Freshman Pranav Rou is in his first year on the debate team and won his first local tournament with senior partner Amod Daherkar. 

“I don’t have much experience, but my partner Amod helped me out a lot,” Rou said.

Rou and Daherkar, along with the rest of the debate team, met every day for about 30 minutes since June in preparation for their first debate on Sept. 25-26.

“It takes a lot of coordination to be successful in debates,” Rou said. 

The topic of their first debate at the Newman Smith tournament was the passing of the Medicare for All Act 2019 by the federal government.

“Winning felt nice, but I shouldn’t expect to win every time,” Rou said.

Tournaments can last two to three 18-hour days. They have two categories: local and national circuits. Local circuits have about 25-40 teams competing in the varsity division. National circuits have a larger outcome, with around 150-250 teams competing. 

“Championing Newman Smith TFA was the culmination of hundreds of hours of prep, practice rounds, and drills,” senior Amod Daherkar said. 

Daherkar’s typical partner for Public Forum debates, senior Jack Hayes, couldn’t be at the first debate, so Daherkar partnered with a novice in the debate club, Pranav Rou.

“Pranav was surprisingly self-motivated and receptive which greatly expedited the process of preparing him,” Daherkar said. 

The pair worked together for two weeks in order to properly prepare for their first debate. 

“I worked with Pranav [for two weeks] to solidify his topic knowledge, understanding of Public Forum Debate, among other skills before the Newman Smith tournament,” Daherkar said. 

The debate team is now preparing for the Florida Blue Key tournament on October 31-November 1.