Last month veteran coach Chris Wardner joined the ranks of the speech and debate team, where he now serves as a third coach alongside longtime coach Steve Clemmons and speech coach Jenny Cook.
Wardner has a long history coaching the activity that dates to the early ‘90s. He works as a teacher/director of speech and debate at Almaden Country Day School and as the director of Lincoln-Douglas debate at Leland High School.
Wardner joined the team to help Cook with the growing number of students in the club — long-term membership has roughly tripled from two years ago. Cook has helped Wardner smoothly transition into his new position, walking him through the district paperwork process.
Wardner is known for his experience coaching Lincoln-Douglas debate. In that time, he has coached two students who reached national championships in the event. He said he enjoys coaching speech events as well.
“I like to think of myself as pretty well-rounded and able to work with students, whatever their needs might be,” Wardner said.
At speech and debate meetings, which are held every Monday and Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Wardner divides his time between both sides of the activity. He sets up timeslots where he gives advice and works with students. He also provides times outside of practice for participants who aren’t ready to compete or need additional guidance.
Wardner also has a different area of expertise than Cook, giving students like club president Devika Nair a new perspective on the activity.
“[Wardner] made me go outside of the box and start thinking of my speech through the perspective of a judge rather than the perspective of a student,” Nair said.
One of Wardner’s areas of expertise is blocking, the process of mapping out movement in a speech. He fully cut and blocked senior Anagha Vitaldevera’s speech in one day, something that has never happened to her before.
So far, Wardner appreciates the attitude and energy of the team members. The debate team members are all pumped and ready to practice, turning the student center into a positive and engaging environment.
“My favorite part of speech and debate is when a student has a breakthrough where everything comes together, and you can just read their whole body and their facial expression,” Wardner said. “Those moments are worth their weight in gold.”
