It’s early in the morning, the sun is rising, and the Washington Technology Magnet School in St. Paul is already a bustling hub of activity. In the halls staff members dash this way and that, making sure that everything is ready to run smoothly. But today isn’t a school day – this is a Saturday, and it’s time for the first UDL tournament of the season.

From the moment they arrive, students are excited and ready to debate. The cafeteria at Wash-Tech fills to the brim with students of all stripes and styles. There are teams dapperly dressed in suits and formalwear, teams marked by matching polos, and plenty of teams whose students wear whatever they want! (After all, debate is a space where what you say matters more than how you look.) They’ve brought expanding folders and sometimes entire plastic tubs filled with evidence and arguments for the day ahead.

This year’s policy is about the United States’ foreign relations with China, and this tournament was the first chance for debaters to make arguments for and against it in a competitive space. For the rookies, it’s their first time ever at a tournament. For the varsity debaters, it’s their first opportunity to cut their teeth on the topic that will be the subject of their fiercely competitive debates over the next few months. So it’s no wonder if they’re a bit nervous.

But it’s not all competition – there’s fun and games at a debate tournament. Students warmed up in the morning by mixing themselves up and meeting students from other teams, eventually playing the classic icebreaker “two truths and a lie.” A tournament like this is a great opportunity for students who might otherwise never see each other to mix and mingle. For lots of students, it’s the friends they make in debate that keeps them coming back year after year.

The preparations paid off, and the Wash-Tech tournament went off without a hitch.Tournaments are where students have the chance to prove themselves competitively and test their research and argumentation skills. Even students who don’t win every round are developing the resilience to pick themselves back up after a loss and continue debating. Tournaments are places where debaters form lasting friendships, celebrating their victories and mourning their losses together.