INTER-HALL FRESHMEN DEBATE CHAMPIONSHIP 2021

The annual Inter-Hall Freshmen Debate Championship by the University’s Debate society under the auspices of the Sports Directorate will take place from Friday, 26th February to Monday, 1st March, 2021. In the wake of the COVID pandemic, the championship will be held online this year.
 
Rationale
The goal of the tournament, which has seen many successes over the last few years, has been to provide freshmen an opportunity to be properly integrated into the sport of tertiary debate through a competitive display of wit and intellect. The championship takes the form of the British Parliamentary format of debate which freshmen have been exposed to over the semester.  
 
Eligibility and Participation
Debate, public speaking and competitive adjudication will be the specific fields of competition for the championship with participants engaging in these streams while flying the flags of their respective halls high. Eligibility for participation remains unchanged; any new member to the society irrespective of level, will be allowed to participate.
 
The academic calendar with all its nuances, has still seen a great number of freshmen enrolling to compete in the tournament, bringing on board the much-needed vibrancy and promise which other sports men before them have shown. The Society still has its doors wide open to welcome as many as would like to sign up for training, in a bid to ensure that the university continues to maintain its standards of excellence in the country, on the continent and the global stage. The freshmen championship remains the very first step of this exciting journey.
 
Training and Preparation
Training for freshmen begun in January this year after academic activities resumed. Mr. Lawrence Nii Kotey Neequaye, a former President of the Debate Society and Assistant Coach and currently the substantive Coach of the Debate Society has been at the helm of affairs responsible for the training and integration of freshmen. Mr. Neequaye together with the executive body, have organized a series of lecture presentations, oral drills as well as mentor-mentee sessions instituted to prepare freshmen for the task ahead.
 
Further training in the form of decentralized individual halls system, have been employed in the past and even more so with the pandemic in full swing. Trainers have been delegated to prepare their hall teams for the tournament, as a supplementary measure aside the mainstream coaching to avoid gathering in large numbers.
 
Mode and Platform
The tournament is a threefold structure, with preliminary, semi-final and final rounds, that have debate and public speaking intermingled at all three stages. The 2021 edition of this annual competition will be held via an online audio-conferencing platform called ‘Discord’ due to the exigencies of the Covid-19 pandemic.