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Worlds and Parliamentary
About Us
Coaches
Alannah
As a student, she was trained under Team Canada coach Arsalan and Harvard World Champion Fanele. Her newbie debaters have beat national teams. Her experienced debaters have topped 3 at tournaments like TOC, Stanford, and multiple WSD tournaments. She enjoys bubble tea and supports multiple education non-profits.
Kenneth
Kenneth is studying law at University of Victoria. He believes that discussion and dialogue is the best way to learn new things.
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2nd JDC West Team 2022
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1st JDC West Team 2023
Coach
Kaveen
Kaveen was ranked the 7th best World Debater in the country when he debated as a member of Team Texas. Now, he joins Alannah Debates as a coach to further his passion and mentor the next generation of debaters.
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Kinkaid School debate team captain
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2nd Bluebonnet World Schools Debate championship
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Semifinal at UC Berkeley & UT Austin (Longhorn Classic)
National Coaches
Emily
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1 of 31 National USA Debate members
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1st Stanford 2023
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3rd Mount Vernon 2023
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4th Vancouver Winter Classic (Canada)
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6th Protea Pre-WSDC (South Africa)
William
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1 of 31 National USA Debate members
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1st Stanford 2023
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3rd TOC Spring (China) 2022
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3rd Vancouver Winter Classic (Canada) 2022
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3rd Mount Vernon 2023
Our Story
More Than Coaching: A Club
At the UBC debate tournament, the biggest debate tournament in BC, there is a scoring guideline for judges. Although scores can range from 0-100, 95-100 is known as an "impossible" score given to 0% of debaters. It is dubbed "impossible" because often for these scores to be awarded they must be approved by the chief adjudicator or tournament director. Judges are warned to only give these scores to who they see as the "top debater in Canada". In this first tournament's first round, I was handed an "impossible" score. In an odd luck, the round was judged by (at that time) Team Canada Coach Ms. Lee.
My debate abilities were so weak that I was under 60, also dubbed an impossible score. I imagine the Team Canada coach, used to observing some of the top-ranked debaters in the world, was not at all impressed by my stammering, extremely quiet, and hot-faced mess. At the end of a lot of hard work, I saw my name near the end of a 250+ list of debaters. After I finish wallowing in my disappointment, I picked myself back up. Two years later at UBC, my team placed 2nd. The next year, I ranked 3rd top debater internationally at WSC 2018 (hosted in Melbourne that year).
I know what it is like to not start with any natural talent. In debate, I promise that hard work is the only thing you need to achieve greatness. The original students of Alannah Debates were and still are family friends. Any new students are going to be treated with the same welcome and care.
Travelling the World Debating
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