Speech & Debate

TKA Speech & Debate is a member of the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) and competes with other Coast Forensic League (CFL) teams in the Bay Area.  TKA has teams that compete in all forms of debate, including Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Parliamentary Debate as well as some Speech events.

For more information about the TKA program, contact the Team Coach, Edwin Lin: edwin.lin@tka.org.

Speech & Debate Team

Students have a couple of options for learning and practicing the art of debate at The King’s Academy.

  • They may enroll in the junior high or high school speech and debate classes. See your academic advisor.

  •  And/Or, they can join our Academic Speech and Debate Team which is open to 7th through 12th grade students. Our team competes in the NSDA (National Speech and Debate Association) and has successfully qualifyied for the California State Tournament.

The Competitive Team

  • The Speech and Debate Team primarily competes in debate events, but we do have students who compete in speech events. If your student is willing to take initiative to proactively engage and practice these events, we can absolutely work with them to be competitive in these events.
  • The team attends between 3 and 4 tournaments per semester depending on schedules. More opportunities exist for online competitions as well.
  • The team meets at least twice a week and all team members meet every Wednesday morning from 8:30-9:30 a.m. (Classroom assigned is C-11)
  • There is a participation fee and a student contract ($200 for the year, collected once student is committed to the team, and a one-time NSDA membership fee of $50, paid only once in the student’s speech and debate career).
  • Students must be comfortable working with a partner.
  • New debaters must attend lunch time trainings with a coach during September, unless they have taken the debate class, in which case, they may walk-on to the team.

Team Officers

Team officers for 2023-2024 are Daniel Ha, Aaron Chen, Aidan Chiu, and Grace Rao.

Questions? 

Contact Debate Coach Lin: Edwin Lin, edwin.lin@tka.org

2023-2024 Policy Debate Resolution

"Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income."

We train new members in argumentation, research, cross-examination, and delivery.  Our goal is to help students become more persuasive, eloquent speakers and to sharpen their analytical and critical thinking skills.