School Debate Team

Debate Team Commitment

Scholars on the debate team must participate in every club practice, as well as a minimum of four Saturdays throughout the year. Scholars may request an excused absence as debate coaches are flexible in accommodating scholars involved in other activities (athletics, dance, theater, etc.). However, these absences must be discussed and agreed upon by coaches in advance and will impact a scholar’s eligibility for travel/high-stakes national tournaments. 

All scholars are eligible to compete in all local tournaments, through their schools, particularly those sponsored by the NYSFL (New York State Forensic League) and NYCFL (New York City Forensic League). We strongly encourage debaters to attend tournaments regularly. Doing so will increase the likelihood that a scholar will be selected to participate in a debate travel tournament. 

Finally, participation in a debate team requires completion of content-specific deliverables, such as research/evidence assignments and practice debates.  

Specific Participation in Travel/High-Stakes National Events 

In addition to the standard club eligibility requirements for travel, debate team participants must also meet the following criteria: 

• Compete in at least two local tournaments (NYCFL, NYSFL, NDCA/NSDA and ADL leagues) prior to the travel tournament. 

• Attend all Wednesday club sessions. 

• Show commitment in practice and at tournaments. 

Teams to travel to or attend high-stakes national debate tournaments will be chosen across the following criteria weighted equally: 

• Overall rank from NYCFL, NYSFL, NDCA/NSDA, and ADL leagues win/loss percentage 

• Overall rank of NYCFL, NYSFL, NDCA/NSDA, and ADL leagues and Northeast Regional average speaker scores 

• Overall rank of NYCFL, NYSFL, NDCA/NSDA, and ADL leagues and Northeast Regional speaker score 

• External tournament team attendance record

Event Uniforms

All scholars are required to wear their Success Academy uniform or other professional dress to all tournaments, regardless of whether the tournament is conducted online or in person. 

Debate Competition and Tournament Day Expectations 

Scholar Expectations

• Scholars must arrive on time for all tournaments, including for virtual tournament events. Scholars must log onto the coach’s link and stay in the coach room until their first round. Failure to do so will result in being dropped from the first round. Scholars dropped from the first round can re-enter the tournament for all other rounds if they miss round one. 

• Scholars must be in their Success Academy uniform or professional dress. 

• No “loser talk” is allowed at tournaments. We either win or we learn. Be respectful and professional with your coach, judges, and opponents. 

• Report on time to all rounds. Teams will receive an automatic loss if they are more than 10 minutes late to each round. 

• Debaters should not be interacting with parents/guardians or spectators unless instructed by the coach

Parent/Guardian Expectations

• Parents/guardians are allowed to attend all debate rounds, except for the first SA debate league tournament, unless a team has requested not to have anyone in the virtual room. 

• Parents/guardians may not speak, signal, side-coach, or do anything to distract debaters while they are in round. 

• Parents/guardians may speak with debaters after the round is finished and the judge has offered feedback.