Debate Clubs

Our clubs are designed to accommodate new members joining anytime throughout the year. There is no difference in experience joining in September or any other month, and we routinely have new members join year-round.

Regardless of their level of debate experience, new members receive a short series of emails that will help them prepare for their first meeting. A member handbook will be provided by mail or at their first meeting, and the new member will be added to the club schedule. At their first meeting, the new member will observe debates between experienced members, listen to coach feedback for the debates, and judge the debates. (As is the case in many high school and college debate leagues, no prior experience is required for judging.) For the following 1-2 meetings, new members are assigned to work with experienced members to prepare for and compete in one or more debates as a team. At this point, the coach begins to give feedback to the new member to address specific areas for improvement, which vary widely between new members. After this onboarding period, the new member is considered an ongoing member, and they cycle through roles as a judge and debater, typically doing both in different hours of the same meeting. Our coaches adapt to each member’s skill level when creating matchups and providing feedback. 

Yes, students are welcome to visit a club for a trial meeting. Guest students are sometimes given the option to participate in some of the meeting’s activities, which we will generally advise you of prior to the meeting. To arrange for a trial, contact us.

Our members run the gamut from recreational debaters whose goal is to improve their public speaking and critical thinking skills, to competitive debaters who devote much of their free time to their work on nationally prominent high school debate teams. Here are some characteristics that most of our members have in common:

• Ability to pay attention, process verbal information quickly, and to pick up the meaning of words from context.
• Strong handwriting skills (or use of a device with strong keyboarding skills).
• An expressed interest in debate, preferably with an interest in, or curiosity about, world and political affairs.
• Responsible, self-starter mentality.
• Good public speaking skills, or the willingness to put in the work to learn them.
• Has a competitive streak.
• Works well with others.
• Capability and access to do independent research.

For the average student, club membership involves a total monthly time commitment of well under ten hours (including meetings) for clubs that meet twice per month, and well under twenty hours for clubs that meet weekly. However, some students choose to invest more or less time.

Club members prepare to compete in a variety of Ready Set Debate tournaments and external tournaments with organizations such as the American Speech & Debate Association throughout the year. For more information, please see our Tournaments page.

Attending tournaments is optional, but encouraged.

No. However, we request that members notify their coach ahead of time if they will be missing a meeting.