Debating Society: Training Officer

hi friends - i was a novice this year that climbed the ranks and ended up representing UCL at Worlds and Euros, so i experienced our novice training system firsthand, and i have two targeted improvements to make everyone's debate journey better, from fresh novices with no experience to seasoned competitive debaters.

for experienced debaters, we've all had the issue of struggling to find high-quality practice rounds to prep for tournaments. this year, i hatched an idea with friends from other london unis. i will organize an underground circuit for debaters from UCL, LSE, Imperial, King's, and Oxbridge for weekly practice to supplement standard training sessions. for london unis, we will rotate the hosting uni every week ; you get to explore every london uni campus(!!), and practice with london's best debaters. this high-quality extra practice also frees competitive debaters to help novices out during standard UCL training, as their competitive needs are already taken care of elsewhere

although we hold weekly training lectures to teach novices important concepts, debate is lwk hard to learn. for this reason, i will create an optional ring for frequent, biweekly practice rounds for passionate novices who want to improve quickly. next year's new debaters will only need to indicate interest, and they can be slotted for extra practice with experienced judges to rapidly get better. getting rounds in is the best way to improve, and i'm excited to provide that for our novices next year.

Hey everyone!!

My name is Urwa and I am running to be your Training Officer for the upcoming year. I see myself as someone who is intensely competitive, and if elected, this spirit is something I will bring to the TO role to help push everybody to their max potential and solidify UCL’s reputation as a dominant force on the circuit. To achieve these aims, I plan to do the following in collaboration with the other TOs:

1. Making a debate resource bank which will include relevant journal articles, podcasts, YouTube videos etc. on major debate themes,
2. Providing weekly/ bi-weekly summaries on prevalent global affairs and issues in the debate group chat. I believe this would be extremely helpful in making informed cases that are grounded in reality,
3. Organising regular spars with other university teams,
4. Organising workshops and sessions with external debaters.

Through all of this, I aim to improve the quality of debate and the success rate of our society. But this ambition is definitely balanced by something equally as important to me: ensuring that the society remains a non toxic environment for novice and seasoned debaters alike. I stepped away from debate in my final year of high school despite genuinely loving it, and that experience has shaped how I view training spaces. I am conscious of the importance of supportive debate spaces and in line with this belief: as TO, I would always be down for a chat and working one on one with people to help them grow into confident speakers.

Hi! My name is Louis and I'm here to present myself as your next training officer next year!

Debating society has been an opportunity for me over this past year to grow both personally and intellectually and allowed me to meet many new people as a result. I therefore wish to give back to the society next year!

You should vote for me because:

1. I've consistently been to every training session (both Tuesday and Thursday sessions), showing my consistency in showing up and doing the work that is necessary for the role

2. This role requires being good at explaining things well in an understandable manner, I have experience in this through my role as Secretary General of my Model UN club in high school, where I taught at all the weekly sessions.

   All of that yapping to say I hope you can vote for me to be your training officer!