Seniors Bobby Shaw and Ben Wolch, the seventh best policy debate team in the country, will compete in several tournaments in the upcoming months that are key to the team’s standing on a state and national level.

One of these competitions includes a Presidents’ Day weekend tournament being held at Harvard University against the top 14 teams in the country. The team will also compete in the State tournament during the third weekend of March, as well as in an important debate tournament in April known as the Tournament of Champions (TOC).

During a policy debate, teams of two competitors debate a policy initiative against teams from other schools. This year’s topic is about increasing spending for transportation issues. According to Head Coach Tara Tate, policy debaters have to be prepared to debate in favor of and against the issue in question.

According to Shaw, one of his major goals this year has been to progress as far as possible in the TOC.

“It’s going to be hard,” Shaw said. “[…] A lot of my goals are centered around just being competitive and not making the mistakes I made last year.”

The TOC is more difficult than the upcoming Harvard Tournament because of a greater presence of top-ranked teams, according to Wolch.

“The Harvard tournament is easier because the nation is split between two tournaments that weekend: Harvard and Berkeley,” Wolch said. “The TOC has the top teams from all over the country.”

According to Tate, the State tournament in March is highly competitive because of the high caliber of debate in Illinois.

“We can be ranked nationally and still not win our state title just because of how good debate is in the state of Illinois,” Tate said. “So, our state tournament, in my opinion, is the most important tournament of the year for us. […] We’re going to be investing a ton of time and energy into getting ready for that. ”

Wolch had a specific reason that he was anticipating the State tournament.

“State is important because we have a huge rivalry with GBN,” Wolch said. “[…] We know the state title will most likely boil down to GBS versus GBN. Everyone prepares for each other specifically. We are working on writing new arguments to adapt to GBN’s style of debating.”

According to Tate, Shaw and Wolch prepare new arguments and research in order to prepare for competition. They also prepare strategies for winning over the judges with personality.

“Every team [Shaw and Wolch] debate is going to be smart,” Tate said. “They’re going to be well-coached, well-researched. But it’s just putting in that little extra hard work that puts you over the top, and that’s what I hope the younger debaters see out of [Shaw, Wolch], and all of the seniors that we have on the team this year.”

Despite their team accomplishments, Shaw and Wolch have also achieved personal accolades. According to Tate, Wolch is the only debater in the country to achieve a “triple-double”—winning a specific number of recognitions at a tournament—at a national level thus far.

“He was top debater, top seed, and then [the team of Shaw and Wolch] were the champions of the tournament,” Tate said.

However, Shaw and Wolch’s contributions to South’s debate team are not simply competition-related, according to Brian Roche, a freshman novice debater.

“[Shaw and Wolch] are both superb mentors, and no students at South are more helpful than them when it comes to learning about debate,” Roche said. “[…} Their winning record speaks for itself. Wolch is one of the only debaters in the country who is going to the Tournament of Champions [for the third year]. Shaw won state as a freshman.”

According to Wolch, his and Shaw’s friendship outside of competition has bred a sense of trust during an actual debate. Wolch said that the duo also aspires to achieve a specific award.

“A specific team goal for [Shaw] and I is the Baker Award which is awarded to the top team in the country,” Wolch said.

According to Shaw, a large time commitment and the support of the entire debate team have been essential to his and Wolch’s success.

“[Wolch] and I put in close to 40 hours a week so that we can achieve that goal, and if it becomes a reality, it will be a confirmation of everything that we have worked for,” Shaw said. “It would also show the strength of our team because, though it would be [Wolch] and I in the finals, none of it would be possible without an incredible base of people that comprise our squad.”