Excalibur Competition 2011
From
left
to
right:
Keri
Martin,
Len
Luksa,
Alisha
Ramji,
Marc
Goral,
Lisa
Hallman
This year’s Excalibur tournament (March 18-20) featured 27 teams from across Canada competing in the preliminary three event – 1st round semi-finals which took place last Friday. On Saturday morning, the top 6 teams were invited to compete in the final event and our University of Waterloo team was one of those six finalists. We felt great as we had achieved our team goal of progressing to the final round in the tournament. In fact, we were the only “podium” team from last year’s event to make it to the final round of competition. That’s indicative of the fierce competition featured at this year’s event.
UW’s team consisting of Alisha Ramji, Keri Martin and Marc Goral (supported and cheered on by Lisa Hallman - our backup teammate) peaked at just the right time. Our content and delivery were rock solid and they were simply brilliant in the Q&A portion of their presentation. However, they were not alone as several other teams also put in podium worthy performances.
In the end, although we were not selected to repeat our stand on the podium as a top three finisher, we certainly stood tall knowing we gave our absolute best. We took comfort in knowing that we did not lose to anyone … we were simply bested by several teams who, on this particular day, came out a little bit ahead.
Even though we are the only non-business program school entry in the entire tournament, many of the coaches from the other teams came up to us following this year’s tournament and said they have come to learn that UW team entries are extremely competitive and command respect. Those comments were certainly gratifying to hear.
- Len Luksa
The Department of Psychology congratulates the team and coach Len Luksa for your dedication, commitment, and the countless hours of practicing and coaching to build a very competitive team worthy of making it to this year’s fiercely contested finals!