Peruvian Debate Association

The Peruvian Debate Association is a legally ordained, non-profit institution, which organizes and coordinates activities to promote and increase debate in and among schools and universities in Peru. This association was founded in September 2002, by Sixto Ramos, Philosophy, Economics and Peruvian History teacher at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt and representatives from 6 other schools: Santa María Marianistas, San Ignacio de Recalde, Markham College, Casuarinas, Newton and Carmelitas. In 2003 the Peruvian Debate Association along with other non-member schools and colleges helped Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt organize the World Schools Debating Championship 2003 in Lima, Peru; the grand final was held at a packed auditorium at Universidad de Lima with well over 1000 people attending.
Every month, the member schools participate in regular debates at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, with students ranging in age from 11 to 17 years. The APD holds annual try-outs where schools send their best debaters to compete in the selection for the National Team to compete in the World Schools Debating Championship in the so-called "Worlds Style" which is derived from the Parliamentary Debate format.

Main objectives

To spread debate among Peruvian schools in both English and Spanish
Develop training programs for students coaches and judges
Support the debate activities organized by member schools
Organize local, national, and international competitions
Select the members of the national team who will represent Peru in the World Schools Debating Championship and the Pan-American Competition
Be open to new school members
Look for sponsorship for debaters, coaches, and judges to attend international competitions

Benefits for students

Debating allows students to increase and develop their skills in a number of different areas such as: public speaking, logical organization, general knowledge, research, proving a point of view, personal time management, increase in confidence and inter-personal interaction, and teamwork.

Member schools

Peru in the World Schools Debating Championship

Peru sent a team to the WSDC for the first time in 1993 to Medicine Hat, Canada. Members who represented Perú included Bernie Payet, Jackie Fuller and Hugo Huertas del Pino. A brief pause was taken until 1997, then a team was sent to participate in the championship in Bermuda. Ever since Peru has sent a team to compete every year.
Peru's Participation:

1993- Canada
1997- Bermuda
1998- Israel
1999- England
2000- USA
2001- South Africa
2002- Singapore
2003- Peru
2004- Germany
2005- Canada
2006- Wales
2007- South Korea
2008- Washington
2009- Athens
2010- Qatar
2011- Scotland
2012- South Africa
2013- Turkey
2014- Thailand
2015- Singapore
2016- Stuttgart
2017- Bali
2019- Bangkok, Thailand

All teams coached by Sixto Ramos except for WSDC in Peru 03 and Canada 05. As of 2012, Sixto Ramos is no longer the official coach of the national team as he retired due to personal problems. For the WSDC 2013, the chosen Coach through vote by the APD is Jorge Gallo, former speaker. For 2014, Luis-Enrique Zela-Koort coached the team and for 2015 the coach was Sebastian Salomón. In 2016, a four-person coaching team was assembled from Peruvian ex-debaters. The year after in 2017, Luis Enrique Zela and Sebastian Dasso remained as coaches, and took the team to two additional tournaments: The 2017 Harvard Invitational, and Asian World Schools, the 2017 peruvian team won both tournaments, before WSDC in Bali. Luis Enrique and Sebastian also participated in the WUDC the same year, reaching the ESL finals- the highest achievement any Latin American team has reached so far.
From 1993 to 2001 all team members were from Colegio Roosevelt, From 2002 to 2018 team members have been from different schools including Markham College, Newton College, San Ignacio de Recalde, Carmelitas and Roosevelt.
The team for 2019 World Schools Debating Championship in Bangkok, Thailand was:

Juan Diego Albin
Valeria Leon
Daniella Leon
Jean Michel Borit
Fabio Rahman
Coaching Team: Marcelo Beramendi and Sebastian Dasso

The team for 2017 World Schools Debating Championship in Stuttgart, Germany was:

Rafael Shimabukuro
Lorenzo Pinasco
Lorenzo de la Puente
Valeria Wu
Leonardo Jimenez
Coaching Team: Luis Enrique Zela-Koort, Sebastián Dasso

The team for 2016 World Schools Debating Championship in Stuttgart, Germany was:

Rafael Shimabukuro
Lorenzo Pinasco
Lorenzo de la Puente
Deweena Parija
Leonardo Jimenez
Coaching Team: Jorge Gallo, Luis Enrique Zela-Koort, Sebastián Dasso, Sebastián Salomón.

The team for 2015 World Schools Debating Championship in Pulau Ujong, Singapore was:

Rafael Shimabukuro
Lorenzo Pinasco
Marcelo Beramendi
Lorenzo de la Puente

Coach: Sebastián Salomón
The team for 2014 World Schools Debating Championship in Bangkok, Thailand was:

Jose de los Heros
Sebastian Dasso
Jose Agustin de la Puente
Rafael Shimabukuro
Lorenzo Pinasco
Marcelo Beramendi

Coach: Luis Enrique Zela Koort
The team for the 2013 World Schools Debating Championship in Antalya, Turkey was composed by:

Jose de los Heros
Jose Agustin de la Puente
Sebastian Salomon
Alex Ferrando
Luis Enrique Zela Koort
Maria Jose Villanueva

Coach: Jorge Gallo
The team for the 2012 World Schools Debating Championship in Cape Town, South Africa was:

