By Sherry Lin

Hi PDA fam! This is PDA student coach Sherry, and this week, as a follow-up to my previous blog  “A Guide to Signing Up For External Tournaments”, I’ll be walking you through what it looks like to level up from PDA intramural tournaments to external tournaments!

If you’ve been competing in PDA intramurals, you’ve definitely already been building a strong foundation for yourself. PDA intramurals are where many of our debaters gain their confidence, learn how tournaments work, and get more comfortable speaking in front of judges and opponents they don’t know. But as you compete in more intramural tournaments, you may start wondering: What’s next?

That’s where external tournaments come in. These tournaments, also commonly referred to as national-circuit tournaments, bring together debaters from different schools all over the nation. They offer amazing opportunities to improve, as you’ll meet a lot of new people with different perspectives and debate styles. But the transition can feel overwhelming, so in this blog, I’ll walk you through what changes you’ll experience, how to know if you’re ready for the transition, and how to prepare for it, so that your jump from PDA intramurals to external tournaments feels as smooth as possible!

First, it’s important to recognize the differences between PDA intramurals and external tournaments. I’ve highlighted some of the most important here:

1. Competitors: PDA intramural debaters consist only of PDA students, but at an external tournament, you’ll be facing students from many different schools and programs nation-wide (or sometimes, even world-wide).
2. Judges: PDA intramural judges are, for the most part, PDA alumni, Varsity students, and trained adults. However, at external tournaments, you’ll encounter a mix of highly experienced coaches, new parent judges, Varsity debaters, and school staff (such as administrators, chaperones, or teachers).
3. Atmosphere: PDA intramurals are focused on support and beginner-friendliness, but external tournaments are often faster-paced and feature high-level competition.
4. Purpose: PDA intramurals are great opportunities to practice newly learned skills and gain experience, but external tournaments are often the next level of competition: representing a challenge to the skills you’ve already practiced.

Now that we’ve gone over the differences between the two, how can you be sure that you’re ready to advance to an external tournament? Answering this question is difficult, as there isn’t a single requirement that determines a debater’s readiness to compete. Instead, it’s an extremely personal and subjective decision, about your comfortability, skills, and mindset (asking yourself if you feel ready). However, here are some general guidelines to see if you may be ready:

• You have participated in multiple PDA intramural tournaments
• You can flow independently, maintain the structure of your speeches, and exhibit consistency in your debate skills across rounds
• You handle wins and losses maturely
• You are motivated to learn and improve your skills, not just win

Remember, readiness isn’t always defined by your win-loss record; instead, it’s about your willingness to try, learn, and grow. Your PDA coaches are always available to help you determine if external tournaments are an effective next step for you.

If you’ve decided that competing in an external tournament is the next right step for you, it’s important to recognize the changes that you might witness transitioning from a PDA intramural tournament to an external tournament. While the core debate structure stays the same, you might notice that opponents speak faster or use more advanced strategies, and judges may have more varied backgrounds or specific, unique preferences. Additionally, external tournaments usually have more rounds and longer schedules—6 preliminary rounds, compared to a usual PDA intramural’s 3. With all of these factors combined, the pressure of an external tournament may feel higher, but experiencing that is a normal part of growth.

Now, it’s finally time to prepare for the transition! Here are some widely applicable strategies to implement if you’re feeling a bit nervous:

1. Strengthen your fundamentals. Before competing in an external tournament, you should feel confident in your ability to structure your speeches, flow, coordinate prep time usage with your partner, and speak confidently in front of strangers.
2. Practice with diverse opponents. Reach out to other PDA teams or debaters from different schools to organize mock debates in order to get in practice. If you practice facing new speaking styles and arguments before your actual competition date, you’ll feel less anxious hearing them in your rounds.
3. Use your intramural feedback to set specific goals for your growth. For example, if you’ve consistently received feedback from judges and coaches about improving the clarity of your weighing, make sure you’re working on that before tournament day!

Making the jump from PDA intramurals to external tournaments is definitely a big milestone in your debate journey, and it’s totally okay if it feels exciting, scary, or somewhere in between. No one is expected to be perfect on their first try, so the goal isn’t to win right away, but to grow. When you’re making the transition, it’s important to remember that every strong debater, even national champions, started exactly where you may be now. What matters most isn’t your starting point, but the amount of effort you choose to put into practice and improvement. So, when you feel ready, I (and everyone else at PDA) can’t wait to see you shine on the national circuit!