us abouttimes that you had oh yeah,
(22:09):
scary moments in speech orthings that helped you kind of
like grow, but at the time werelike pretty scary.
You have a few stories for usabsolutely.
Josh Thompson (22:19):
um, when you do speech for as long as I have,
you get a lot of stories and Ithink you know I've done humor
every year.
I'm a humor kid.
I can't beat the humor kidallegations because they're all
true, but I think the scariestthing that can happen as a humor
(22:43):
kid Well, there's two.
One is messing up andforgetting all your lines
mid-performance and the secondis getting stonewalled where no
one laughs and it is painful.
And the first one that happenedat my first in-person
(23:05):
tournament.
It was at Casper College, mysophomore year.
It was finals, humor finals.
Everyone was in there, all thepeople on my team who wanted to
come watch, some coaches, someof my friends, my girlfriend.
At the time I was doing what isstill probably my favorite humor
, that I've done One of them andI was going strong.
(23:28):
I was getting lots of laughs, Iwas feeling really good about
it, but I had memorized on theway there.
I was checking my script on thebus and halfway through the
piece I just lost it.
I just went blank and I had noidea what I was on next and I
(23:51):
was like, oh what, uh, hold on,sorry.
And like I just froze and I waslike I could feel my face, like
it's one of those things likewhen you're afraid you go pale
and like all the blood runs away.
But I could feel all the bloodrushing to my face and I felt
like I was just burning.
My cheeks were turning red andI was like, oh, crap, um, and I
(24:13):
had to.
I literally I had like myschool ipad with me.
I had to walk over.
It was like on a table just incase I forgot.
I had to walk over in front ofthe whole audience and look at
my script and, like, continuefrom where I messed up.
And that was still one of, like, the scariest moments of my
(24:34):
whole speech career and it, uh,it's, and like I've seen that
happen to other people and it'sone of those things where I just
can't judge them because that'shappened to me and I get it and
I know how much that sucks.
So I I just kind of smile, I'mlike 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.
(24:57):
And um, that also happens whenyou get stonewalled, um, because
if you're in a bad round wherepeople just don't laugh.
Either they're just being meanor they're just not feeling it,
because sometimes it's like 9pmat a strange place you've never
been to before and you justdon't feel like laughing.
(25:19):
I make it a point to laugh atevery humor I see, even if it's
not funny, like I just, even ifit's not funny to me.
I know how much.
I know how hard it is to get upthere and just be wacky and
goofy with all these charactersand you just got to support each
other because I've had roomswhere no one laughs and it sucks
(25:41):
and it makes you think you'redoing something wrong and even
if every other round you'redoing fine, everyone's laughing,
that one round can make youfeel like you are not funny,
you're not doing it right, andthat's not the case.
Usually there's an underlyingfactor.
Sometimes there's teams thatare afraid of you because you
(26:01):
have been doing so well and theyjust purposefully don't do that
to try to psych you out.
Um, I've seen that happenbefore and it's it's not, it's
not okay, but it happens andthat's scary and um, but um,
you've, you've talked withsolomon, haven't you?
yeah, yes, um, so we're actuallythis is kind of random.
(26:23):
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'smaking a movie for a film fest
and um, you're involved withthat too.
Lyle Wiley (26:36):
That's cool.
Josh Thompson (26:37):
Yeah yeah, we're like best friends in that movie
Our characters are.
But one of the days that wewere filming, solomon was
talking about this book that heread.
That kind of talks about howyour brain works in high stress
situations and there's like a.
Did he talk to you about this?
Lyle Wiley (26:57):
The Inner Game of Tennis.
Josh Thompson (26:58):
Yeah, he talked about this.
Lyle Wiley (26:59):
Yeah, yeah, you should tell me what you took
away from that, though?
Josh Thompson (27:03):
Yeah, so the biggest thing I took away is
like sometimes there's adisconnect between what you want
to do and what you actually endup doing.
And usually that happens whenyou think too hard about
something, because if you justgo in and do it, you always do
better than you do if you thinktoo hard about it.
(27:23):
And in this example obviouslyit's like a tennis match, but it
works for speech too.
And what Solomon was talkingabout like what happened at
Nationals last year for him washe was overthinking his piece
while he was writing it or whilehe was giving it, because he
was worried that oh, everyoneelse here is in finals, they're
(27:46):
all really good, maybe I shouldchange some things.
And that just got to him andyou know he had a stumble and I
just took away that.
Sometimes if you're in your ownhead too much, that can really
damage your performance because,truthfully, you've done the
work, you know what to do, andthe worst thing you can do is
(28:09):
try to change what's beenworking the last second, because
that's happened before andsometimes, especially in humor,
you're like, okay, no one'slaughing, maybe I have to change
it up, and that can really hurtyou.
So I would say, as far as thosesituations go, even if no one's
laughing, you just got to dowhat you know, because even if
(28:30):
the judge isn't giving youreactions, they might still give
you the one because they justlike your piece that much and
how you have been doing it.
If that's been working, there'sno reason to change it and
obviously, like I said earlier,it's good to keep things fresh
and work on things, but the timeto do that is not when you're
(28:51):
performing or like before youstart.
That's not the time to startmaking changes.
So, um yeah, just just don'tget in your own head and just do
what you know, because you knowthat's how you get through your
whole speech without missingout you know like trusting
yourself and trusting theprocess.
(29:11):
Yeah, and that's the thing,especially when you do have
anxiety Cause you know, I I havethat and I I deal with that a
lot and, um, it does feel likethe end of the world sometimes
and you're like, how will I everrecover from this?
Like I can never show my faceat a speech tournament.
(29:33):
Ever again I've I've felt that,and but the reality is like
people are already so likeinvolved in themselves that,
even if that does happen, youusually forget about it and no
one in a speech round, unlessthey're a jerk, is gonna judge
you for that.
They're just gonna be like, ohmy gosh, I'm so sorry that
happened.
Like I've been there, we've allbeen there.
