Fleetwood Park Secondary inviting Lower Mainland students to Dragon’s Bowl debate tournament

Debate students from across Surrey Schools and surrounding districts are invited to compete in the second Fleetwood Park Secondary Dragon’s Bowl – the largest student-run debate competition in the Lower Mainland – taking place at the school on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

Founded by Fleetwood Park Debate Club president Annika Gill, the debut of Dragon’s Bowl in April saw more than 200 Grade 7 to 12 students from dozens of schools participate, and the club is expecting another sizeable turnout for the competition’s return in November.

“We expect based on registration that Dragon’s Bowl will exceed the amount of people that attended last school year,” said Jasper Zhang, the club’s executive public relations manager. “It has been an incredible and inspiring journey to watch our school go from a small debate team to one of the largest and most successful in the Lower Mainland.”

The evening tournament is split between two divisions, with Grade 7 to 9 students in the junior category and Grade 10 to 12 students in the senior. Teams of two compete throughout the tournament, which follows the Canadian National Debate Format and features multiple debates happening simultaneously throughout the school, with the top two teams competing in front of the entire audience in the finals.

For Zhang, the inaugural Dragon’s Bowl was a great introduction to debate, and the club makes efforts to make it fun and friendly for both beginning and experienced debaters.

“I personally debated for the first time there and it completely changed my perception of debate and made me really fall in love with debating,” he said. “We know many like myself will be experiencing debate for the first time at this tournament, so we have done everything to make it a very comfortable and approachable first time experience for debaters.”

Each debate is scored by a panel of two to three judges, typically teachers, parents and experienced debate club members. The event ensures that the judges do not personally know the debaters they are judging to avoid conflict of interest.

By using the entire school for the Dragon’s Bowl, the club can accommodate up to 50 teams, with all schools from the Lower Mainland welcome to compete. A school can send as many teams as they like, as long as the event hasn’t reached its maximum for registration. Registration is $40 per team, with 50% of the proceeds going to BC Children's Hospital.

 “We hope that students will leave Dragons Bowl feeling inspired and motivated to continue pursuing their debate endeavours, just like it has for so many students before,” said Zhang.

For detailed information on the Fleetwood Park Dragon’s Bowl, click here. To register before the Nov. 5 deadline, click here.