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.

 

SPLEEM

As debaters become more experienced, patterns between motions become obvious. One of those patterns is theme. Debates about a certain theme have consistent arguments or pieces of analysis that get reused in different debates. For example, debates about the environment will often talk about how a certain action will negatively or positively impact the environment. SPLEEM is an acronym for beginner debaters to figure out the themes in a debate. 

Social

The resolution impacts a group of people or has to deal with the relationship between government and their citizens. Common arguments/points of discussion: rights analysis, or vulnerable actors. 

Political

The resolution deals with politics, or is related to government. Common arguments/points of discussion: the role of government, how governments interact with one another, or internal workings of one country's political system. 

Legal

The resolution involves the courts, controversial laws, the police, or other actors in the legal system. Common arguments/points of discussion: the role of the courts, rights and freedoms, and how the justice system is impacted. 

Ethical

The resolution presents a moral dilemma or involves an actor being harmed. Common arguments/points of discussion: what is best for x person, or how we can justify a morally dubious action for a desired outcome. 

Environment

The resolution discusses an action that will impact the environment, or the motion impacts the environment as a side effect. Common arguments/points of discussion: the importance of the environment, x thing will impact the environment.

Economic

The resolution explicitly discusses economics, or you can think of an economic impact. Common arguments/point of discussion: how it impacts people/businesses/country. 

Moral

The resolution presents a moral dilemma or an actor is being harmed. Common arguments/points of discussion: solution to a moral dilemma, or why x actor has the moral obligation to help. 

Military

The resolution discusses the use of force, or the motion is about international relations and there is an implied sense of danger. Common arguments/points of discussion: ethical issues of military intervention, sovereignty, or discussion of the conflict. 

Why is SPLEEM useful?

  • SPLEEM helps debaters think of arguments they wouldn’t normally brainstorm by themselves. It is easy to fall into the pattern of just preparing the arguments you think of first, but they might not be the best arguments, or the most important arguments. 
  • Debates often cover many different key themes. Not every debate will have every part of SPLEEM, but they frequently have 3-4.
  • If you can cover more areas of SPLEEM, your case will be harder to clash with and take down because you are covering many areas instead of just 1.
  • When you can identify motions by their common themes, it is easier to anticipate the big ideas in a round. This can be useful when creating themes/questions for your reply. Practice identifying motions by common theme!

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