That's that's happened toliterally everyone who's ever
(29:55):
done speech debate, becausegetting up and talking in front
of people is scary, um, but noone's gonna judge you.
Everyone, just like you know,can sympathize with that pain
and that fear, but it it reallyisn't the end of the world and
no one's going to remember it.
You know, next round, once youget them laughing again, they'll
already forget about it.
(30:15):
And so, yeah, just keep that inmind.
Yeah.
Lyle Wiley (30:19):
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'llnever be able to share my face
again.
I show my face and there's likewhat, what's happening in our
head and what we think arehappening in other people's
heads, it's pretty much justhappening in our head.
Josh Thompson (30:36):
Usually it's not happening in their heads.
Lyle Wiley (30:37):
So yeah, the the worst case scenario very rarely
is what actually happens, youknow yes, exactly so, although
if you're like me, you're reallygood at like projecting those
worst case scenarios in yourhead.
Josh Thompson (30:54):
That's true, and sometimes they happen because
you think it's gonna happen.
Lyle Wiley (30:58):
So much you're like.
It's like a self-fulfillingprophecy.
Josh Thompson (31:02):
Yeah, you know, it's true it's so.
Lyle Wiley (31:04):
It sucks well, josh.
Josh Thompson (31:07):
Uh, what's next for you and your anxiety riddled
self well, I've actually beendoing really good this summer,
but during the season it was, itwas rough, um but.
So next up, obviously we havethis movie we're filming.
I don't know if I could say toomuch about it but I don't know
if you.
Broadcast.
(31:28):
Yeah, I'm super excited andwe're going to wrap up filming
in August and then I have asenior trip coming up.
I'm going to go to UniversalOrlando with Ben and his brother
for five days, so that'll bereally fun.
I'm really looking forward.
(31:48):
Yeah, um, and you know we haveCheyenne frontier days in town
right now, um, so there's thecarnival and all the rides you
can do and that's my favoritepart.
So I'm going to be going onthose rides all day.
Once we're there, it's that's.
I'm, I'm super excited, um, andthen I'm off to UW.
I'm going to going to move inat the university of Wyoming on
(32:11):
August 16th and, um start myfirst semester as a college
freshman, which is really weirdto say.
Lyle Wiley (32:21):
It's exciting.
What are you?
What are you planning to study,josh?
Josh Thompson (32:24):
I'm going into biology.
Um, there's a lot of things I'mthinking about doing with it.
I'm not entirely set on any yet.
Um, I thought about coming backand being a teacher.
Um, I thought about just beinglike a research assistant or
like a genetic counselor.
Um, the baseline is I just wantto help people with whatever I
(32:47):
go into.
Um, so still deciding on that,but biology is going to be my
major.
Lyle Wiley (32:53):
So, yeah, awesome, I do think you'd be a great
teacher.
I mean I, you know, obviouslyI'm always looking that we need
good teachers, we need greatteachers, so I try to encourage
people to think about it.
Yeah, I know, it's not the mostsexy profession in terms of
like pay and status and all thatgood stuff.
Josh Thompson (33:13):
But I think that's great.
Lyle Wiley (33:15):
Thank you, yeah, but yeah Are you at all interested
in, like staying in touch withthe speech and debate community
in the future, are you going totry to do some, like you know,
coaching on the side, helpingpeople out?
Josh Thompson (33:25):
Yeah, I'm not planning on doing it.
I'm not planning on competingagain at UW, but I am.
I signed up for an alumnimembership for the NSDA and I'm
planning on coming back toCheyenne to help coach and judge
tournaments.
And a couple of years from now,when I'm able to, I'd love to
(33:46):
help judge at nationals orsomething like that.
I think that'd be really cool.
If I'm able to, I'd love tohelp judge at nationals or
something like that.
Lyle Wiley (33:53):
I think that'd be really cool.
Um, if I'm able to, so yeah,that's awesome man.
Uh, hopefully I can continue tosnag you to, to get you on the
podcast too, to give yourawesome perspective and help
people out in that way too.
Josh Thompson (34:04):
So yeah, I would.
I would love to whenever.
Whenever you need someone, letme know.
Lyle Wiley (34:09):
I, uh, I want to close out our interview.
We're like closing outinterviews with discussions
about you know, you know there'sa lot of like stats and surveys
thrown around about how, like,folks really really are afraid
than public speaking, and thenyou get these surveys, which is
crazy, but so like, if that'strue, like what?
What do you think?
Like, why is participating inspeech and debate worth all of
(34:34):
that fear and terror ofpresenting things in the public?
What do you think?
Josh Thompson (34:39):
That is a great question, and I asked myself
that a lot while I was competing.
I was like, is this reallyworth it?
Cause, again, doing thisactivity with anxiety seems like
it's kind of self-defeating, um.
But then you ask literallyanyone who does it and they're
like, oh yeah, I have anxiety.
You're like, oh okay, so we'reall crazy, um, but no, it's I.
(35:05):
I'd say the most important thingabout speech and debate is just
like getting a message out.
That's why we do it, and it canreally be anything.
Sometimes it's incredible andgroundbreaking and you know it
changes someone's perspective onthe world for the rest of their
(35:25):
life.
And other times it's just asilly message about how
important family is, or dadjokes, and you know it can
really be anything and that'swhat's so special about it.
I've seen people just get upand talk about nature because
they love it.
I've seen a poetry that wasjust about how cool nature is
(35:47):
and I loved it because it isgreat and, um, you could talk
about whatever you want to talkabout, and I think you'll get
more out of it if it's somethingyou believe in personally, um,
but if you just do somethingbecause it's fun, then by all
means more power to you, um, andthe skills you get with, uh,
(36:10):
learning confidence and just howto communicate effectively.
That's a very important skillthat a lot of people lack and
even if you're playing acharacter with big emotions,
sometimes it helps you toexpress your emotions
(36:31):
effectively, even if you don'trealize it.
