ULV Summer Debate Training / Individuals Tournament‏

Dear All,
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 over 30 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 $75 registration fee per individual or a $250 fee for any team with 4 or more participants (with no upwards limit), inclusive of the entire week of training and the tournament. Waivers will be considered for teams dealing with extreme travel expenses or suffering other financial hardships. Also, we have secured affordable housing in the University’s dorms for participants who would like to take advantage of this. This event will run from July 19th - July 23rd, 2011. We will also be accommodating individuals who would like to attend only the training, or only the tournament. We would ask that anyone interested will have registered by July 1st. For more information see below.

Cheers,
Josh Martin

ULV Summer Training Camp / Tournament 2011

Training:
The goal of our training is to provide as individualized of an experience to each debater as possible. Our trainers have worked with all levels of debaters, from coaching World Finalists and National Champions, to teaching new students who have never even seen a debate before. We will be covering virtually every aspect of debate, including basic format, advanced strategy, manner, research techniques, case construction, and argumentation theory. With a strong emphasis on drilling and participation to put this material into practice, participants are sure to come out as much more complete debaters ready to excel in competition.

Main Trainers:

Ian Lising:
6 years as Chair of World Council
6 time World Grand Final Adjudicator
10 time Oxford International IV Final Adjudicator

Justin Jones Rodriguez:
2000 World Grand Finalist
Oxford & Cambridge IVs Finalist
2001 Worlds Breaking Judge

Josh Martin:
Worlds Breaking Judge: Cork ’09, Koc ’10, Bots ‘11
Oxford & Cambridge IVs Breaking Judge
Top Judge 2009 US National Championships
2007 US National Champion
Individuals Tournament:
The tournament will consist of 5 preliminary rounds, breaking either to semis or finals. This BP formatted tournament is designed to accompany the training and highlight the chance to be exposed to different schools of thought and approaches to debate, as debaters 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 as (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.

Schedule:
July 19th : Arrival; Introductions; Beginning of training
July 19th – 21st : 8 hour training days, Social events
July 22nd : 4 Preliminary tournament rounds
July 23rd : 1 preliminary round; Elimination rounds; Departure

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 1st.