About LD Debate Prep
The central mission of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization LD Debate Prep is to teach debate with an emphasis on clarity, accessibility, and silliness!
Ideally, every debater would have all the help and mentorship they want. But that might not be the reality for many small teams, schools without an established debate team, independent debaters, and middle school debaters.
The creation of this initiative began with the goal to expand upon the internet’s collection of debate resources, helping contribute in benefitting the debate community. But comprehensive guides that teach debaters everything, from deciding whether they should join the activity to easing them into debate to winning large tournaments, are uncommon to find. Free resources that do this are even rarer. To reach larger audiences and prevent discouragement among new debaters early on, a beginner-friendly experience was much needed.
Thus, LD Debate Prep emerged to help fill the gap.
More About the Founder – Blake Zou
Blake, a.k.a. the guy talking to you throughout these articles, is the founder, president, and main writer of LD Debate Prep.
Previously, as co-president and LD co-captain of his high school’s team, Blake has helped coach and prepare multiple students – including 19 debaters who have made semifinals or finals, as well as 4 champions of the highest open LD division.
In high school, he was a 2-time quarterfinalist at the Washington State Debate tournament, twice placing among the top 6 Lincoln-Douglas speakers in the state. He made it to the district tournament three years in a row, placing in quarterfinals most recently. Throughout his career, he has championed and made late elimination rounds at 22 local tournaments in the highest open division of LD, leading 1st place in number of state bids during his junior year.
Currently a student at Georgetown University studying public policy, Blake hails from the cold wonderland of Canada. He was instantly drawn to speech and debate in middle school (his school’s best club and only club)! Blake has experience in various styles of debate, including CNDF (Canadian), World Schools, and Public Forum. After moving to Washington state, he picked up Lincoln-Douglas debate and has loved it as his favorite style ever since!
LD Debate Prep 