What is it like to coach at DSDC?
As a coach of track 2 and an experienced debater, David can tell you a thing or two about his experiences at DSDC. We asked him questions about being a student, as well as a coach in competitive debating. We asked him to share information and stories with us.
What is your history with debate and how long have you been a coach at DSDC?
I started debating already in my first year of highschool, and continued until now, so the start of my second year of university. I started coaching at DSDC in the first semester of last year, as a coach in track 2, I continued coaching track 2 also in the second semester, and this year I’m an assistant coach in track 1.
What does a regular session of yours look like?
A regular session at DSDC in my experience mostly consists of a workshop at the start given by one of the coaches, and then either one or two debates followed by feedback. Track one sessions will probably differ a bit from track 2 sessions last year, but the way we organised the sessions last year was to first do a content based workshop and then use the debate to test how students apply what they learned in the workshop in an actual debate.
What parts of the sessions are the most fun for you and what do the students appreciate the most?
For me giving a workshop or feedback is the most fun part of a session, it’s something I got to do a few times last year even as an assistant coach who is new to DSDC and I really enjoyed giving the workshops. I also enjoy giving feedback, especially because I can see that students are eager to learn and appreciate the feedback they receive on their speeches.
What advantages does debate and coaching give you in your daily life?
Debate helped me out a lot especially when it comes to my studies, a lot of the things I knew that helped me both in highschool and in my first year of law school came from hearing arguments in debate or having to research for motions, it also helped me to develop critical thinking and argumentative skills. The social aspect of debating also really helped me in my life as I know many people who im good friends with through debate. Coaching helped me get better at debating because it was easier for me to really understand things when I had to explain them to students, its also something that taught me how to work with people and explain things far better than I could before I started coaching.
What would you advice students that consider joining DSDC but are not sure about it?
I would really recommend joining DSDC, I think it’s a great opportunity to develop your debating skills and an even better community and opportunity to meet new people, go to tournaments abroad and make many friends, even though I personally haven’t been a DSDC student because I’m from Slovenia, from my experience with DSDC it seems like a great opportunity to really improve your debating and make friends. That being said I think debating in general is something that is only fun if you really enjoy it, if you don’t enjoy debating there’s nothing wrong with finding other hobbies but if you’re thinking you could enjoy something like this id really recommend to try it out at least for a semester.
Is there any experience debate or coaching you’d like to share?
Probably my most stressful debate experience but also something that really got me into debating was when I debated my first ever highschool tournament with a team who was a lot more experienced than me and ended up having to speak in finals, it was incredibly stressful for me but it’s also an experience that I really enjoyed because despite all the stress I realised that I really do enjoy debating and that motivated me to get better. I also really enjoyed winning ljubljana IV last year, it was my first BP tournament as a university student and against incredibly good teams, so winning was truly something that meant a lot to me, especially seeing how it was a tournament hosted in the city I grew up in.