The Los Osos High School junior, debate team member and Mock Trial team captain has what he describes as “a passion for disputation for disputation’s sake” – itself enough to suggest that he takes his craft seriously. Add in the motivation he gets from the adversity he confronts every day of his life, and the debate stage is no match for the aspiring lawyer and politician.
“I’m a firm believer that suffering makes you more resilient – that challenges in youth make people stronger,” says Joey, who was diagnosed as a child with Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and has battled the stigma and isolation that typically accompanies both.
Not only has he learned to manage his condition, but to see it as a gift – something his parents instilled in him at an early age.
“Joey was a very precocious child since he was a baby, and today he’s practically an adult. We say he’s a 70-year-old trapped in a 16-year-old body,” says Tiffany Cardoza-Opp, Joey’s mother. “He’s a great reader, and he’s always trying to learn more. It’s been kind of easy raising him. Not that we didn’t have our challenges.”
In Joey’s case, Tourette’s manifests itself in tics, repetitive movements that can’t easily be controlled. He doesn’t experience the verbal outbursts that are often associated with the disorder, but are nonetheless relatively rare.
“To be honest, I don’t feel worthy of talking about the adversity I’ve faced when you see what others have gone through,” he says.
Even so, the early teenage years were challenging. “In 4th and 5th grade, I was kind of aware of it. The problem started in middle school – teasing, bullying and an inability to make friends,” Joey says.
His mom concurs: “From 5th grade to 10th grade, Tourette’s was a big part of our lives. He felt really lost in middle school. Then Mr. Pielstick opened his door.”
That would be Erik Pielstick, who coaches the Speech and Debate team at Los Osos, and who has helped Joey hone his skills as an elite debater among high school students in Southern California.
“He already had a lot of talent before he came in,” Pielstick says. “He was always comfortable speaking in public. He really enjoys philosophy and certainly likes to argue. Early on, in his freshman year, he would trust that he knew his stuff, which sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t. But he’s much better now at preparing and practicing.”
As a competitor, Joey has excelled, and qualified for last year’s National Speech & Debate Association tournament.
“We go to some bigger tournaments, and he’s gotten first place at several of those,” Pielstick says.
Joey’s mom credits Pielstick, Los Osos and the debate team with providing an environment that brings out the best in her son. “Debate has just honed his skills. He’s found a place that’s safe,” she says.
Joey himself describes his debate team as “family” and speaks of the adrenaline rush he gets from participating in out-of-town tournaments.
“I really feel it’s my calling,” he says, acknowledging one or two lessons he’s learned along the way – notably, the ability to look at both sides of an issue.
“You learn that your own opinions are inconsequential to facts.”