Debating the world’s best abroad, nurturing new talent at home

While you were probably tucking into a Christmas Day feast last month, six members of Seawolf Debate, along with their coach, were buckling in for 30-plus hours of international travel. The three two-person teams were selected to represent UAA at the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) in Malaysia.

"Worlds is a pretty big show," said Steve Johnson, head coach for Seawolf Debate. "The best universities in the world are there. It's very stiff competition, a huge talent pool."

Luck of the draw pitted UAA's three teams against Ivy Leaguers and superstar teams from Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa. According to Johnson, there were about 90 countries represented, with roughly 400 teams from 210 universities.

Ask a debater who the international superstars are and they're quick to tick off names.

"Oxford, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Aukland, Sydney, Monash," said junior Sarah Elton, a third-year debater for UAA, before pausing to explain the possibly surprising New Zealand/Australia presence on the list. Debate is part of the primary school curriculum starting in third or fourth grade for most Aussies. By the time they hit Worlds, most of their teams have been competing for more than a decade.

"Australia has a debating circuit that's unparalleled as far as the quality of competitors," said Johnson. And, indeed, at this year's WUDC, a team from University of Sydney earned top honors.

At Worlds, there's no seeding, so, in the preliminary rounds, a novice team from, say, Podunk, U.S.A. has a decent chance of ending up in a room full of heavyweights. Terrifying or "a development opportunity," as Johnson terms it?

"You always have two sets of expectations [at Worlds]," said Johnson. "The first and absolutely predictable one is that this is a development opportunity for the debaters who attend...The other hope is that they'll compete successfully."

"The more you go, the more you learn how to play the game," he added. "Invariably, the students come back better debaters." While UAA's debaters didn't make it to the elimination rounds, Johnson was pleased with how competitive they were in early rounds. Debate success comes with experience and a young team like UAA's has great things ahead.

But who's afraid of a little international conflict?

"Sometimes when the draw is announced and you see, oh, we have Cambridge, Aukland and Monash in our room, it can be a little intimidating," said Sam Erickson, a UAA freshman and novice debater who was teamed up with Elton for Worlds. "But they're not supermen. I'm always much more excited to go into a round where I've heard of and feared all the teams."

"Personally, I'd rather lose an excellent debate round than win a terrible debate round," added Elton. "I'm far more concerned with the quality of ideas and how those ideas engage with each other, rather than trophies or speaker points." At that, Erickson was quick to chime in that in a perfect world, you can have trophies, points and excellent debate. Point for the novice there as Elton laughingly conceded.

This was Elton's second trip to WUDC. Last year, she and "three guys named Matt" represented UAA in India. Two of the Matts have graduated, so Elton and Matt Ostrander were the only Seawolf Debaters with Worlds experience going into the Malaysia tourney.

How do you train for debate?

Read everything. No, seriously. These guys are neck-deep in news all the time. Why? At a tournament, once match-ups are announced and the topic announced, they have 15 minutes to prepare their arguments.

"The last motion of the preliminary rounds was something like, 'As a medical professional employed by the United States, this house would not treat individuals who have been subjected to torture,'" said Erickson. "Very much a round that forces you to deal with some very ugly things. It was very challenging. We were an opening half team, so we had to have a case ready to go after 15 minutes. Trying to find the right tack to take on a topic that's as heavy and controversial as that is incredibly engaging if you can do it well."

Having a brain that's already digested all the news around a thorny issue helps tremendously. Erickson admitted that he keeps 16 different news apps on his phone. Everything from Bloomberg to Mother Jones. "Every time something happens in the world, I get 47 alerts."

Elton is right there, too. "There's so much news. So. Much." She reads New York Times, BBC News, The Economist, Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs, to name just a few. But ignore pop culture at your peril, she cautioned. It's going to come up. Also extremely valuable? Real world experience.

Elton recently spent a semester in India. "Because of that, in nearly every round I'm able to bring up India-women in India, the environment in India. It's very useful to have a lot of tangible experience you can bring to the table and have real examples to discuss."

On the slate for spring

Does debate sound intriguing to you? Maybe it's time for you to check out the Cabin Fever Debates. UAA's debate team is hosting the 10th annual amateur debate competition Jan. 27-March 12. The Seawolf Debate pros are prohibited from entering, but they might be able to give some tips to newbies, if you know the right people to ask.

"It's the highlight of my year," said Johnson. "We started it knowing debate was a hell of a lot of fun and knowing that if we just got some people to try it, they'd understand what it is we do and benefit from the educational experience." That first year he thought they'd get a lukewarm reception, if they were lucky. Turns out, UAA loves debate!

"We've had to limit it to 32 teams," he said.

UAA is also on the calendar to host the U.S. Universities Debating Championships April 11-13. Expect to see some tough competition from around the country touch down in Anchorage at the tail-end (maybe?) of winter to liven things up. Johnson anticipates 40-50 schools to show and field more than 100 teams. Once we wave goodbye to the visiting U.S. universities, keep an eye out for the British.

UAA will host Oxford in the fourth annual spring exhibition debate on April 30. The motion will be "Classical music deserves no support other than what the market will provide."  The debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Discovery Theatre of the PAC.  Tickets will go on sale in mid-February.

Knocking Harvard out of first

The upcoming U.S. Universities tournament and next year's Worlds (in Greece) have the Seawolf Debaters leveling their sights at tough competitors.

"I would very much like to get Top Novice Speaker at U.S. Universities," said Erickson, who earlier admitted with a smile he'd sat out the first two years of high school debate thinking he was too cool. Not anymore.

Elton added, "He was second at the North American competition."

"Behind a kid from Harvard," he said with a head shake.

"We'll get him next time," Elton assured him.

There's precedent at UAA for taking top speaker honors amid tough competition. A few years ago, Johnson talent scouted a novice at the Cabin Fever Debates. "Akis Gialopsos was a debater whose team didn't win the Cabin Fever Debates, but he was selected as the best speaker of the debates. When I saw him speak, there was just so much natural talent. In his third year of competition, he advanced to the elimination rounds at Worlds and was Top Speaker from North America."

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Written by Jamie Gonzales, UAA Office of University Advancement