Sometimes that happens on thesubconscious level, but
sometimes, like there were timesdoing the Mitchells versus the
machines you know it's a veryfunny piece.
We had crazy blocking.
There's a giant furby at onepoint that ben and I like
(36:51):
combined into and I played theears with my elbows, you know,
and um, but it's also a verygrounded, heartfelt family story
and there were some times whileI was performing and you know
whether it was thinking about ohmy gosh, this is the last time
we're performing in Cheyenne orin Wyoming, or just the last
(37:14):
time we're performing in generalI just it kind of hit me and I
was like, oh my gosh, this pieceis really important and I felt
it and like sometimes I wouldjust tear up, like I would look
at Ben after we were done andI'd just be like, okay, I'm
going to cry now, you know, likeit, it just hit me and that is
what is so incredible aboutspeech and debate is sometimes
(37:37):
there's a message that justlands at the right time and it
it, it just there's.
There's no other feeling likeit, like when you feel spoken to
, there's nothing else like it.
And I think that's also that'shalf of it.
Half of it is giving your storyand half of it is hearing
(37:57):
someone else's, and both arejust so important.
And once you get past theinitial layer of fear and
sometimes that never goes away,like I even my last round I
still got that anxiety beforegoing up but as soon as you kind
of get used to it and you getover that, once you start seeing
the benefits that doing thisactivity brings, it's just it's
(38:22):
all worth it.
And sometimes you don't seethat until you're done with it.
Until you're done with it.
But you can always look backand be like oh wow, this really
helped me become a better person.
And sometimes you might have abad community, you might run
with a tough crowd or yourfamily might have some not very
(38:43):
good opinions, and sometimes youjust need to hear perspectives
from other people to realizelike, oh my gosh, I never
thought about it that way or Inever knew this was a problem
and you just learned so much andit's, it's awesome yeah, I mean
(39:05):
the.
Lyle Wiley (39:05):
The level of advocacy that's at our
fingertips with this activity isreally pretty special and neat.
Josh Thompson (39:11):
It really is.
Lyle Wiley (39:12):
Yeah, yeah, and you know we can all learn, so it's
great to have so much differentinformation out there for us to
learn from.
All that said, it doesn'treally alleviate the terror, I'm
sure for many of us of speakingwith people.
That's true, but maybe,hopefully, it makes it
worthwhile.
Josh Thompson (39:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
When it's all said and done.
Lyle Wiley (39:34):
Well, thank you, Josh, for being here to help us
navigate the clapocalypse.
Josh Thompson (39:39):
I love having you here.
Lyle Wiley (39:40):
I hope to have you back on the podcast again soon
and I appreciate everything thatyou bring.
Josh Thompson (39:45):
And I wish you the very best in the future man.
Lyle Wiley (39:47):
Thank you so much.
Thanks so much to Josh forcoming by Camp One Clap again
this year.
What's new at camp tomorrow?
Well, sisters and speechsuperstars Ella Goodman and
Addie Goodman will be here totalk about ways to manage
anxiety in speech and debateperformances.
Remember social mediachallenges are live for every
day that we have camp thisAugust.
We'll see you tomorrow, campers.
(40:08):
Oh, and also, if you get kissedby an alpaca, don't worry, it's
not the end of the world, it'sjust alpaca lips For Camp One
Clap.
This is Camp Director Wileysigning off.
well, hey campers.
It's been a whole week ofcontent here at camp one clap
two on the one clap speech anddebate podcast.
Day seven of the clapocalypseis here and josh thompson,
cheyenne east alum and 2023expository National Champion, is
back to camp for a chat.
I'm your camp director and hostof the One Clap Speech and
Debate podcast, lyle Wileyhere's hoping we can provide
(00:32):
folks some inspirational fire toovercome fears and bring their
powerful voices into the speechand debate season.
Quick reminder check the OneClap socials for today's social
media challenge.
I love seeing all theengagement and it's been a lot
of fun to see so many campersgetting involved.
Let me tell you about Josh, whois here to talk about overcoming
(00:53):
fears and obstacles in speechand debate.
Josh Thompson is an upcomingcollege freshman who competed in
speech and debate for fouryears in high school.
He went to nationals every year, even becoming the national
champion of expository speakingin 2023.
He's competed at the NationalIndividual Event Tournament of
Champions several times and wasa finalist at James Logan Martin
(01:14):
Luther King Jr MemorialTournament with his duo partner,
ben.
He's a major advocate forspeaking up for what you believe
in and looks forward tocoaching novices and, hopefully,
judging in college.
So let's go ahead and hop rightinto my interview with second
year camp staffer Josh Thompson.
Welcome to Campbell and Clap 2.
I'm here with Josh Thompsonagain back for more.
(01:36):
I don't know, josh, you'reglutton for punishment.
I think a little bit.
Josh Thompson (01:41):
I guess, I don't know.
Lyle Wiley (01:44):
It's so good to have you back at camp this year,
although this is theflapocalypse, which is hard to
say, but uh, it's a, it's a kindof a scary time here at camp.
One clap, two, and we're goingto need your help to navigate
through it.
Um, all right, and first thingI want to talk to you about is
like a scary story or movie orbook or anything that's spooky,
(02:06):
that's really stuck with you.
What's like your favoritespooky, scary story?
Josh Thompson (02:12):
well, I think I have two one that is just my
favorite and one that has, likeyou 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.
(02:33):
She's an incredible actor and,like, the production behind that
movie is horrible.
All the stuff that stanleykubrick did was messed up, but
it's just a great scary movieand I love the vibes and you
know the feeling of the hoteland everything.
I think it's awesome, but I'dsay, like the scariest thing
(02:55):
that has stuck with me.
We actually just watched it.
Have you ever heard ofMidsommar?
Oh, yeah.
Lyle Wiley (03:01):
Yes, yes, yeah, definitely a visually beautiful
movie like yeah, kind of like ina sort of ridiculously
beautiful movie with like some,yeah, absolutely banger
transitions, like I love acouple of the transitions in
that movie.