Jose de los Heros
Sebastian Salomon
Franco Scamarone
Luis Enrique Zela Koort
Daniela Llirod

Coaches: Sixto Ramos and Jorge Gallo
The team for the 2011 World Schools Debating Championship in Dundee, Scotland was:

Jose de los Heros
Daniela Llirod
Sebastián Salomón
Luis Enrique Zela-Koort
Daniella Salazar
Franco Scamarone

Coach: Sixto Ramos
The team for the 2009 World Schools Debating Championship in Athens, Greece was:

Arturo Montalván
Patrick Cooper
Sebastián Llosa
Giulia Ciliotta
Karina Rodríguez

Coach: Sixto Ramos
The team for the 2008 World Schools Debating Championship in Washington D.C., United States was:

Arturo Montalván
Lucas Ghersi
Gabriel Pulliati
Stephanie Guin
Karina Rodríguez

Coach: Sixto Ramos
The team for the 2007World Schools Debating Championship 2007 in Seoul, South Korea is:

Jorge Gallo
Gloria María González
Camilla Korder
Joaquin Ormeño
Arianna Plevisani

Coach: Sixto Ramos
The team for the 2006 World Schools Debating Championship 2006 in Cardiff, Wales were:

Christian Grados
Gloria María González
Camilla Korder
Joaquin Ormeño
Diego Ortiz de Zevallos

Coach: Sixto Ramos
The team for the 2005 World Schools Debating Championship in Calgary, Canada was:

Lorena Alarco
Ruben Del Aguila
Kyle Hecht
Juan Diego Farah
Gloria Maria Gonzalez

Coach: Alejandro Belmont
The team for the 2004 World Schools Debating Championship in Stuttgart, Germany was:

Nicole Furman
Kate Gushwa
Josefa de la Puente
Jorge Sarmiento

Coach: Sixto Ramos
The team for the 2003 World Schools Debating Championship in Lima, Peru was:

Nicole Furman
Jamie McTavish
Lucia Benavides
Juan Carlos Canessa
Katie Gushwa

Coach: Fernando Rodrigo
The 15th World Schools Debating Championships was hosted in Lima by Colegio Roosevelt in August 2003, the only time the prestigious tournament has taken place in Latin America. 2003 was a notable year for Peruvian debate, as it also marked the first change in coaching. After competing in the 2000, 2001, and 2002 championships as a speaker, Fernando Rodrigo returned as a coach. Under the then Harvard freshman's guidance, the 2003 team made a strong showing by winning as many rounds in the competition as the 2002 and 2001 teams combined. Following in Fernando's footsteps, three of the debaters also made the Top 50 Speakers list that year. Though he was no longer coach, Fernando's continued influence and contribution became even more apparent when the 2004 team made the quarter-finals in Stuttgart. This proved to be a stark contrast to previous years, in which Peru was consistently ranked as one of the lowest scoring countries.
Top 50 Speakers

2001:

Fernando Rodrigo

2002:

Fernando Rodrigo

2003:

Katie Gushwa,
Nicole Furman,
Jamie McTavish,

2004:

No list was made this year

2005:

Kyle Hecht

2013

Sebastian Salomon
Luis Enrique Zela-Koort
Jose de los Heros

2014

Lorenzo Pinasco
Jose de los Heros
Sebastian Dasso

Peru in the Pan-American Debating Championships

Peru has also had very successful participations at the Pan-American Championships, which was created by Sixto Ramos. The first one was held in Lima, Peru in 2002 where Peru debated at the finals vs. Argentina. In 2004 for the Pan-Americans in Buenos Aires, Argentina two teams were sent:
Team 1:

Jorge Luis Sarmiento
Nicolás Aguirre
Lorena Alarco
Kyle Hecht
Alfonso de la Torre

Team 2:

Ricardo Maertens
Josefa de la Puente Colegio Roosevelt
Nicole Furman Colegio Roosevelt
Gloria Maria Gonzalez Colegio Roosevelt
Nicolas Vega Colegio Roosevelt

Coach: Douglas Scott
This year the Peruvian Debate Association hosted the Pan-American Championship in Lima, Peru. Delegations from Canada, Bermuda, USA, and Peru participated in a week of intense debates.
Perú won the championship in 2014 Held at Mexico city. Perú 3, debated in the Spanish division Against delegations from Mexico, Argentina, Champagnat, and Chile. The team won 5 of the 6 preliminary debates to then start the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals the decision was unanimous giving the debate to Perú 3-0 against Champagnat. In the semifinals the debate was given by a unanimous decision 5-0 against Mexico. The final debate about austerity was held at the main auditorium on the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
The Decision was given unanimous to Perú 5-0 against Mexico.
The following team won the tournament:

Marcelo Beramendi
Rafael Shimabukuro
Gianluca Venegas
Lorenzo Pinasco

The coaches were:

Jose de los Heros
Luis Enrique Zela-Koort

A team also participated in the English division of the tournament. This team got to the quarter-final and lost in a tense 2-1 split decision against Canada. The team was composed by:

Alex Ferrando
Alejandra Bellatin
Jose Agustin de la Puente
Sebastian Dasso