Mexico Pre-WSDC
The month of July is a marathon, not a sprint. Before any tournaments even began, the team assembled in Mexico city for a few days of training. Our days were filled with museum tours, hotel room spars, and endless tacos. Having been in Serbia last summer during the heat wave, the team was pleasantly surprised to find the temperatures in Mexico far more manageable.
At Pre-WSDC, Team Canada broke second on 5:1, bowing out in Semi Finals after an excellent debate with Team China. The alternates made it to the finals, losing to China in an excellent debate on Mexico’s domestic security policy. Congratulations to Jinjou Wang (2nd), Sarah Li (6th), Ann Wang (7th), and Hannah Li (14th) for their top 20 finishes.
Panama WSDC
After a 24 hour whirlwind of flight cancellations and delays, the team (including Kelvin’s backpack) managed to make it to Panama. Early days were filled with elaborate bubble tea orders, case prep, shopping, and more case prep.
Canada faired well during in-rounds, breaking 10th on a 5:1 record with 17 ballots. The team particularly enjoyed their rounds on NATO and celebrity beef, and were once again able to flex their top-tier sports spec in the round on athlete pay incentives (Brent and Arsalan, your sports obsession continues to pay dividends to the team).
A quick detour for Monkeys
The alternates had been tirelessly working all trip: drafting and re-drafting prep cases, swing debating, and lugging around team supplies. It was time for a break! During the downtime day, the alternates minus Hannah Li (the latest victim of the annual Worlds cold) were rewarded for their hard work with a trip to Monkey Island.
A quick 40 minute drive out of the city and we were suddenly zooming around the Panama canal on a small motor boat. The team got to encounter several types of monkeys, bats, alligators, and birds, all while watching the massive cargo ships make their way through the canal. It was easy to see why the canal is so vital for Panama’s economy and environment.
Back to debating. In the double-octo finals, Canada re-matched against Bulgaria on a feminism motion about giving women bonuses for contractually agreeing to not have children. While this marked the end of our WSDC journey, it was an excellent round and the team was extremely proud of their performance.
The team did well in overall speaks. Congratulations to Sarah Li (13th), Jinjou Wang (14th), and Lucas Le (19th) for their top 20 placements.
Thanks to our Volunteers
Thank you to coaches Brent Schmidt and Arsalan Ghaemi, our team manager Leora Diakuw, and our judge Jason Hong for supporting the team as they travelled this summer. The late nights of case prep, endless grocery store runs, and tour guide duties kept the team healthy, happy, and strong. After a quick couple of weeks off, the coaches have already been meeting with next year’s team to begin their training. We wish them all good luck for next year!
Team Canada Debate 