Take Your Debating to the Next Level
Hard work means success in debate.
Praveen Gunendran is a former nationally ranked debater with 7+ years of experience in events such as Public Forum, Policy, and Extemporaneous Speaking. In high school, Praveen was an active Public Forum circuit debater, reaching the runoffs and octo-finals at the Gold Tournament of Champions (TOC) in his junior and senior year. Throughout his journey, he amassed up to 7 bids to the TOC and reached deep out rounds at tournaments, memorably winning the James Logan Invitational with over 150+ teams competing. He also reached octo-finals at the NCFL National Tournament. His debate journey continued into college, where he became a varsity Policy debater at Cornell University and qualified to the National Debate Tournament.
Praveen debated at Mira Loma High School and prior to joining, no team from his school had attended the Gold Tournament of Champions in Public Forum. Originating from a small, lay-oriented debate circuit, Praveen had to consistently work on his craft to reach the level of technical debate that happens in the circuit. If you think the odds are against you, your experience isn’t quite there, or debating at the highest level is daunting, Praveen would love to be a coach and mentor to bring you to that next level.
Contact Us
111 Dryden Road
New York, NY 12345
praveenguna123@gmail.com
(916) 895-0530
The Learning Paradigm
Prep + Research
Success in Public Forum debate can largely be determined by what debaters do in terms of research and prep leading into the tournament. Having well constructed blocks to important arguments, having multiple comfortable cases to avoid prep-outs, and exploring unique arguments teams aren’t thinking about is all a key part of the process. As a coach, Praveen is eager to help teams build out areas of their prep by finding evidence, discussing case/block strategies, and most importantly maintaining an organized structure for research that serves success on each topic.
Strategy
Just as important as pre-round prep, knowing what strategies can work to win a debate round are just as important. This means, knowing how to collapse to the right arguments, how to allocate time effectively in later speeches, and weighing the arguments effectively to convince your judge at the end of the round. Praveen will help teams craft these strategies, explore multiple pathways to the ballot, and identify the most promising areas for success.
Judging
Every debater that is successful takes practice debates extremely seriously. Testing cases, strategies, and even specific blocks are important to seeing the weaknesses and strengths in your arguments. Praveen offers judging practice debates, giving in depth feedback following the round along with proctoring speech redo’s upon debaters’ request.
Get in Touch
Debate has always been Praveen’s personal passion and now that he’s completed his college education, he is eager to give back and help students accomplish their competitive goals.