Starting a Debate Club can seem like a daunting proposition, however we want to assure you that it's really not that hard.

There are seven basic steps:

1.  Create a school team.  All teams have to be associated with a school.
2.  Find a school teacher to act as coach or as sponsor teacher.  All teams must have a teacher from the school involved in the team.
3.  Recruit members to your team through sophisticated advertising techniques.
4.  Start practices at your school.  Most schools have 1 or 2 practices after school each week.
5.  Contact the DSABC about becoming a member (see above).
6.  Go to tournaments to which your team has been invited.
7.  Conquer the debate world.

Okay.  It might not be quite that simple to conquer the debate world, but it's not that difficult to get a team up and running.  Nor is it difficult to have a lot of fun!

Coaches or student leaders are encouraged to do the following:

1.  Read these helpful documents created by our colleagues at the Alberta Debate and Speech  Association.  Please note that most of the information about style in these documents is not accurate or relevant.  The key info here is on how to get started, how to go to tournaments, etc.
    How to Start a Debate Club
    Developing a Debate Program in Your School
2.  Read about debate style and format and rules on the DSABC website:   http://www.bcdebate.org/documents--forms.html
3.  Contact the DSABC or the Regional Coordinators for more information.
4.  When attending tournaments, to talk to other coaches and ask for advice.  Most will be more than happy to share!