Why Debate?
DEBATE is a sport of competitive reasoning. TEAMS take turns speaking for and against a topic to persuade a JUDGE of their side. Debating helps:
CONFIDENCE & PUBLIC SPEAKING
Debaters practice public speaking every class, developing a crucial skill.
CRITICAL THINKING
Debate is a sport of logical reasoning – debaters learn to be quick thinkers.
ESSAY WRITING
Essays are like debate speeches, requiring logical, structured arguments.
UNIVERSITY APPLICATIONS
Today’s universities increasingly look at extracurricular activities such as debate.
START DEBATING TODAY
About VDA
ANY LEVEL, ANY STYLE
We believe that everyone benefits from debate – that’s why our coaches teach debate classes for all levels. We coach high school and elementary students, kids who are brand new to debate and experienced.
Moreover our coaches are familiar with all styles of debate popular in North America and the world. These styles include Canadian, American, and international formats, allowing our students to compete at a wide range of debate circuits:
- Canadian National Debate Format (CNDF) and Cross-Examination
Used across Canada, Canadian styles are necessary to compete at the Canadian National Championships and its qualifiers, Regionals and Provincials.
- British Parliamentary (BP)
BP is used all over the world and is the main style for university-level debate, and senior high school format of UBC’s annual Fall, Spring, and Summer tournaments.
- Public Forum (PF)
Invented in the United States, PF is the most popular style in America, China, Korea, and Japan, and is the format of major university tournaments like those of Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley.
WHY DEBATE?
Here’s what are students have to say about debating with Vancouver Debate Academy. See more from our students on Our Youtube Page
Our coaches come from the UBC Debate Society, western Canada’s #1 debate club.
Get In Touch…
Head Coach
Connor Stewart Hunter
Connor has as trained teams to top tournaments such as those hosted by Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. He won numerous awards when he was a competitive debater:
- Champion, Mahaffey Memorial Tournament 2014
- Champion, Seattle Intervarsity 2014
- Champion, Hatfield Memorial Debates 2015
- Champion, Western Canadian Championship 2015
- Champion, University of Victoria Intervarsity 2015
- Quarter-Finalist, Hart House Intervarsity 2015
- Semi-Finalist, Canadian BP Championships 2015
