La Verne to host Worlds style training

The University of La Verne would like to invite you all to sunny southern California for a week of intense debate training followed by a uniquely formatted individuals tournament. This guarantees anyone who attends excellent instruction and guidance from some of the most experienced trainers in the country, and in fact the world. Between them, they have racked up 28 visits to the World Universities Debating Championships. In addition, the University of La Verne’s debate team promises to assist in any way possible including transportation to and from airports and, if necessary, from lodging to the school. Of course, they will also be providing assistance in their specialty, making sure that everyone has a great time outside of the training!

We are looking to make this event as accessible as possible to participants outside of the state of California, so we are only charging a $60 registration fee per individual or a $200 fee for any team with 4 or more participants (with no upwards limit), inclusive of the entire week of training and the tournament. Also, we have secured housing in the University’s dorms for $25 per person per night. We would ask that anyone interested will have registered by July 9th. For more information see attached.

Sincerely,
Josh Martin


Schedule:
July 19th : Arrival; Introductions; Beginning of training
July 20th – July 23rd : At least 5 Hours of training per day; Social events
July 24th : 4 Preliminary tournament rounds
July 25th : 1 preliminary round; Final Round; Departure

Main Trainers:
Ian Lising: 6 years as Chair of World Council
6 time World Grand Final Adjudicator
10 time Oxford International IV Final Adjudicator
Probably knows what he is doing

Justin Jones Rodriguez: 2000 World Grand Finalist
1999 Oxford International IV Finalist
2001 Breaking judge at Worlds

Josh Martin: Multiple time breaking Judge at Worlds / Oxford IV
Top Judge 2009 US National Championships
Top Speaker 2006 US National Championships
2007 US National Champion

Individuals Tournament:
The tournament will consist of 5 prelimary rounds, breaking straight to the final. This format is designed to accompany the training and highlight the chance to be exposed to different schools of thought and approaches to debate as theoretically everyone will be changing partners every round. Partners for the first round will be randomly assigned, and for every subsequent round power matching will be done based on team points and then within each room, partners will be reallocated based on speaker points. The highest two speakers will be paired together, then 3rd and 4th, etc. giving everyone the chance to work with individuals from different institutions, around their same skill and experience level, throughout the tournament. At the University of La Verne we have had the tradition of running a tournament in this format every year, and it has always been hugely successful.

Socials:
We have a team at La Verne that is almost (or maybe more) committed to having a good time as they are to debate. Add to that our being located in the middle of Southern California and you have the chance to take part in virtually any kind of social you can think of. We will be letting the participants choose what the socials can be, ranging from beach trips, clubbing, cultural downtown Los Angeles, or anything else you can suggest.

Registration:
For any other questions regarding the training or tournament feel free to contact Josh Martin at either jmartin@laverne.edu or 909) 263-1112. Registration should be finalized by July 9th.