I will think about them a bunchwhen I think about you know,
good filmmaking yeah, but, andthe music is incredible the
(03:25):
colors.
But yeah, like in terms ofdisturbing factor, it's pretty
pretty, it's pretty up there.
Also kind of like, yeah, interms of psychologically sort of
aligning you with some maybesome problematic, uh feelings
and and because you kind of sortof start to get seduced by the
(03:47):
cult yourself a little bit inthe film I feel like so yeah,
absolutely, especially by theend.
Josh Thompson (03:52):
You're like wait a minute.
Am I agreeing with them or?
Lyle Wiley (03:57):
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 thinkit's a pretty important,
impressive, uh piece of horror.
You know like, yeah, the fairytale stuff too, like the
inverted fairy tale stuff isreally cool.
Josh Thompson (04:16):
Um, yeah, I, I love it, but it is incredibly
disturbing, so okay good choices, good choices, uh.
Lyle Wiley (04:24):
What about like okay .
So I'm curious if there's likean apocalypse, an apocalyptic
type of event, you know so,zombie apocalypse or, you know,
nuclear fallout or somethinglike that, and we have, we're
living in basically a dystopiannovel.
What are you, josh?
What are your chances ofsurvival on a scale of one to
ten?
Are you feeling prettyconfident that you're going to
survive?
(04:44):
Do you have any skills to bringto the table here?
Josh Thompson (04:51):
Or are you in trouble?
You know, I think it kind ofdepends on what kind of
apocalypse we're talking about,because if it's one where, like
I'm the last human alive, orlike one of the last humans
alive, I might be okay Because,like my dad grew up in the woods
of pennsylvania, he's taught meall these survival skills and
everything, so I might be ableto last out in the wild for a
(05:13):
couple days.
But if it's one where I have to, like, kill other people to
survive, I don't think I coulddo that.
I I think I'm too nice.
I think I would be the first togo, like if it was me versus
them, I don't know, I might justbe like, can't we be friends?
And then they, you know, feedme to the zombie horde or
something I don't know.
Lyle Wiley (05:36):
Yeah, josh, you kind of strike me as the kind of guy
and don't take this the wrongway this is the kind of guy I am
, but the kind of guy that wouldstruggle to, like you know,
even slap a mosquito off yourarm, you know, like well, I
don't, I don't struggle there, Ihave.
Josh Thompson (05:52):
I have the type that mosquitoes love the blood
type and I I will massacremosquitoes if that's what it
comes down to.
Lyle Wiley (06:03):
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 agood thing.
It's a good thing.
I will say, like the speech anddebate community, that the
folks I've talked to about this,like not very many of us, are
very confident in our survivalskills in the event of the
apocalypse.
Josh Thompson (06:22):
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 thatprevent the apocalypse.
Let's hope for that.
I like that.
Yeah, I like that.
Lyle Wiley (06:36):
Yeah, All right, Josh.
Well, you know you had anotherfabulous season this year, your
senior year.
You went to nationals and hadanother great year.
What were some of yourhighlights from this season and
some of the memories that you'regoing to treasure the most from
your high school speech anddebate experience in the season?
Josh Thompson (06:55):
Oh man.
Well, this season wasdefinitely one for memories.
As far as competition goes.
My duo partner partner Ben andI, uh, we did really good, um,
but it wasn't anything likesuper crazy like what happened
at nationals last year, um.
(07:17):
So, as far as competition goes,you know, we we did good but it
wasn't super like memorable perse.
But I'd say the trips that wewent on were absolutely very
memorable, and especially JamesLogan, I'd say that was probably
my favorite this year.
That was in January, I'm prettysure, and we packed everything
(07:42):
up and went to California.
It was beautiful, it was warm,but also super rainy, which I
didn't expect, but rain's myfavorite weather, so I love that
.
The competition itself wasreally cool.
It was themed about MartinLuther King Jr and we got to see
some really cool pieces, metsome really cool people and, um,
(08:05):
there were actually people thatwe met that we had rounds with
that ended up making it tofinals at nationals.
Um, and it was just really coolto see them again at night talk
and nationals, um, and weactually made friends with them
and, um, like they recognized us, they remembered our piece,
(08:27):
which was really cool.
Um, we did the mitchells versusthe machines as a duo and that
in itself was just super fun andsuper memorable.
There were so many things we didwith it, like the way we
performed it at nationals was acompletely different piece than
what we did at the beginning ofthe year.
(08:48):
We had different characters, wehad entirely different scenes,
new blocking, new ways of sayingthe lines and everything.
It was just awesome.
I don't know if Ben would agreewith me on James Logan being
that great because he was sickthe whole time.
He had a really bad stomachissue and that wasn't fun.
(09:15):
But the trip itself was reallyfun and it was really cool
because my family got to come tosome of the tournaments like
NITOC and Nationals.
I actually came all the way outto um, iowa, and minnesota was
in col.
Oh, minnesota yeah yeah, yeah itwas.
It was just really fun and, um,I did the producers as a humor.
(09:36):
It was just a very, a reallygood way to end high school
speech.
I'd say it was a, it was areally good year and um, great
memories, great inside jokes andjust a lot of fun.
Lyle Wiley (09:51):
So, um, I'm satisfied you had a really I
mean a really great group ofEast teammates this year.
Josh Thompson (09:59):
So yeah, absolutely Everyone.
Even the novices were justpowerhouses.
It was crazy.
Lyle Wiley (10:05):
Well, I'm glad that you had a good year for your
senior year.
It's probably prettybittersweet 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 ofthat stuff behind.
Josh Thompson (10:16):
Yeah, that's true , there's there's things I won't
miss, and then there's a lot ofthings that I will you know
that, I will you know.
Lyle Wiley (10:26):
Yeah, yeah, I understand that.
So is there anything that youlike specifically uniquely
learned about this activity oryourself this season, you think?
Josh Thompson (10:32):
Yeah, I, I definitely.
