About Us
The Arizona Speech and Debate Coaches Association is the officially recognized organization of Speech and Debate coaches and sponsors throughout the state of Arizona. Our executive board also serves as the Arizona Interscholastic Association State Speech and Debate Advisory Committee.
Our mailing address is:
Arizona Speech and Debate Coaches’ Association
24654 N Lake Pleasant Parkway
#103-567
Peoria, AZ 85383
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
AZ Speech and Debate Coaches Association 
We want to re-start the Speech and Debate Club at our high school. Is there training for beginning coaches available through your organization?
Yes. We will have a new coach workshop on August 26 at Mountain View High School. Watch this site for details.
The New Coach workshop is now on August 19th, so it does not conflict with the NSDA Education Conference in Denver.
Are there any secular homeschool speech and debate clubs in the Phoenix area?
None that I know of. The National Speech and Debate Association and the Arizona Interscholastic Association do not recognize homeschool groups as eligible for competition.
Thanks for the reply. It’s too bad they aren’t recognized.
AzSDCA is for AIA public and private schools competing in the National Speech & Debate Coaches Association. Home school students are welcome to join their local school’s S&D team with approval from that school’s administration.
Some home school students compete in a different organization called STOA. One home school club for that organization is Mars Hill S&D (just keep in mind they do note participate in any of the tournaments on this ASDCA website)
https://sites.google.com/site/marshillspeechanddebatearizona/
I want to start a debate team at the Jr. high I work at. I did debate in high school and was a captain but have not clue hope to start and enroll a new team into the debate world.
We have a growing middle school community in Arizona. The first step is to get some students involved. I recommend coming to the New Coach Workshop on August 19th at Mountain View High School to get some more information and meet some other Middle School coaches. Email Meg Howell-Haymaker at mmhowellhaymaker@mpsaz.org to register and get more information about the workshops.
I’m a speech coach in Northern Illinois and I’m retiring at the end of the 2017-18 school year. We plan to move to Sierra Vista as soon as possible after May of next year. Are there any schools that offer competitive speech in the Tuscon/Sierra Vista area?
Salpointe Catholic, Sahuaro High and Catalina Foothills High in Tucson are the largest teams in the area. Buena High in Sierra Vista traditionally has had a team, but hasn’t had a team in recent years. Welcome to the heat!
I am a new coach. I did not know about the training, and I would like to find resources. **Also, how do I find times for the tournaments?**
Thank you
For the resources from the new coach training, email Meg Howell at mmhowellhaymaker@mpsaz.org. For tournament times, go to http://www.joyoftournaments.com/az, click on the tournament’s registration site, and each tournament should have a schedule posted.
I can’t get a hold of anyone but I am brand new to coaching and I want to be sure we have paid fees etc.
Hi there. What school are you with? The easiest way to get in touch with someone about fees is to contact our treasurer, John Wolnisty. His speech and debate email address is wolisty@tpadebate.org
wolnisty@tpadebate.org
Is there a list of all of the high schools in Arizona that have speech teams? I’m a retired speech coach from Illinois who plans to relocate to Arizona within the year, and I would like to continue coaching with an existing team or possibly organize a team at a school that does not have one. Thanks.
If you look at the tournament results on http://www.joyoftournaments.com/az, you will find the schools who have been competing this year. There may be others that have an interest, but haven’t found their way to competitions yet. Welcome to the desert!
Thanks for the quick reply. I will certainly take a look at this. And, yes, I would welcome the desert right now. As I write this, it’s 27 degrees BELOW ZERO in Northern Illinois with a wind chill of -50, and tomorrow morning is supposed to be colder.
FYI, this is what we use in Illinois for tournaments. https://www.speechwire.com/
Hey Is this style of debate Policy Debate?
We do almost everything. Policy, LD, PF, Congressional…you name it.
Hey I am a former Debater from Chicago,IL. I have experience in Judging events and also Coaching Teams. I just wanted to know How do I sign up to help out such as Judging tournaments?
Hi Darryl! If you reach out to the tournament directors of the remaining tournaments, then they can give you information about that tournaments. See http://www.joyoftournaments.com/az
I am a former forensics competitor from Wisconsin. I see on a post from two years ago that your forensics association did not accept homeschool teams. Is that still the case, and if so, why? Homeschool athletes can compete on AIA sports teams, why not in forensics? Forensics was one of the best things I did in high school, and it would be a real shame if this most formative of extracurriculars was off-limits to homeschool students simply because they are homeschooled. And if homeschool teams are still not accepted, who would I contact to have a conversation about changing that? Thanks so much for your help.
Hello! Arizona state law provides that homeschooled students may compete in any sport or activity with the school in whose attendance area they reside. That includes speech and debate. They can contact their nearby school and get connected with the coach, according to that school’s policies. What we do not offer is for homeschool students to register as independent entries, or for a homeschool to register for tournaments as a separate entity.
Thanks,
Kevin
Which Tucson/Oro Valley High Schools have debate teams/clubs?
Hi there! The schools with teams that I know of are Salpointe Catholic and Catalina Foothills. Occasionally another school will try, but I don’t know of any others this year.
Thanks!
Kevin