Providing quality debate opportunities to students across Orange County and beyond, the Orange County Debate League offers 5 middle school tournaments (open to students in grades 5 through 8) each year. Schools must pay annual dues to participate, but paying dues allow the school to participate in all 5 tournaments.
Information regarding our middle school tournaments can be found below. Should you have questions regarding the tournaments, please contact us questions: info@ocdl.org.
Feel free to share tournament information with others.
Tournament Dates for the 2021-2022 Middle School season:
Workshop – September 25
Scramble – October 30
Holiday Tournament – December 11
Winter Classic – February 5
Spring Tournament – March 26
OCDL Championship – May 14
MSPDP tournament (April 30-May 1) resolutions:
- NATO does more HARM than GOOD.
- The US should establish a program of de-extinction for the Christmas Island Rat.
- Minors should not be tried as adults.
- It should be illegal to make false claims about official US election results.
OCDL CHAMPIONSHIP tournament resolutions:
- NATO does more HARM than GOOD
- The US should establish a program of de-extinction for the Christmas Island Rat
- Minors should not be tried as adults (Final Public Round Topic)
- Impromptu topic
Guidelines and OCDL Rules of Judging:
Each tournament will be 4 rounds and follow a modified parliamentary format. Download the OCDL middle school debate guide here to learn about modified parliamentary debate.
Judging Requirement:
The OCDL asks all teams to provide one judge per two teams attending the tournament, with a minimum requirement of 1 judge. Judges provided by each school must be certified. Lay judges will be NOT be allowed. Formal training and certification is offered at each tournament and workshop.