Um, this was definitely maybeit competes with my junior year.
Uh, that was pretty crazy.
But this year was very busy.
I had a lot of stuff going onBesides just schoolwork.
I had speech, obviously, I hadchoir and our small singers jazz
(10:57):
group and I was in the NationalHonor Society.
So I would volunteer andobviously, you know, applying to
college and scholarships andgetting all that stuff figured
out.
It was crazy.
It was very busy year and Idefinitely in the past I've kind
of gone all out with speech anddebate.
(11:18):
You know I've done three orfour events at a time and I just
kind of loaded up and dideverything because I wanted to
do everything.
But it was also very drainingand very I got burnt out by the
end of the season and I was likeI even got to the point, like
last year, where I was like Idon't know if I want to do this
next year.
(11:39):
I was just so like worn out andthis year I definitely took it
a lot easier.
Um, I kinda paced myself and Irealized like it's okay to just
focus in on one event or twoevents by the end of the season.
It was just duo that we werefocused on and, um, honestly,
(12:01):
I'm I think it was morebeneficial that way, because
even if we didn't break atnationals or anything like that,
we still something.
You know, it was one of thosethings and we talked about this
(12:28):
because we did work on it a lot.
We were talking about how we'drather have worked on it and not
break than not worked on it andnot break.
You know, I think I said thatgrammatically very incorrect,
but it's like if we did breakand we worked that hard, we
(12:49):
could be that much more proud.
But since we still put in thatwork, we can just be proud of
what we did and we tried ourbest, and no one can say we
didn't, because we did put hoursupon hours into it.
And I think that was definitelyreally, really good and it's way
different than anything I'vedone in the past, because in the
(13:11):
past I've done a lot of events,but I kind of got them to a
point where they worked and thenjust let them go, because I was
like, well, they've beenworking, I've been winning
things, so I don't need tochange them.
They've been working, I've beenwinning things, so I don't need
to change them.
Then I would stop going topractice.
I would just let it sit.
(13:32):
That's one thing you can'treally do once you get to
nationals, because you have tofreshen it up.
What works in Wyoming does notwork at a national level
tournament with people from allover the states, national level
tournament with people from allover the States.
So I definitely learned a lotabout how speech works, how what
really does work at thosebigger tournaments and what
(13:53):
doesn't, what people are kind oflooking for.
Um, I learned a lot aboutmyself, about doing what I need
to, and you know, like I was, Iwas planning on doing expository
again.
Um, there was talk of maybewinning twice in a row, like how
cool would that be?
You know, maybe coming back andbeing the reigning champion at
(14:14):
um expository and everything.
But I got so busy by the end ofthe year that I just kind of
talked to Mr Viney and I waslike this is getting insane.
I can't write this and doeverything I need to to be
successful at the end of highschool, you know.
And so I didn't have a backup,I didn't have a supplemental and
(14:38):
I put all my chips in, so tospeak, for Duo and I ended up
losing that bet.
But I'm still glad that Ididn't add more stress to my
plate with an entire other eventand I think that's a good
lesson for people, because Iknow a lot of people who they're
(14:58):
all in and sometimes they cando it.
Sometimes you get a Dani Schultzwho does eight events at one
tournament and is stillgraduating high school and she
did it and you know she loved it.
But for anyone who's feelingoverwhelmed with it, it's okay
(15:19):
to not do everything.
You can take a weekend off.
You know you don't have to goto every tournament.
Not do everything.
You can take a weekend off.
You know you don't have to goto every tournament.
And, um, I think that wasdefinitely the biggest lesson I
learned this year.
Lyle Wiley (15:35):
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 importantknowing your limits and like
what is healthy for you.
Yeah, absolutely.
I've had a lot of folks talkingabout that realization for them
in this year and in the lastcouple of years.
Just like that, you're okaythat you, josh Thompson, are as
you are, uh, the.
(15:56):
You don't require validationthrough the, the events that you
do in this activity, that youare a valuable and talented and
hardworking person who putseverything that they can into
what they do.
And so you know, uh, but it's adifficult thing sometimes
because we, you know, we setcertain expectations for
ourselves.
We want to try to do it all, butyou can't do it all.
(16:19):
Sometimes you have to take astep back.
That's a tough, tough lesson tolearn, but it sounds like it
was healthy for you this year toknow your limitations and then
be careful about those.
Josh Thompson (16:28):
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 thetournaments and I got breaks in
between rounds and you know, itwas great.
Lyle Wiley (16:42):
I think there's a lot of pressure that gets put on
seniors too.
Then, you know it was, it wasgreat.
I think there's a lot ofpressure that gets put on
seniors too.
You know it's like weird.
Uh, you know, as as leaders andstuff which I mean, like you
know, some of that is is goodpressure, but then there's like
all these like things outside ofthe speech world that happen
with seniors that are reallystressful, that I think a lot of
times we forget about um otheractivities, of course, same
expectations and otheractivities, but also just
(17:03):
preparation for the worldoutside of school, trying to
figure out what you're going todo for next steps.
A lot of times it's likescholarships and all sorts of
like applications that are superhigh stakes and some hard
classes.
I mean my seniors inThermopolis.
A lot of them are taking like afull college load, which I mean
is is really intense for a lotof students.
They're not used to that load,so the academics is really
(17:24):
difficult too.
So, yeah, I think this is agood reminder to coaches and to
other competitors that are goingto be seniors that you know
just, it's your mental healthand your health, your physical
health, are the most importantthing in the equation.
Josh Thompson (17:42):
Like you got to take care of yourself.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And having gone through allthat and being on this side of
it, I can definitely say thatit's hard to have that in mind
when you're not a senior.
But as soon as you are a seniorand you have all those
pressures, you're like, oh mygosh, how did they do this last
year?
Like thinking of the seniorswho graduated before you, you
(18:06):
know, and it's hard to get thatperspective and understand that
struggle unless you're in it.
