CJ Day – Staff Writer
Communication classes are filled with people about to see their worst fear realized – having to give a speech in front of a bunch of strangers.
For the University of Wyoming’s debate team, however, it is no big deal.
“The average UW student in a public speaking class, they might have to give six speeches over the course of a semester,” said Director of Debate Matt Liu. “One of our kids will give 24 speeches over the course of a weekend.”
The team competes in two different forms of debate: policy debate and British Parliament debate. Policy debate is more research-oriented, as the topic stays the same all year and teams have time to prepare. British Parliament is more on the spot, as teams do not receive their topic until 15 minutes before the round begins.
“They emphasize two different kinds of skills, but it all pulls back to public speaking, critical thinking and organization,” Liu said. “In policy debate, our team members will do the equivalent of a master’s thesis worth of research, getting into topics at a graduate level of expertise. In British Parliamentary, while the debaters have to know a lot of things, they also have to speak to topics with a lot of knowledge and passion.”
Jaxon Porterfield, a junior in his third year with the team, said while policy debate is the more intensive of the two styles, both have pros and cons that make them hard to compare. He prefers policy debate, as it allows for in-depth argumentation.
“The highlight of policy is finding arguments I’m really interested in, and that I really care about, and that I can be passionate about,” Porterfield said. “In rounds, even if I end up losing, there’s still a feeling that I got something out of those rounds. I feel like I learned something that I can use going into other rounds.”
With tournaments almost every other weekend, the responsibility of all that research, and the course load of a full time student, it can be hard for members of the debate team to keep up. Porterfield said during the debate season, he is almost always sick, as the rigors of team life give him little opportunity to recover.
“It’s really emotionally intensive, a lot of times you get too involved with an argument and end up losing. I get exhausted, I get worn down. But I still get excited to get up and do debate, even when I’m dead from the day before,” said Porterfield.
Due to its lack of resources and geographic isolation, the Wyoming team has a style to it that’s uncommon among debaters.
Liu said “We don’t have the resources that Harvard or Northwestern has, and it’s hard for us to get to a lot of tournaments.”
“That’s led to Wyoming feeling a lot like scrappy underdogs, where we put up a good fight and find a lot of arguments that others wouldn’t.”
Porterfield agreed, saying “We have limited resources, we have limited time, we’re in a remote region, so yeah, we’re scrappy, and we are underdogs. We still somehow find ways to win even with all that.”
