What is Speech and Debate?
Speech and Debate is an after school club that teaches rhetoric, argument, and critical thinking skills. It is divided into different "events" that each showcase different skills and formats. Typically, students will pick one or two events to compete in. These events are divided into speech (Extemp, Platform, Interp,) and debate (Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas, Policy, Congress).
What is the difference between these events?
Speech events require you to give a singular speech or presentation, while debate requires you to present many arguments and directly respond to your opponent. Broadly speaking, speech events focus more on presentation skills, while debate events focus more on argumentative skills; however, there is a lot of overlap between the two. To figure out the difference between individual events in these categories, you can go to each events page and read their "What is ___?" section, and email any of the event captains they will be happy to answer any questions you have.
How much do I have to commit?
You can commit as much you want, typically you are only required to attend practice (unless you have a conflict) and go to at least one tournament. Most tournaments are held all day on Saturday, but there are a few optional tournaments that may take up the whole weekend, though new members usually do not attend these. We have roughly the same season as winter sports, but there are optional tournaments as early as September and as late as June. Practices start for returning members in October and new members in November, and end around late February-early March. Practices are typically held 2-3 days a week, and are usually 2 hours long after school. To find each individual event's schedule, check their calendar on their event page.
I play a sport or am in another club during the season, can I still join?
Absolutely! Many people participate in both Speech & Debate and HPS or play a spring/fall sport. If you have a conflict during one or two practice dates, or can't go to every tournament, you can still participate when you have time. The biggest issue is with winter sports, typically sports practices are every day after school the same time as Speech and Debate practice, so you wouldn't be able to attend any practices and therefore wouldn't know enough to compete at a tournament. However, if your sport doesn't always conflict with your event practice, you are free to join.
What are all these acronyms?
Speech and Debate has a ton of weird acronyms, but you'll pick up on them quick. Each individual event has weird words they use, but this site provides a quick overview of what most of the acronyms you'll see mean.
How do I join?
We have recruitment events at the beginning of the year, so the easiest way to join is through those. Just look out on the events calendar and pay attention to your email to see when we're doing recruiting. If you're trying to join after the season has begun, the easiest method is to email the captains of the event you want to join, or talk to any of the coaches.
What will happen to the usual Saturday tournaments in the Cleveland area from late October – January?
As far as we know every school in Ohio will “host” tournaments on Saturday on their originally scheduled date. As far as we know, ALL tournaments will be remote through at least the end of January.
Will there be a way of qualifying for states aside from “Little Districts” and the possibility of qualifying in some events at “Big Districts?”
Yes! You can qualify to states by receiving four 'bids' at local tournaments throughout the season. You can earn a bid by placing or by coming in a certain place or above, depending on how many people are competing in your event at that tournament.
Will it be possible to qualify MORE than 4 entries to states in a given event? (In previous years we have qualified 5 or 6 entries in LD and in POLICY.)
A common answer – we don’t know yet. There will probably at least still be the possibility of qualifying 4 entries out of Littles and an additional entry out of Bigs. We are hoping that the OSDA will allow the possibility of up to 6 entries in a given event, but we’re not sure yet.
Will practices be in person or online?
We will do both. Policy debate will have online practices. Most events will do online practices at least for the first few weeks. That helps with students in fall athletics who are going to compete at UK, Yale, or Bronx. Online practices also help with students who are doing remote learning all fall. Since tournaments are online having practices online is also good preparation. And, if you are at home participating in online practice you won’t need to wear a mask. However, we do want to have at least some practices in person. This is especially important for recruiting students as we can make more personal connections.
NOTE: Bus riders are permitted to leave practices at 5:15 but other members may stay later to continue practice.