But it is definitely importantto keep in mind for other
competitors and coaches, just toremember like, yes, we are at
the top, we are leaders and wewant to support everyone and
kind of set an example, to tryto meet.
(18:28):
But also we're human and we're,you know, fresh adults in some
cases that we don't really knowwhat we're doing, and you know
it's just.
It's good to kind of putyourself in other people's shoes
and understand what's going on.
Lyle Wiley (18:47):
So boundaries are super important and recognizing
that when, when you need to takea step back um, it'll actually
a lot of times, like in yoursituation help you enjoy an
activity that you really love to, like you know, be real about
what is the correct amount ofwork that you need to put in for
this year yeah, absolutely yeah, I have a ghostly interlude
(19:11):
here.
I want to like uh, I want tosee what josh thompson thinks
about ghosts and the paranormal.
Are you a believer?
What do you think?
Josh Thompson (19:21):
Wow, you know, I think I definitely pride myself
on being very logical andintellectual, so to speak.
That might sound bad, but I,you know, I love learning about
science and the real world andwhat's going on, but I
(19:43):
definitely am.
I definitely do believe.
I think there's things thatscience just can't explain, and
sometimes you just got to seethose things for yourself.
And I grew up like in aChristian home, you know, those
are kind of that's kind of mybelief system.
(20:04):
So I don't necessarily think theparanormal is bad always.
I think there can be badparanormal stuff, but I think
sometimes it's really good and,um, you know, believing in like
spirits and stuff.
It's not necessarily theclassic like white bed sheet
with two holes cut out, um, it'snot like cupboards opening and
(20:28):
closing in the middle of thenight or things like that.
Sometimes it's as simple aslike getting a sign from someone
you've lost and it's kind oflike oh, they're still here, you
know.
Um, and one thing that myfamily kind of experiences is my
grandpa mayor on my mom's side.
After he passed away, my momsaw a monarch butterfly, and so
(20:54):
whenever we see one of those,they always like land on us,
like they never just kind ofpass us.
They always land on one of usand we always say that that's
grandpa saying hi or giving us ahug, you know, and um, it's
just things like that, um, thatI kind of subscribe to.
But I also think there's reallyscary haunted places all around
(21:17):
the world that are absolutelythere's ghosts there and they're
not friendly well, that'slovely.
Lyle Wiley (21:24):
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 folksthat that are, that are that are
gone, are never really gone forfrom us.
So, yeah, um well, okay, allright, so that's a pretty good
(21:44):
answer.
Um, also like funny to me, Iknow you're a highly logical,
like straight, you know, likebalanced thinker, but you're
also very open-minded man andthat's good yeah absolutely so,
uh, here at camp, one clap two,we're talking about overcoming
fears and obstacles a lot, and Ithought maybe you'd have some
like spooky stories for us abouttimes that you had oh yeah,
(22:09):
scary moments in speech orthings that helped you kind of
like grow, but at the time werelike pretty scary.
You have a few stories for usabsolutely.
Josh Thompson (22:19):
um, when you do speech for as long as I have,
you get a lot of stories and Ithink you know I've done humor
every year.
I'm a humor kid.
I can't beat the humor kidallegations because they're all
true, but I think the scariestthing that can happen as a humor
(22:43):
kid Well, there's two.
One is messing up andforgetting all your lines
mid-performance and the secondis getting stonewalled where no
one laughs and it is painful.
And the first one that happenedat my first in-person
(23:05):
tournament.
It was at Casper College, mysophomore year.
It was finals, humor finals.
Everyone was in there, all thepeople on my team who wanted to
come watch, some coaches, someof my friends, my girlfriend.
At the time I was doing what isstill probably my favorite humor
, that I've done One of them andI was going strong.
(23:28):
I was getting lots of laughs, Iwas feeling really good about
it, but I had memorized on theway there.
I was checking my script on thebus and halfway through the
piece I just lost it.
I just went blank and I had noidea what I was on next and I
(23:51):
was like, oh what, uh, hold on,sorry.
And like I just froze and I waslike I could feel my face, like
it's one of those things likewhen you're afraid you go pale
and like all the blood runs away.
But I could feel all the bloodrushing to my face and I felt
like I was just burning.
My cheeks were turning red andI was like, oh, crap, um, and I
(24:13):
had to.
I literally I had like myschool ipad with me.
I had to walk over.
It was like on a table just incase I forgot.
I had to walk over in front ofthe whole audience and look at
my script and, like, continuefrom where I messed up.
And that was still one of, like, the scariest moments of my
(24:34):
whole speech career and it, uh,it's, and like I've seen that
happen to other people and it'sone of those things where I just
can't judge them because that'shappened to me and I get it and
I know how much that sucks.
So I I just kind of smile, I'mlike 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.
(24:57):
And um, that also happens whenyou get stonewalled, um, because
if you're in a bad round wherepeople just don't laugh.
Either they're just being meanor they're just not feeling it,
because sometimes it's like 9pmat a strange place you've never
been to before and you justdon't feel like laughing.
(25:19):
I make it a point to laugh atevery humor I see, even if it's
not funny, like I just, even ifit's not funny to me.
I know how much.
I know how hard it is to get upthere and just be wacky and
goofy with all these charactersand you just got to support each
other because I've had roomswhere no one laughs and it sucks
(25:41):
and it makes you think you'redoing something wrong and even
if every other round you'redoing fine, everyone's laughing,
that one round can make youfeel like you are not funny,
you're not doing it right, andthat's not the case.
Usually there's an underlyingfactor.
Sometimes there's teams thatare afraid of you because you
(26:01):
have been doing so well and theyjust purposefully don't do that
to try to psych you out.
Um, I've seen that happenbefore and it's it's not, it's
not okay, but it happens andthat's scary and um, but um,
you've, you've talked withsolomon, haven't you?
yeah, yes, um, so we're actuallythis is kind of random.
(26:23):
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'smaking a movie for a film fest
and um, you're involved withthat too.
Lyle Wiley (26:36):
That's cool.
