If you had talked to me at this time last week I would have told you that UST Mock Trial sucked ass and that all I wanted was to get it over with. We were all fed up with the coaches, we were fed up with the late night practices, we were all fed up with each other and we were all wishing we had never signed up for such bull shit!
We had all agreed that the best we wanted to do was 9th place, this way we could ensure that we would still get a decent grade for the course but not advance to the next round. Not advancing to the next round meant that we would be done with Mock Trial and we would all have our lives back. "UST Mock Trial: Almost Making it since 2005" was our motto. UST's Mock Trial team has always come close to making it to the invitationals, but never quite made it; and we planned on keeping that tradition alive.
But a strange thing happened on the way to Loserville...as soon as that first round began, we were all in it to win it. I can't explain what happened. We wanted it and we fought for every inch of ground we took. It was grueling, it was emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting. We wanted to win, but not only that, we wanted to crush the competition.
The end result is that UST finished 5th out of 17 teams, and is now ranked with NCAA teams such as the United States Air Force Academy and UT and we are advancing to the next round in Memphis, Tennessee...not bad for the smallest Catholic school in the nation.
In addition to the kick ass trophy we received we also received advocate honors. I got a little choked up when Jeff received the award for Best Witness. I got REALLY choked up when Katie received an unprecedented unanimous decision for Best Attorney. I almost lost it when, after she received her award, she was on her way back to her seat and I put out my hand for a "high five" and she grabbed my hand and said "it's because of you, you're my Drew Walton".
Nothing in the world beats being part of a team.
