Debating Society: Training Officer

Before I joined UCL Debating Society, I was always intimidated by the competitive and exclusive culture in the high school circuit. I’m glad to have found BP Debating at UCL and having been part of the Society for 1.5 years now, I’ve encountered many of the common challenges faced by seasoned debaters and new joiners alike. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t have the time to find debate resources, been intimidated by debate topics you’re unfamiliar with or are just slightly socially awkward when it comes to making new friends and finding new debate partners to speak with, you’re definitely not alone. I completely understand how these little things can make it difficult to enjoy your uni debating experience. 

If I become our Training Officer, you can look forward to:

• regular mailers containing case prep & skills training content/resources
• an online bulletin board to share debate resources and experiences,
• a Discord server for those who want to spar outside our Thursday sessions.
• tips on everything else from surviving a competition in another city to coping with debate burnout and tournament losses.

I’m willing to go the extra mile to support everyone who’d like to get better at debate or find a community at the Society. Through the above initiatives, I hope I can make staying on just a bit easier for every passionate debater. 

Debate is probably the extra-curricular activity that I enjoy most. I never find debate, whether it be training or judging or imparting advice, tiring or work-like. I understand that debate can be a very daunting thing, when I started I usually placed in the bottom 1/4 of tournaments I attended. No natural talent existed. And that's what is key, debate can be taught and improved on. You don't need to be the greatest public speaker the world has ever seen. All you need is a voice and ideally the ability to think.

I believe the primary concern of the society should be to keep our novices and first years engaged and actually happy about their performances in debate rounds. Whether their goal be winning worlds or just having more fun at meetings.

Why me?

I have two years of coaching experience along with other teaching positions at various summer schools and individual tuting. I have taken some of the shyest kids you'll have met and proved to them they have the ability to break and progress at tournaments. Coaching is both an individualised and group activity and I believe it should be treated as such, that is why I will be more than happy to respond to individual concerns via text or email and promise to respond to such whenever I can. I want to maintain an air of approachability.

I also have broken to various finals including Manchester, Oxford, Imperial, UCL and LSE. I believe myself to be in good standing as a debater and this to be important to the role.

I am standing for Training Officer because I have ideas to take the society to the next level. Having debated competitively at a varsity level for two years before joining UCL, I have had experience as Treasurer, Vice President and Training Officer at Sunway Debate Club. 

Although the current trainers have done well, I believe the club stands to benefit from more personal training sessions that last longer than 20 minutes each. I believe the rushed sessions cause new debaters to lose interest. I believe my experience managing training sessions for both competitive and casual debaters will enable the club to make trainings more engaging and approachable for novice debaters. 

Looking back on my debate experience, the highlights were the people I spent time with in the debating community which motivated me and helped me to achieve my three breaks at majors. 

If given the responsibility, I would do my best to do three things. Firstly, I will do my best to up the retention rate of new debaters by making training more approachable by taking topic suggestions and taking more time for training. Secondly, I will ensure that good judges are put into novice rooms to ensure they are given good feedback. A current problem is that novice debaters feel neglected and lose interest in the club. Finally (if possible) during sessions, I would implement the option to spar (for more advanced debaters) and full-length trainings (for novice debaters) to ensure the foundations are not rushed.