Written for a parent who's never seen a debate round.

Grades 5 through 12, from complete novices to early-competitive students, with a particular focus on middle schoolers: an age range most debate programs skip entirely in favor of high schoolers already deep into the circuit.

We start with a real, free conversation: book a call and we'll talk through where your student is and where they'd start. Once you join the monthly Core plan, you get a complimentary half-hour of 1:1 coaching as a joining perk. If we run a placement session to settle your student's starting level, that session is what the half-hour covers.

No. Podium Debate is explicitly non-exclusive: keep your school team, another program, anything else you're already doing. There's no conflict.

Cohorts begin September 8. The season's opening Lincoln-Douglas resolution is already out (Resolved: Outer space colonization is a moral imperative, the NSDA September/October topic), and it's the first topic the cohort preps, so a student who joins before September 8 starts the season already prepped on the opening resolution, at this season's introductory rate. That rate is locked in once you join and isn't guaranteed to hold for cohorts that start later. You can book your placement call any time before then.

That's fine. Podium Debate is explicitly non-exclusive. Some programs require you to drop other coaching to join; we don't. Keep whatever you already have and add this on top.

Live, always. Every class is a real-time video call with a coach and a small group of classmates actively debating each other, not a recorded lesson or a passive webinar. The format depends on live repetition, so there is no pre-recorded substitute to hand a student who misses a session.

Just a computer or tablet with a camera, a microphone, and a stable internet connection. Sessions run over Google Meet, so there is nothing to install ahead of time, just click the link at session time.

There is no strict minimum age or required experience. We work with students from grade 5 through grade 12, and placement looks at the whole student: age, readiness, and where they land on our skill ladder, so every cohort is students of a similar age and level. A younger student with strong reading and speaking instincts and an older true beginner may start at the same rung of the ladder, each in a cohort of their own peers.

Often, yes, and it is one of the more common reasons families reach out. Our placement call meets a student at their actual comfort level rather than assuming a blank slate: Level 1 of our skill ladder is built specifically around delivering one prepared speech cleanly, the same starting point a beginner-focused public speaking class would use. A shy student is not thrown into a competitive round on day one.

No. Most students who join have never debated before, no partner, no school team, no prior tournament required. The program is built to teach debate from the very first session, not to assume a head start.

Lincoln-Douglas (LD) is one-on-one debate: your student is fully responsible for every speech, with no partner to lean on. Public Forum (PF) is a two-person team format, and it's what almost every other local program teaches. LD is a different, more individually demanding format, and it's what we specialize in.

By age and skill level together, determined at your placement call. Students are grouped with peers of a similar age and a similar spot on our six-level skill ladder. A middle schooler is never dropped into a room of high schoolers. Cohorts are capped at 6-8 students as a teaching decision: each roster locks for the season, so students debate the same peers every week and the coach tracks every student's progress closely instead of re-learning a rotating class. No experience is needed to place into one, and a student can still move up the ladder as they're actually ready, not on a fixed schedule.

Interactive and drill-based. Every session is built around live rounds: constructive, cross-examination, rebuttal, not a coach talking at a screen. A single round segment alone takes 15-20 minutes, which is part of why sessions run a full 90 minutes.

Yes, and it's a common starting point. PF and LD share fundamentals: argument construction, cross-examination, rebuttal, but LD's individual format and values-based framework are different enough that most PF debaters start close to our Foundations or Case Construction level rather than skipping ahead. Your placement call will find the right spot.

Cancel a scheduled 1:1 or sibling/pair session at least 24 hours ahead and there's no charge. Inside that window, or a no-show, is a 50% fee by default, though exceptions can be made case by case. Group cohort sessions never deduct credits regardless of attendance.

Yes, billed hourly: $90/hr base rate, $60/hr for Core members, with bundle discounts for members buying multiple hours at once (reaching $55/hr). A sibling/pair session, two students sharing one session, is 1.5x a single session's rate, not double.

Yes. Core is priced three ways: month-to-month, a half-season prepay (4 months), or a full-season prepay (8 months). Each cadence brings the effective monthly rate down, with the season option the lowest. See the pricing page for exact numbers.

Yes. Refer a family and, for each of their students who enrolls in Core and completes a first payment, a $100 credit is applied to your own Core billing. There is no cap, no code and no link to track: they mention you on their call or at signup, and we match it up. See podiumdebate.com/refer for the details.

If you specifically need prep work outside of that, a case built, a file researched, you can submit a request directly from the family portal and we'll be happy to quote it for you. However, members get internally produced topic and case files as a free perk.

Every 1:1 session gets a full personal note from the coach. Cohort sessions get a real, per-student note too: shorter and templated, but not a generic recap sent to the whole group. Parents see these directly in the portal.

Members get always-on messaging access to their coach for quick strategy checks and questions, so you don't have to wait until next week's session.

Internal practice tournaments are included as part of the standard program from day one. We can also support travel to external circuit tournaments logistically, but those costs aren't covered by Podium Debate.

They run internally, using real competitive procedure: structured rounds, ballots, and judge feedback, but among your own cohort and skill level. They're where the interactive drilling from weekly sessions turns into live competitive reps, without needing to travel anywhere.

All live sessions and messaging happen through Google Workspace-managed video and chat, never a coach's personal phone number, Discord, or social accounts. Every session also produces a written record you can see directly in the portal.