Obtain approval from school administrators to start a team.

We require students to be affiliated with a school to participate in CTMSDL events.

Find a coach to oversee debate team practices.

Teachers, administrators, high school students, and parents can all serve as coaches as long as they are approved by the school’s administration. No experience is needed to become a coach. CTMSDL can train and support coaches! Some coaches recruit high school debaters to provide instruction.

Recruit debaters.

CTMSDL’s debate format uses 3-person teams, so teams need a minimum of 3 students to start a team.

Pay CTMSDL dues of $50 per year.

Teams may attend one event prior to paying dues to make sure they want to join. We ask teams to pay dues by December 31. Find the dues payment form here.

Get on the CTMSDL email list.

We announce the October scrimmage motion in late August. Motions for our December, January, and April tournaments are released 6-8 weeks ahead of time by email and on our website. The Championship Tournament Motion is released at the April Tournament.

Recruit judges.

Every CTMSDL debate round requires one judge. Schools must to provide 1 judge for every 2 teams attending an event. Judges can be coaches, high school debaters, parents, administrators or any responsible adult. CTMSDL provides information on how to judge on its website and conducts a judges’ training session at every event.  We ask coaches to make sure their judges have thoroughly reviewed our judging materials before attending an event. New judges have the opportunity to shadow experienced judges.

Attend tournaments.

Coaches must coordinate transportation arrangements with school administrators. Coaches are also responsible for registering their teams and judges on Tabroom.com before events. Find Tabroom instructions here.

Attend coaches’ events.

We host 2 coaches’ events per year. The first is a May meeting where we review the season, make changes to our format and procedures if desired, elect board members, and approve the budget for the upcoming season. The second is a coaches’ workshop in August where we discuss how to coach and judge effectively. Coaches are welcome to join the CTMSDL Board.  Attendance at meetings is voluntary.