Resources for Coaches

Welcome Coaches!

Welcome to a new year with SEDA! Whether you're returning or joining us for the first time, we’re thrilled to have you as part of our debate community. Your dedication helps students find their voices and think critically.

Debate club registration and benefits 

Why register?

  • Voting privileges at our Annual General Meeting
  • Access to lesson plans and tailored support
  • Access to a club view to track your clubs registrations
  • **NEW** Access to a $200 credit for your students towards tournament registrations
  • **NEW** There is no fee for club membership!

Student membership fees

Students who want to participate in SEDA events must register as a student member and pay the student membership fee of $50. Additional fees apply for:

  • Online tournaments ($20)
  • In-person tournaments ($40)
  • Workshops (variable pricing)

Financial assistance is available and can be requested on registration forms. A parent or legal guardian must fill in the student membership form.

SEDA will provide coaches with a handout for parents to introduce them to SEDA.

Tournament registration & Schedule

The Event Calendar shows upcoming tournaments. Each event has its own detail page and registration link. Please note:

  • Registration opens a minimum of two weeks before and closes one week before the event
  • Coaches or parents can complete tournament registration. Coaches must know the student’s financial aid preference if submitting
  • You’ll receive a link to track your club’s registrations

Volunteer Judges

Our tournaments depend on volunteer judges to support debaters.

  • Each team must provide one judge (parent, family, friend, teacher) at every event they compete in
  • No experience is needed
  • We offer judge training at every tournament

National Debate Opportunities 

If your students are highly competitive debaters who would like to participate in national debate opportunities, please refer to our qualifying criteria in the programs section of our website. This page will list the national opportunities and how to qualify for them.

 

Coaching a Club

Teaching students critical debate skills is your key responsibility as a coach. SEDA coaches are a cooperative group that share resources and help each other’s students. The website has a plethora of valuable resources written by fellow coaches and debaters in the debating section. 

Debate is an activity that requires a lot of growth, both from the coach and the debater. Every lesson within your club is a part of a learning trajectory towards a larger goal. Ensure that the level of instruction you are preparing is suited to the experience level of your club. Students should be able to answer the following questions throughout a lesson:

  • What will I be able to do at the end of today’s lesson?
  • What do I have to learn to be able to do it?
  • How will I be asked to show that I can do it? 
  • How well will I be expected to do it?

When dealing with larger clubs, there are always differing levels of understanding and experience. If you have multiple coaches, try dividing the class to teach different skills. If you are the only coach of a large club, focus on the same area of skills (argumentation for example) and explain two or three levels of the skill. This allows younger students to practice the level one skill while advanced students can practice at a higher level. The structure of a lesson should be formatted in a consistent style. Like teaching, coaching debate uses a gradual release cycle: 

  1. Model and explain

    Describe the skill or concept you want students to learn about today so students are clear what the objective is. Model the skill for your students, or have an experienced student give an example and a non-example of the skill. 

  2. Guided practice

    Walk students through the individual components of the selected skill. Practice the pieces of the skill in multiple ways. 

  3. Performance of understanding

    Give students an opportunity to perform the complete skill. 

  4. Formative feedback

    After their attempt at the skill, students are given detailed feedback so they can improve. Read about giving good feedback

  5. Opportunity to use feedback to improve performance 

    Give the students many opportunities in future classes to combine the new skill with others. 

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