By Jonathan Coronel
Most people know Corona del Sol for its dominant boys’ basketball team. Winning a state championship the past four years in a row can do that.
Amazingly though, most people don’t realize there’s another dynasty at Corona, maybe an even more successful one. With a fraction of the fanfare that other teams get, the Competition Government team has won the state championship six of the last seven years, and most recently won their district tournament, beating out teams such as Marcos de Niza and Desert Vista.
“Well we don’t get thousands of people watching us obviously, but we’ve had a powerhouse team of our own for awhile now,” Senior James Torla tells me in his rapid, precise way of speaking.
Torla is a member of Corona’s Competition Government or “We the People” team that competes with other schools through hearings on political issues ranging from British Parliament to the War Powers Act. Each school breaks their team up into six groups or “Units”, each devoted to formulating a four minute opening statement on their question, followed up by six minutes of rigorous questioning by judges.
Students the first quarter of the school year studying the Constitution and government in general, reading heavily from their “We the People” textbook, or as Jenny Rice calls it, “The Comp Gov Bible.”
Torla, for his part, is known for being a quick thinker, and as such is his team’s “front man” or lead speaker.
“It’s my job to basically start talking right away once that first question is asked so that I can buy time for my teammates to come up with their answers. I like the challenge of trying to connect all the information we’ve learned into an answer that makes sense and flows well.”
Other students, like Messar Rox, found the camaraderie of their team to be the most enjoyable aspect of Competition Government.
“It’s really fun just being around a lot of other young people with similar interests and passions, and just growing closer with them throughout the year has been really great.”
When talking to these students, it’s easy to forget they’re still just high school kids; their teacher and coach, Allison Rund, treats them more like college students.
“After we teach them the basics and really study the ‘We the People’ book in the first quarter, we really just turn them loose and leave it up to them to prepare and do their research.”
This level of autonomy has been typical over the years for Corona’s team, and it has worked exceptionally well.
“There’s definitely a degree of pressure, with six of the last seven teams winning state…other teams definitely are gunning for us.” Torla says with a somewhat bashful smile.
Coach Rund, herself a Corona alumni and member of the Comp Gov team in 2007, acknowledges this.
“Yes there’s pressure, but I think it’s good pressure and they enjoy it.”
Amid the smiling and talkative groups preparing and researching for their speeches, this much is evident. With goals of winning state and going to Washington for Nationals in mind, this Corona team doesn’t plan on letting that pressure get to them anytime soon.
