Jacob Baker competed for Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California.  He was last year’s NFL national champion in International Extemporaneous Speaking, winner of the International Extemporaneous final round, and winner of the Extemp Central National Points Race.  Jacob also made the final rounds of Glenbrooks and the California Invitational and was a sixth place finisher at the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin.  He will attend Cornell University this autumn.  He sat down for an interview with Extemp Central to discuss his experiences in extemporaneous speaking and provide advice for up and coming competitors.  This is the first part of a two part interview.

Logan Scisco:  First of all, we appreciate you agreeing to do this interview.

Jacob Baker:  Thanks for offering!  I’ll try my best to sound insightful.

Scisco:  How did you get started in extemp?

Baker:  I suppose I would say it was a confluence of three factors: an older sibling, personal interest, and maybe a bit of pride.  I knew I wanted to participate in Speech & Debate as a freshman, but wasn’t exactly sure how.  After my head coach, Kim Jones, had explained all the events to our freshman class, I had settled on extemp.  I enjoyed reading the news, I thought the ability to speak extemporaneously would be useful, I remembered my brother having enormously enjoyed extemp, but most of all, I was captivated by her implicit challenge.  Kim had said it was the “hardest event”, which though I can’t say it’s necessarily true, was enough to convince a competitive person.

Scisco:  What was the biggest highlight of your year last season?

Baker:  My place in the national tournament was definitely a highlight, but honestly, I was more proud of my team’s state championship victory.  The team ethos was invariably important at every point of my career, be it an upperclassmen staying late to help an underclassmen, or cheering others’ tournament accomplishments.  We went into the state tournament a bit uneasy, trying to win our fifth straight title, and everyone felt at least a modicum of pressure.  And when we won, it was all the sweeter knowing that, even though not everyone had excelled individually as the year previous, together we could do well.

Scisco:  You were in NFL finals the previous year.  Did you feel any pressure going into the NFL national tournament?  If so, how did you deal with it?

Baker:  Absolutely – but I get nervous before every tournament, no matter how small.  The best remedy, personally, was to practice and read, to convince myself that I could perform as well as I liked.  I was either audacious or naive enough to make it my goal to break to finals again, so in the end, I had only to disappoint myself. 

Scisco:  When did you realize that you could be one of the best extempers in the country?

Baker:  Just now that you’ve said so!

Scisco:  Fair enough.  Many extempers desire to be in the final round at NFL Nationals.  Do you have any advice for them on navigating the field and managing their nerves before speaking on that big stage?

Baker:  Personally, I tried to treat the national tournament like any run-of-the-mill tournament – it might be easy to get caught up in the hype and excitement, but for what?  I always made sure to focus only on myself, not to worry over what competitors might be in my room, in that way I could maintain my interest in my speech.  So I took some alone-time before the final round – my coach was great, and knew exactly when to let me prepare on my own.  I did some breathing exercises to calm myself, and to keep my mind off of the speech, I pored over an edition of Ebony that another coach had bought me.  I couldn’t be sure of much heading into the final round, but I certainly knew more about Hollywood’s most eligible singles than anyone else.

Scisco:  What are your future plans?  Do you plan on judging any major tournaments next year?

Baker:  Well I’m off to university to study anthropology, and likely apply that interest in foreign places and peoples in the future, but at 18, I’m not yet what exactly are my plans.  And if they’ll have me, I would be happy to judge and give back to the Speech & Debate community that has given so much to me.  If it works out, I might be down in Nashville to help at MBA in January.

Scisco:  Was there anyone that you looked up to during your extemp career?

Baker:  No.  I don’t mean this to sound conceited, but as aforementioned, I tried as hard as possible to focus on only myself, on only my own capabilities and accomplishments.  At the risk of comparing myself to other national finalists that had come before me, I took in every bit of advice possible, but left the final decisions to myself.

Check back tomorrow for the second part of Jacob Baker’s interview with Extemp Central.

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