Santa Clara Debate Union Pre-Season Workshop August 1-8, 2026

Santa Clara Debate Union 2026 PreseasonWorkshopfor High/ Middle School Students

Saturday, August 1 thru Saturday,August8,2026 9am-2pm

The SCDU Debate Forumwill be hosting an online four day DebateWorkshop and Tournament on August 1 - August 8 remotely via Zoom.

TheWorkshops offers high school and middle school debaters a chance to work and learn in a supportive online setting in an advanced or novice track.We are pleased to announce that we're offering instruction and preparation in novice and intermediate Lincoln-Douglas, Policy, Public Forum and Parliamentary formats of debate on both dates.

As in the past workshops, Ryan Wallace (CSU East Bay), Greg Rehmke (Washington), Steve Clemmons (Foothill College) will be instructors along withdebate alums from regional universities along with members of local debate teams.

Classes will include lectures on the national topics, affirmativeand negative strategies, topicality and stock issues, rebuttalstrategies, and research techniques for all CHSSA/NSDA debate formats.Theworkshopemphasizes small group educationthrough the use of debate labs led by an experienced debater to managetournament preparation and research.

Theworkshopwill also feature expert guest lectures ondebate theory and announced debate topics (LD, PoFo and Policy).The schedule will allow time forsupervised practice rounds and ample research. Evidence sets and briefs on the national topic will be supplied to everyworkshopparticipant in those events with selected topics.

We will pair partners for policy, parliamentary, and public forum debate based on requests and theirlevel of competition. Allour faculty that have either taught at our program before or actively coach debate programs.College debaters will also be assisting to critique ourdebaters and will be judging the tournament competition along with former top debate alums.Students do not need to have adesignated or preferred partner for team events to participate in theworkshop.

Registration

You can also register online at Tabroom.com and locate “SCDU Debate SummerWorkshop”. Tabroom would require you create a personal account for your profile if you don't already have one.

Questions? Email tosuperkritical@yahoo.com.

DEADLINE

Please respond by Monday, July 28, 2026/

Summer Session Tournament, Saturday 8, 2026 9am-5pm.

The finale of the program is a tournament online for Parliamentary, LD, Public Forum and Policyteams.Students and teams not in theworkshopare welcome to competefor a small registration fee.

Trophies/medals are provided to the top teams andspeakers.

A more complete schedule will be sent to you upon receipt of your registration.

Tuition is $200 for the instructional program plus the tournament on Sunday. Payment can be made to Paypal, by check or by debit/credit card.

SAMPLE AGENDA

2026 SummerSCDUMiddle/High SchoolDebate Workshop

(Classes may be divided into intermediate/novice depending onenrollment. Debate formats may share some lectures but not topic discussions)

Day 1

9:00am Orientationand Program Logistics

10:30 Fundamentals of Public PolicyOptions

10:30 Fundamentals of Value Debate

11:30 Intro to DebateFormats(Parliamentary/Policy/LD/Public Forum groups)

2:00pmDebate Theory and Fundamentals

3:00 Demonstration Debates

5:00Critique of Demo Rounds

Day 2

9:00 amLab Meetings(PF/LD/Policy)

10:00 Stock Negative Strategies

11:00Generic Disadvantages and Counterplans

12:00 LUNCH

1:00 pmEconomics andCompetitive Debate

2:00pm Case Constructionand Design

3:00 pmTopicalityand Procedural Arguments

Days 3 and 4

9:00Labs Meet(PF/LD/Policy)

10:00 Solvencyand Fiat

11:00Kritiks and Alternative Frameworks

12:00 LUNCH BREAK

1:30Practice Rounds

2:30Critique of Practice Rounds

3:30Lab Meetings (PF/LD/Policy)

3:30ParliamentaryPractice Rounds

Sunday Workshop Tournament

9:00 Registration and Check In

9:30 Round 1

10:30 Round 2

11:30 Break

Noon. Round 3

1:00 Round 4

2:30. Elim 1

3:30 Elim 2

4:30 Elim 3

REGISTRATION for SummerDebateWorkshops

Fill out form and return tosuperkritical@yahoo.comor go to Tabroom.com and findSCDU Summer Debate Workshop for online registration… email the following form to the same address:

Name:_______________________________________

Home Address: ________________________________

City/State/Zip:____________________

Phone:___________________________

Email:___________________________

Fall School:_______________________ Grade in the Fall:_______________

PreferredDebate Style:

_____ Public Forum

______ Parliamentary

_____ Policy

____ Lincoln Douglas

Age:_______

Gender: ________

Years of debate complete (circle one) 0123 or more

Parent or GuardianName_____________________

Parent or Guardian Email______________________

Tuition...

_____ student(s) @ $200 =$______

Preferred Payment Method-for-detecting-cystic-fibrosis

___ Paypal

___ Check

___ Debit/Credit Card