IUB debater Ahmad Tousif Jami has been appointed as the head coach of the Moroccan Development Debating Team for the year 2023.
As the head coach, Jami will work with the future generation of school-level debaters of Morocco starting from November 2022 until mid-June 2023 and prepare them for the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) in 2024, said a press release issued on Tuesday.
In addition to the World Schools Debating Championships 2024, under the guidance of a coaching staff headed by Jami which also includes local experts, the Moroccan Development Debating Team will take part in major global pre-WSDC competitions and school competitions in the African region.
“Coaching is analogous to training, similar to any other competitive sport. The role of the coaching staff is to conduct practices and drills to reinforce and evaluate debating skills, observe them in tournaments, inspire them in a healthy and ethical way, answer their questions, give them guidelines on how to prepare, point out areas of improvement, give assignments, and review,” said Jami, who is a student of Global Studies and Governance at IUB.
Jami’s coaching stint will be mainly online. However, the team may participate in in-person global debating competitions and if schedules match, Jami may accompany the team.
“I got selected for this position after I responded to a call for applications published on social media by the Moroccan debating authorities. There was an initial CV screening, and then an interview, following which the Morocco Debate Association chose my application,” said Jami, who won the World Schools Debating Championships as a school student.
Usually, national school debating teams that participate in the World Schools Debating Championships consist of 3-5 members. New members come in each year and the job of a development team is to prepare potential members for the next World Schools Debating Championships, also known as the world cup of school debating.
In Bangladesh, each year top eight debaters are primarily chosen from among the participants of the national debate camp. The three debaters who do not make it to the World Schools Debating Championships team become the development team. The main WSDC team and development team of Bangladesh are guided by the same coaching staff.