Josh Thompson (26:37):
Yeah yeah, we're like best friends in that movie
Our characters are.
But one of the days that wewere filming, solomon was
talking about this book that heread.
That kind of talks about howyour brain works in high stress
situations and there's like a.
Did he talk to you about this?
Lyle Wiley (26:57):
The Inner Game of Tennis.
Josh Thompson (26:58):
Yeah, he talked about this.
Lyle Wiley (26:59):
Yeah, yeah, you should tell me what you took
away from that, though?
Josh Thompson (27:03):
Yeah, so the biggest thing I took away is
like sometimes there's adisconnect between what you want
to do and what you actually endup doing.
And usually that happens whenyou think too hard about
something, because if you justgo in and do it, you always do
better than you do if you thinktoo hard about it.
(27:23):
And in this example obviouslyit's like a tennis match, but it
works for speech too.
And what Solomon was talkingabout like what happened at
Nationals last year for him washe was overthinking his piece
while he was writing it or whilehe was giving it, because he
was worried that oh, everyoneelse here is in finals, they're
(27:46):
all really good, maybe I shouldchange some things.
And that just got to him andyou know he had a stumble and I
just took away that.
Sometimes if you're in your ownhead too much, that can really
damage your performance because,truthfully, you've done the
work, you know what to do, andthe worst thing you can do is
(28:09):
try to change what's beenworking the last second, because
that's happened before andsometimes, especially in humor,
you're like, okay, no one'slaughing, maybe I have to change
it up, and that can really hurtyou.
So I would say, as far as thosesituations go, even if no one's
laughing, you just got to dowhat you know, because even if
(28:30):
the judge isn't giving youreactions, they might still give
you the one because they justlike your piece that much and
how you have been doing it.
If that's been working, there'sno reason to change it and
obviously, like I said earlier,it's good to keep things fresh
and work on things, but the timeto do that is not when you're
(28:51):
performing or like before youstart.
That's not the time to startmaking changes.
So, um yeah, just just don'tget in your own head and just do
what you know, because you knowthat's how you get through your
whole speech without missingout you know like trusting
yourself and trusting theprocess.
(29:11):
Yeah, and that's the thing,especially when you do have
anxiety Cause you know, I I havethat and I I deal with that a
lot and, um, it does feel likethe end of the world sometimes
and you're like, how will I everrecover from this?
Like I can never show my faceat a speech tournament.
(29:33):
Ever again I've I've felt that,and but the reality is like
people are already so likeinvolved in themselves that,
even if that does happen, youusually forget about it and no
one in a speech round, unlessthey're a jerk, is gonna judge
you for that.
They're just gonna be like, ohmy gosh, I'm so sorry that
happened.
Like I've been there, we've allbeen there.
That's that's happened toliterally everyone who's ever
(29:55):
done speech debate, becausegetting up and talking in front
of people is scary, um, but noone's gonna judge you.
Everyone, just like you know,can sympathize with that pain
and that fear, but it it reallyisn't the end of the world and
no one's going to remember it.
You know, next round, once youget them laughing again, they'll
already forget about it.
(30:15):
And so, yeah, just keep that inmind.
Yeah.
Lyle Wiley (30:19):
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'llnever be able to share my face
again.
I show my face and there's likewhat, what's happening in our
head and what we think arehappening in other people's
heads, it's pretty much justhappening in our head.
Josh Thompson (30:36):
Usually it's not happening in their heads.
Lyle Wiley (30:37):
So yeah, the the worst case scenario very rarely
is what actually happens, youknow yes, exactly so, although
if you're like me, you're reallygood at like projecting those
worst case scenarios in yourhead.
Josh Thompson (30:54):
That's true, and sometimes they happen because
you think it's gonna happen.
Lyle Wiley (30:58):
So much you're like.
It's like a self-fulfillingprophecy.
Josh Thompson (31:02):
Yeah, you know, it's true it's so.
Lyle Wiley (31:04):
It sucks well, josh.
Josh Thompson (31:07):
Uh, what's next for you and your anxiety riddled
self well, I've actually beendoing really good this summer,
but during the season it was, itwas rough, um but.
So next up, obviously we havethis movie we're filming.
I don't know if I could say toomuch about it but I don't know
if you.
Broadcast.
(31:28):
Yeah, I'm super excited andwe're going to wrap up filming
in August and then I have asenior trip coming up.
I'm going to go to UniversalOrlando with Ben and his brother
for five days, so that'll bereally fun.
I'm really looking forward.
(31:48):
Yeah, um, and you know we haveCheyenne frontier days in town
right now, um, so there's thecarnival and all the rides you
can do and that's my favoritepart.
So I'm going to be going onthose rides all day.
Once we're there, it's that's.
I'm, I'm super excited, um, andthen I'm off to UW.
I'm going to going to move inat the university of Wyoming on
(32:11):
August 16th and, um start myfirst semester as a college
freshman, which is really weirdto say.
Lyle Wiley (32:21):
It's exciting.
What are you?
What are you planning to study,josh?
Josh Thompson (32:24):
I'm going into biology.
Um, there's a lot of things I'mthinking about doing with it.
I'm not entirely set on any yet.
Um, I thought about coming backand being a teacher.
Um, I thought about just beinglike a research assistant or
like a genetic counselor.
Um, the baseline is I just wantto help people with whatever I
(32:47):
go into.
Um, so still deciding on that,but biology is going to be my
major.
Lyle Wiley (32:53):
So, yeah, awesome, I do think you'd be a great
teacher.
I mean I, you know, obviouslyI'm always looking that we need
good teachers, we need greatteachers, so I try to encourage
people to think about it.
Yeah, I know, it's not the mostsexy profession in terms of
like pay and status and all thatgood stuff.
Josh Thompson (33:13):
But I think that's great.
Lyle Wiley (33:15):
Thank you, yeah, but yeah Are you at all interested
in, like staying in touch withthe speech and debate community
in the future, are you going totry to do some, like you know,
coaching on the side, helpingpeople out?
