The debate team hosted its 70th annual Bellaire Forensic Tournament (BFT) on Feb. 6-7 with nearly 400 students representing over 40 schools in attendance.

Hosting a debate tournament is common practice for speech and debate teams across the country, as they help fundraise to send teams to tournaments.

“Debate costs a lot of money,” debate coach and AP Research teacher Isaac Chao said. “One way of balancing our budgets is to run our own tournaments and then charge corresponding entry fees. Tournaments help programs financially support their year of competition.”

Preparations for hosting took place months in advance, with the date being scheduled almost a year before the tournament happened.

“Running a tournament is an enormous amount of work,” Chao said. “There are 101 different tasks that go into planning an event of this size that requires many hours of work from hundreds of people.”

Chao outsourced his labor to various coaches from other programs as well as upperclassmen on the debate team.

Memorial High School debate coach Harry Yu, Episcopal High School coach Avis Yen and Jordan High School coach Eli Cook assisted Chao in running Tabroom, the tournament management system used to pair judges, rooms and competitors for each round.

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Alia Hassan

Junior Kalyani Gifford comes to Chao and Yu with a message about a judge-pairing issue. Gifford was the section leader for student potion of the Tabroom.

“Managing Tabroom is like being the director of a firework show on the Fourth of July,” Yu said. “You have to account for if there are enough judges, if any rounds are delayed and more. Stress levels are high during the tournament because you’re making sure over 80 judges and nearly 400 competitors are starting their rounds on time while also providing a fun and educational experience.”

While various coaches helped on the back-end logistics, the debate team divided into section leads, “minions” of the section leads, judges, competitors and concessions workers to keep different parts of the building running.

“As the floor captain for Academic Floor 2, what I found really stressful was the sheer amount of events that were scheduled for our floor,” junior and varsity debater Eric Xu said. “Every single room on that floor was in use, so for every single room, you would have to run to check that the judges and competitors were there. It gave me a new perspective on the struggles behind ensuring that the tournament runs on time.”

The BFT is one of a select few tournaments across the country that offers bids to the Tournament of Champions (TOC), one of the most prestigious speech and debate tournaments in the world hosted at the University of Kentucky in April. In order to qualify, students must attain two bids by placing highly at these select tournaments.

Junior Ishani Kaushik and senior Eliza Teo both had one bid in Informative Speaking coming into BFT. As those who placed in the top three in Informative Speaking get a TOC bid, Kaushik completed her qualification to the TOC as she placed second overall. Teo did not advance past the preliminary rounds.

“It was my goal to get a bid, and I, unfortunately, did not achieve that,” Teo said. “In the first couple of hours, I was really stressed of how I was going to perform in my round since I was competing instead of managing BFT. But I got a really nice pep talk from Cook who told me to make the most out of the time that I have, especially given that this is my last BFT as a debater.”

While not all competitors achieved the results they anticipated, overall, most agreed that BFT was a well-run tournament.

“I think the tournament is run effectively and on time, and there are always backup judges in case anything goes wrong,” senior and Seven Lakes varsity competitor Ishaan Singh said. “This tournament compares better than others this season because of the schedule which keeps debaters engaged and not burnt out. I think a happy environment is also fostered at BFT by the volunteers.”

Beyond the student and coach labor to help the tournament run efficiently, the BFT required over 150 judges for its over 550 individual rounds. Many judges were volunteer parents, debate-team alumni or teachers.

“It definitely was nostalgic to see the same tournament now being run by the next generation of debaters,” former Bellaire Public Forum debater and college freshman Mingyi Chen said. “I saw a lot of old faces but also a lot of new ones too, which made me happy because it shows Bellaire Debate is continuing to grow. Seeing how busy the debaters were — anxiously checking rooms, ensuring rounds were started, diligently cleaning up and talking constantly on the radio — showed how much easier it is to be a judge.”

By 10 p.m. Saturday, over 80 classrooms, LGI 1 and the cafeteria needed to be reset as the tournament wrapped up.

“It was an extremely tight turnaround considering some rounds didn’t end until 10 p.m.,” Xu said. “We needed to remove all the caution tape from teachers’ desks, move the desks back to how they were originally, take the trash out and sweep the floors. Since there were 35 rooms on the second floor alone, it took a very long time, even with over 10 minions helping.”

This year’s BFT marks the last one for the team’s seniors. According to Teo, although BFT is hard work, she will miss the environment she has been in for the past four years.

“It was a really bittersweet experience,” Teo said. “But I definitely made the most of my time and just made good memories. I think the kindness at these tournaments is such a small thing that people overlook. Just smile at someone and give them compliments. I definitely indulged in that over the weekend, and I’m pretty proud of that.”

According to Chao, hosting a tournament isn’t just about money but also to give back to the community he has been a part of for over a decade.

“Fundamentally, speech and debate does not operate without existing tournaments,” Chao said. “Hosting the BFT creates a venue for students to practice and learn. We benefit from the invisible labor of thousands of people all around the city who host tournaments every given weekend, and hosting our own tournament is one way of giving back to the speech and debate community to provide opportunities for them in the same way that they provide opportunities for us.”