Generally the best person to support your son/daughter to find an appropriate debate partner is the coach directly working with him/her.
Debate is a team activity. In fact, teamwork and leadership are among the key skills that students will learn through participation in speech and debate. At all competitions attended by the LearningLeaders team, students are required to work with a partner. In the case of Asian Parliamentary debate and World Schools Debate formats, for example, students will work with two partners in teams of three.
Generally we find that students go through multiple partners throughout their debate career. It is similar to dating: sometimes the first partner is perfect one and the two people stay together for life. But more often, it takes each student a few tries to find the perfect match. So even if your son/daughter has been debating for years and hasn't found the perfect match yet, please do not worry! Sometimes it takes time.
It can often be difficult to find a partner but we believe it is important for students to take on the task of finding a partner for themselves. This will require approaching a peer or teammate at LearningLeaders or in their school and requesting that person be a partner. This is an important communication skill that will benefit students in the long run as they will work in teams on several personal, academic, and professional projects. There are certain competitions at which the coaches will pair students on the basis of their strengths and their ability to fulfill a particular role on the team. This is especially true of World Schools Debate and Asian Parliamentary formats as there are three, rather than two, unique speaker roles to fulfill.
There are a few key considerations when selecting a partner:
First, respect. Students must not necessarily be best friends or even close friends with their partner. Rather, they must have a partner whose intellectual and academic abilities they respect.
Secondly, work ethic. Conflicts emerge among partners when there is a perception that one partner is doing more preparation work than another. For this reason it is important to find a partner with a similar work ethic and level of commitment.
Third, style. This can be difficult to ascertain at first but it is important for partners to complement each other’s skill sets. Each student has different strengths and a student, for example, with a particular strength in public speaking may want to choose a partner with a particular strength in logic.
The coaches at LearningLeaders will help students to find a partner only after the student has demonstrated that they have done what they can to find a partner on their own. The coaches will also make it clear in the beginning of the study term that students need to be on the lookout for a partner and plan as early as possible to join competitions with a particular partner. It is best that students, rather than parents, approach coaches if they are having difficulty finding a partner. This way the coach can better understand the difficulties encountered in this process, which will enable us to better serve the students.
Students often join the LearningLeaders program with a partner. Even if students plan to be partners at a particular competition this does not mean they will be partners for every practice session. It is critical for students to learn how to work with and learn from as many different types of teammates as possible. Sometimes this may mean being the more or less skilled teammate. In either case, we expect students to demonstrate leadership, patience, and to graciously interact with and respect all of their peers.
Something that will not be tolerated by the coaches and something that we feel should not be tolerated by parents is the blaming of a loss or lack of success on one’s partner. We firmly believe that you win and lose as a team. If parents would like feedback from the coach on the strengths and weaknesses of a given partnership, we are happy to provide it.
We highly encourage all students to be open to trying new speaker positions and approaches. Too often students believe they are not suitable for a certain partner because they only do "1st speaker" or "2nd speaker." In some cases we have seen incredible success by forcing students out of their comfort zone and trying new roles and approaches.