Train Like You Debate.

I always knew I wanted to debate, but meeting my coach, Mr. Williams, completely changed what debate meant to me. He introduced me to new experiences, challenged me to grow, and helped me become a much stronger and more confident debater.

When I learned that he might not be returning to my school, I started wondering what my development in debate would look like while our coaching staff was being finalized. My mom was seriously considering pulling me out of debate completely because she was concerned that, without enough resources and consistent coaching, I could spend countless hours practicing and competing without having the support I needed to truly flourish.

I didn’t want to walk away from something I cared so much about. Instead, I decided to try to solve the problem.

That became DebatePilot.

I spent more than 25 hours building DebatePilot as a way to create the kind of consistent, World Schools-specific practice and feedback that could help debaters continue improving even when a coach is not always available. From the beginning, I knew I did not want to build it only for myself. I wanted it to help my teammates grow alongside me, and I hoped that eventually it could help students throughout the broader debate community who are just as determined to improve but may not always have access to the same coaching and resources.

Debate has already given me so many opportunities to learn, challenge myself, and grow. I wanted to create something that could help more people experience that same kind of growth and give committed debaters another resource to keep developing their skills.

DebatePilot began with a problem I saw firsthand, but I built it with a much bigger goal: to help more debaters have the opportunity to practice, improve, and succeed.