It’s starting to look like WUDL has figured out how to qualify sophomores to the Tournament of Champions. 

Like their teammates Daniella and Sitara last year, Margaret and Jack didn’t start the year intending to be partners. After some individual success, they debated together for the first time in New York, and grabbed their first bid, not looking back since. They got close at Lexington, before storming through Pennsbury, not losing a ballot and winning the tournament (another similarity with Daniella and Sitara from their ToC run the previous year). 

Just like the road to qualify to the Tournament of Champions, the competition on site was cut-throat. This is one of the culminative, national tournaments for highly successful and highly competitive debaters, and major programs pull out all the stops to try to coach their teams to victory, including hiring legions of college students to provide argumentation guidance and research support. Our preparation for the tournament started months ago, reviewing the basics and organizing specialized lessons to fill in some gaps and teach about arguments popular elsewhere in the country that we haven’t seen a lot on the East Coast. 

Upon arrival, we faced off against some of the biggest and most competitive programs in the country, including Berkeley Prep (Tampa) Liberal Arts and Sciences (Austin) (both of whom have won this tournament in the past 3 years), North Star (Newark), Notre Dame (Silicon Valley), Parkrose (Portland), Georgetown Day (D.C.) and West (Sacramento).  We heard a wide range of arguments, from up to the moment arguments about the papal elections, patent support for meat substitutes, anti-Asian discrimination, and tactical conversations about how young people should engage in activism. 

BASIS AS came into this tournament with the goal of winning a round, building the next rung on the ladder for those that come after them to climb. While they didn’t do that, they proved that qualifying to this tournament wasn’t a mirage or a lucky break, and that anyone in our community can aspire to this level of competition. Wins and losses aside, they made their presence known in the most competitive tournament held for high school students each season. 

I am incredibly proud of Margaret and Jack. They were the youngest team in the division to my knowledge, and were highly competitive in every round. We learned a lot about preparation and competition at this level, and WUDL will be back soon, likely in greater numbers. This was a powerful learning experience, especially for a team that hadn’t faced a lot of serious adversity before on their qualifying run this season.  

Many thanks to all of those who helped us prepare for the trip. We’ll be back next year, and hopefully with some company!