December 1, 2023 | By Julianna Maximo
BDL’s Travel Team Competed in the Dragon Invitational Tournament
Over Veterans’ Day Weekend, the BDL Travel Team flew to Washington DC to compete at the Urban Debate Dragon Invitational, hosted by the Washington Urban Debate League and facilitated by the UDL’s executive director, David Trigaux. Four teams competed at the tournament: BLA’s Alana Laforest & Rune Mozak and Ella Verinder & Lucas Golding; Somerville’s Atticus Shimkin & Sylvester Miratrix; and New Mission’s Nathan Li & Salma Abdikadir.
This tournament is the first Urban Debate League-run tournament that awards Tournament of Champions bids—considered to be the most prestigious and competitive tournament of the “National Circuit”—, with the goal of offering high level competition and high-level judging for every entrant, with a focus on accessibility and equity. The tournament features 6 rounds of preliminary policy debate in the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Novice Divisions, which are open to entries from anywhere in the nation.
Debaters spent all of Friday and Saturday in rounds debating against other schools from the North-East and Mid-Atlantic regions. BLA’s Alana and Rune finished with a 3-3 record, while their schoolmates Ella and Lucas went on to elimination rounds, the first time a BDL team broke into out-rounds in a national tournament since 2017. After a long two full days of competition, students kicked off their Sunday by cheering on teammates Ella and Lucas during octo-finals. They wrapped up their time in the Capital by walking the National Mall, visiting the Lincoln Memorial, and exploring the Smithsonian.
When asked about the experience, Travel Team coach Mosie Burke wrote: “The Dragon was the Travel season opener for all of our debaters who attended, and the pressure and excitement that come from national circuit competition can be a lot to deal with. All eight of our debaters at the tournament rose to the challenge. The debaters who were newer to open-evidence competition, and entirely new to the national circuit, seemed to transform between the first and last rounds. Liv and I watched them find their footing, focus on the task at hand, and respond to these new difficulties with thorough preparation and a drive to learn as much as they could about the new arguments they encountered. The debaters with travel experience used their knowledge of the competitive tournament environment to help one another, and offered composed and thoughtful guidance to their teammates even as they prepared for their own rounds. As we heard the announcement that one of our entries had advanced to elimination rounds as one of the top 16—the first pair from the BDL to do so in six seasons—our 3-school cohort cheered as one team.”