As an alarm blares, Anish Chandran, a junior at Revere High School, puts on his suit and tie, wets his hair, and puts on his American flag pin. Less than an hour later, he is on the bus, heading off to a debate tournament.
Chandran spends upwards of nine hours Saturdays sitting in chamber—the Congressional debate word for a round of competition. He’ll return home around ten hours after he left, usually with a trophy or plaque of some kind. A week later he’ll be back at it again.
Chandran’s dedication rarely wavers. His peers and coaches speak highly of his efforts and character. Chandran’s afternoons and evenings are often consumed with preparation of one kind or another, and this preparation helps the junior succeed within tennis and Congressional debate. He is also very active in other organizations; Chandran started a club at Revere and participates in many others.
Many recognize Chandran’s “clutch” ability in high pressure moments—when it matters most Chandran is reliable. Chandran is a member of Revere’s Varsity Tennis team, and Sam Lazbin, a Senior captain, sees Chandran’s resilience come to life against tough opponents. During the spring 2023 season, the team played Westlake and the tennis coach, David Heideman, put Chandran against a tougher opponent.
“It didn’t bother him that the opponent was really good. It didn’t bother him that he was playing higher up in the lineup than he normally does. He played really well and . . . that was super impressive because I didn’t know that many dudes on the team could handle that kind of pressure,” Lazbin said.
He competes in Congressional debate as well as tennis. In Congress, competitors, known as representatives, vote on whether to pass legislation or not, which requires representatives to prepare speeches either for or against bills. Representatives who are more influential and active in chamber receive more points and are more likely to win.
Neal Pannala, one of Chandran’s fellow representatives and president of Speech and Debate, recognizes that Chandran rises to challenges outside of tennis. At the Wooster tournament, which has some of the best competitors in the state attending, Pannala watched Chandran in action.
“I saw him walk in a room with the best debaters in the state and give some of the best speeches in the room. He was confident in questions. He had great delivery,” Pannala said.
And that is after waking up at 5:20 AM for tournaments. The transition between middle school and high school debate is a big one. Not only are the competitors better, but debaters must put in much more work.
“[Competitors are] coming from having to write six speeches for a whole year and then coming to write six speeches every week. It was a big change,” Chandran said.
At times, he even considered quitting. But the more effort he put into it, the more he started getting on the podium at tournaments. That gave him the motivation to stick with it. By the end of his freshman year, he was well equipped to debate the top Congressional debaters not only in the state, but in the country. He qualified to Nationals that year and made it to the semifinals. His peers and coaches, including Hanna Steinker—the head coach of Revere’s Speech and Debate program— recognize that his dedication aids his success.
“He’s very consistent in how he performs. . . . He’s usually advancing into [the final] rounds. But that’s really up to him and comes from his really hard work ethic. If he wasn’t prepared for those tournaments by doing his own hard work at home, that probably wouldn’t be happening,” Steinker said.
Those who work with Chandran recognize the amount of work he puts into his pursuits. Debate tournaments, which occur nearly every Saturday from November to March, require hours of work each from Chandran.
“If there is a final round at the tournament, I’m spending at least three hours a day [writing] speeches,” Chandran said.
For tournaments with final rounds, he writes nine different speeches. Each one takes him around an hour, and he splits them up between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That leaves Thursday and Friday to perfect every last detail of his speeches. His efforts help him stand out.
“One thing I think Anish does well is he finds the best statistics, niche arguments, stuff like that no one else would be able to find,” Pannala said.
A typical Congress competitor still prepares for hours each week, but the top competitors, like Chandran, spend nearly double the time preparing compared to their fellow representatives. At a highly competitive tournament like Nationals, where the best debaters traveled to Phoenix, Arizona last year hoping for a National Championship, Chandran stood out.
“We’re supposed to be going and enjoying Phoenix and getting to know other students [the day before the tournament starts]. And [Chandran and a teammate] wanted to spend a majority of the day in the hotel prepping out argumentation for rounds on Monday. It was very Anish,” Steinker said.
While a majority of Chandran’s time is consumed by debate, he succeeds in the classroom. He thrives in his classes despite the immense time strain debate puts on him. Lazbin explained how difficult Chandran’s schedule is.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen someone take on a class load as hard as he does and still manage to balance it very well. . . . He’s a super hard working guy. He’s very goal driven,” Lazbin said.
Many recognize Chandran as an excellent student and debater without understanding his involvement in tennis. He makes sure to train regularly. He practices twice a week and works out when he can.
“Most people don’t know that he actually plays in the off season a pretty good amount. He’s a tennis coach during the summer. He coaches kids,” Lazbin said.
Chandran recently started a Pen Pal Club at Revere with fellow junior Neha Yadavalli. Pen pals write letters to each other although they usually have not met in person before.
“We write to two places: a senior assistance program, and [Akron North]. There are a lot of refugees there,” Chandran said.
Chandran oversees the letters sent to North High School, which is around 25 minutes away from Revere High School. Many students there are beginning to learn English and writing to a pen pal can help familiarize refugees with the language and area.
Pen Pal club is only Chandran’s most recent success. The junior thrives in debate, tennis and in and out of the classroom. He’s making a name for himself across the country as one of the nation’s top Congressional debaters, and in his local community he’s known for his reliability and dedication
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