On December 14 and 15, Independent University, Bangladesh Debating Club (IUBDC) will host 'Pathao presents IUBDC Wordplay 3.0'— this year's biggest open debating tournament of Bangladesh. With stellar adjudication core, fantastic motions, combined with the legendary IUBDC hospitality and organisational perfection, the organisers believe that this debating tournament will be a wonderful winter adventure to encounter. For the university and the club this is not just a tournament, it is a rite of passage.
IUBDC's journey to prove themselves worthy began when their president Zubair Ridoan said, 'Wordplay is your tournament. We will not always be here to guide you, learn from your own mistakes, and carve your own path.' Hence the tagline was coined, 'New words. New generation'. As a club, IUBDC built itself up solely on hard work and passion; from being a group of defocused 7-8 people to winning the United Asian Debating Championship (UADC), the club's seniors had surpassed all expectations and set an impressive benchmark. For the club, the stage has been set. Wordplay 3.0 will serve as a testament to how far the individuals dare to dream and in turn, turn those dreams into a reality.
The previous editions of Wordplay were very homely. The organisers took it upon themselves to make it the biggest open tournament of the year. First day began with the first meeting among the organisers. Around 14 departments were formed, each designated with a task. Every day, numerous mistakes were made and with each came a hard earned lesson. From the tab team to the registration team, finance team to the sponsorship team, each lesson came as a reality check to how much we actually have left to learn. The initial response from the teams left the organisers a little overwhelmed as around 80 teams signed up.
With a semester that lasted for a mere two-and-half month, around 50 of the organisers set off to pull off a feat that could only be possible with the IUBDC level of dedication. Like every other tournament hosted by the club, Pathao presents IUBDC Wordplay 3.0 also comes with a theme. Keeping the season in mind, this year's theme would be 'Winter Wonderland' where we aim to take you on a magical journey where rhetoric meets wonder.
Pathao presents IUBDC Wordplay is an open English debate tournament meaning there are no institutional boundaries or age limits, making it the perfect arena for World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) practice. The breaking categories will include Main and Novice breaks. A total of 44 teams had been chosen comprising of teams from Chittagong, Khulna and Dhaka. Nine veteran adjudication cores were invited with the co-chief adjudicators being Raiha Nawal, the English as Second Language (ESL) quarter finalist from WUDC (2015-2016), Nabil Hasan - the current United Asian Debating Championship (UADC) Champion and Fardeen Ameen, the president of Bangladesh Debating Council. The tournament will be of six rounds. Four rounds will be held on December 14, as many as 44 teams will battle to break to remain in the fight for glory on that day. The night will end with a lovely dinner and a fun filled break night session. December 15 will be ended by crowning the winners followed by a grand dinner.
Wordplay has always been humble dream that the club's seniors had dreamt and built Ascension- another flagship debating event organised by IUBDC that involves debating teams of South Asian countries. Now, the new bloods have that same dream and not only hope to achieve the same feats but break boundaries and make their seniors and respected mentors proud.
The writer is a student of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). She can be reached at farnaz6530@gmail.com