Josh Thompson (33:25):
Yeah, I'm not planning on doing it.
I'm not planning on competingagain at UW, but I am.
I signed up for an alumnimembership for the NSDA and I'm
planning on coming back toCheyenne to help coach and judge
tournaments.
And a couple of years from now,when I'm able to, I'd love to
(33:46):
help judge at nationals orsomething like that.
I think that'd be really cool.
If I'm able to, I'd love tohelp judge at nationals or
something like that.
Lyle Wiley (33:53):
I think that'd be really cool.
Um, if I'm able to, so yeah,that's awesome man.
Uh, hopefully I can continue tosnag you to, to get you on the
podcast too, to give yourawesome perspective and help
people out in that way too.
Josh Thompson (34:04):
So yeah, I would.
I would love to whenever.
Whenever you need someone, letme know.
Lyle Wiley (34:09):
I, uh, I want to close out our interview.
We're like closing outinterviews with discussions
about you know, you know there'sa lot of like stats and surveys
thrown around about how, like,folks really really are afraid
than public speaking, and thenyou get these surveys, which is
crazy, but so like, if that'strue, like what?
What do you think?
Like, why is participating inspeech and debate worth all of
(34:34):
that fear and terror ofpresenting things in the public?
What do you think?
Josh Thompson (34:39):
That is a great question, and I asked myself
that a lot while I was competing.
I was like, is this reallyworth it?
Cause, again, doing thisactivity with anxiety seems like
it's kind of self-defeating, um.
But then you ask literallyanyone who does it and they're
like, oh yeah, I have anxiety.
You're like, oh okay, so we'reall crazy, um, but no, it's I.
(35:05):
I'd say the most important thingabout speech and debate is just
like getting a message out.
That's why we do it, and it canreally be anything.
Sometimes it's incredible andgroundbreaking and you know it
changes someone's perspective onthe world for the rest of their
(35:25):
life.
And other times it's just asilly message about how
important family is, or dadjokes, and you know it can
really be anything and that'swhat's so special about it.
I've seen people just get upand talk about nature because
they love it.
I've seen a poetry that wasjust about how cool nature is
(35:47):
and I loved it because it isgreat and, um, you could talk
about whatever you want to talkabout, and I think you'll get
more out of it if it's somethingyou believe in personally, um,
but if you just do somethingbecause it's fun, then by all
means more power to you, um, andthe skills you get with, uh,
(36:10):
learning confidence and just howto communicate effectively.
That's a very important skillthat a lot of people lack and
even if you're playing acharacter with big emotions,
sometimes it helps you toexpress your emotions
(36:31):
effectively, even if you don'trealize it.
Sometimes that happens on thesubconscious level, but
sometimes, like there were timesdoing the Mitchells versus the
machines you know it's a veryfunny piece.
We had crazy blocking.
There's a giant furby at onepoint that ben and I like
(36:51):
combined into and I played theears with my elbows, you know,
and um, but it's also a verygrounded, heartfelt family story
and there were some times whileI was performing and you know
whether it was thinking about ohmy gosh, this is the last time
we're performing in Cheyenne orin Wyoming, or just the last
(37:14):
time we're performing in generalI just it kind of hit me and I
was like, oh my gosh, this pieceis really important and I felt
it and like sometimes I wouldjust tear up, like I would look
at Ben after we were done andI'd just be like, okay, I'm
going to cry now, you know, likeit, it just hit me and that is
what is so incredible aboutspeech and debate is sometimes
(37:37):
there's a message that justlands at the right time and it
it, it just there's.
There's no other feeling likeit, like when you feel spoken to
, there's nothing else like it.
And I think that's also that'shalf of it.
Half of it is giving your storyand half of it is hearing
(37:57):
someone else's, and both arejust so important.
And once you get past theinitial layer of fear and
sometimes that never goes away,like I even my last round I
still got that anxiety beforegoing up but as soon as you kind
of get used to it and you getover that, once you start seeing
the benefits that doing thisactivity brings, it's just it's
(38:22):
all worth it.
And sometimes you don't seethat until you're done with it.
Until you're done with it.
But you can always look backand be like oh wow, this really
helped me become a better person.
And sometimes you might have abad community, you might run
with a tough crowd or yourfamily might have some not very
(38:43):
good opinions, and sometimes youjust need to hear perspectives
from other people to realizelike, oh my gosh, I never
thought about it that way or Inever knew this was a problem
and you just learned so much andit's, it's awesome yeah, I mean
(39:05):
the.
Lyle Wiley (39:05):
The level of advocacy that's at our
fingertips with this activity isreally pretty special and neat.
Josh Thompson (39:11):
It really is.
Lyle Wiley (39:12):
Yeah, yeah, and you know we can all learn, so it's
great to have so much differentinformation out there for us to
learn from.
All that said, it doesn'treally alleviate the terror, I'm
sure for many of us of speakingwith people.
That's true, but maybe,hopefully, it makes it
worthwhile.
Josh Thompson (39:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
When it's all said and done.
Lyle Wiley (39:34):
Well, thank you, Josh, for being here to help us
navigate the clapocalypse.
Josh Thompson (39:39):
I love having you here.
Lyle Wiley (39:40):
I hope to have you back on the podcast again soon
and I appreciate everything thatyou bring.
Josh Thompson (39:45):
And I wish you the very best in the future man.
Lyle Wiley (39:47):
Thank you so much.
Thanks so much to Josh forcoming by Camp One Clap again
this year.
What's new at camp tomorrow?
Well, sisters and speechsuperstars Ella Goodman and
Addie Goodman will be here totalk about ways to manage
anxiety in speech and debateperformances.
Remember social mediachallenges are live for every
day that we have camp thisAugust.
We'll see you tomorrow, campers.
(40:08):
Oh, and also, if you get kissedby an alpaca, don't worry, it's
not the end of the world, it'sjust alpaca lips For Camp One
Clap.
This is Camp Director Wileysigning off.
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