ABOUT THE RIVER VALLEY SPEECH AND DEBATE LEAGUE

The River Valley Speech and Debate League exists to provide local, cheap and robust competitive Speech and Debate tournaments to the River Valley. The RVSDL exists because Coach Eric Gamble saw a need and decided to find a remedy for it.

During the course of his 16 years of coaching he was faced with 2 persistent problems. First, almost all of the tournaments offered in the state necessitated overnight travel and costly hotel stays. Second, he saw wave after wave of students at small, rural schools graduate without the opportunity to experience the life changing experience of Speech and Debate competition. Like every other program, in most schools, Covid-19 decimated the DHS Speech and Debate team’s numbers. In an effort to reinvigorate the activity in his own school. and address those two problem areas, Coach Gamble developed the concept of the River Valley Speech and Debate League. The initial goals of the League are to target six local counties: Yell, Logan, Pope, Conway, Perry and Johnson. In those counties, the league would offer: free instructional materials to kickstart programs, workshops for both teachers and students and a local, free, monthly competition.

In the fall of 2022, The Arkansas Communications and Theatre Arts Association membership voted to establish the RVSDL as its very first regional league. Our first year was a resounding success with teams from Morrilton, Bigelow, Russellville and Dardanelle experiencing success in multiple events.

In our second year, we hope to see an expansion of that success. Our league is a learning league and is committed to helping any school in our region start up Speech and Debate teams. We provide free handouts, a schedule for starting a team, personalized coaching and help with your team and most of all.....the tournaments are free for the first year of competition! You and your kids can take part in the activity spending nothing more than your own time. We will continue to reach out to teachers and administrators in local schools in an attempt to engage you into the league!

Coaches Katelyn Davis, Becky Lawson, and Eric Gamble welcome back all returner competitors and are incredibly happy to see the massive amount of brand new members in the league this year! It is going to be a great season, IT’S YOUR TIME TO SHINE!