Ridge Forensics Team Hosts State’s Largest Speech & Debate Tournament

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Sixty schools from five states traveled to Ridge High School on January 27th for what would become the state’s largest speech and debate competition.

More than 1,000 students and 300 adult coaches, judges and chaperones participated in the day-long event which was hosted in Ridge High School, Cedar Hill School, and Mount Prospect School.

As a member school of the New Jersey Speech and Debate League (NJSDL), Ridge offered 12 individual ‘speech’ events, including Informative Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Radio Broadcasting and Poetry Reading, and four debate events, including Parliamentary Debate, Congressional Debate and Public Forum.

Teams, presenting public and private schools, participate in the league tournaments in preparation and to qualify for the New Jersey state championships in March.

In addition, the Ridge tournament attracts teams from outside of New Jersey, including Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts.

David Yastremski, director of the event and head coach for the Ridge Speech & Debate Team discussed the history of the event, "this was the 20th year that we have hosted this event, and was by far, the largest."

"We hosted all the high school events at Ridge and Cedar Hill. Because of the growth of the event, especially in the past two years, we needed to move our middle school division over to Mount Prospect," said Yastremski.

With the addition of middle school events, Yastremski noted that the tournament opens up a new opportunity for schools who wish to participate.

"As middle school programs develop, especially in speech events, there are not many in-person tournament opportunities for them until late in the school year, after the high school season ends," Yastremski said. "We welcomed a new generation of speakers and debaters, including schools from New York and Pennsylvania, to our event. And it was also exciting to see students from our own William Annin team excel at the event."

In addition to the extensive planning and preparations by the students, parents and coaching staff, Yastremski also commented on how fortunate the team is to have the administration and faculty’s support from throughout the district, especially our elementary schools.

"These events are critical to our fundraising efforts," Yastremski said. "The principals, faculty and staff of Ridge High, Cedar Hill and Mt. Prospect have been so helpful in providing us the support and space we need to manage the event. This helps build the prestige and reputation of the tournament throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions"

The Ridge team also hosts a debate tournament in December, which is a two-day event where many teams stay in nearby hotels and patronize local businesses.

"I constantly hear from our guest coaches and the school chaperones how they enjoy visiting Bernards Township because of our safe and welcoming community," Yastremski said. "When our visitors arrive, they immediately recognize how special Basking Ridge is."

The funds raised from hosting the tournaments along with the annual Ridge Speech and Debate Summer Institute, help offset the costs for team members to attend national invitationals at Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and the University of Kentucky, along with the national championships in May and June.

With the large size of the events, the Ridge team has welcomed local businesses as sponsors. This year Rey Sol coffee roasters provided coffee for the guests while offering a take-home bag of the special Ridge Forensics/Speech & Debate roast for sale.

Yastremski, along with the coaches and parent steering committee, are already planning for the 2024-2025 events. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the Ridge Forensics / Speech & Debate program, tournament sponsorship or our summer institute can find information at www.ridgeforensics.com.

— Submitted by Loren Raye Bosso