Activities of “BSPU Debates”: expanding our activities

At first you can’t wait for this event, you prepare, practice generating those arguments in 15 minutes, Gemini comes up with the least expected topics for you, you play the first, second and even third game with enthusiasm, and after all this you understand: “finally it’s over!”

And so, no matter how much you like debates, no matter how much this love of your life is, such concentration is exhausting. But you don’t need less than this, because when the results are announced, you are simply happy that it’s all over…

On February 21, 2026, the first stage of the Debate Major League debate tournament took place. The organizers – the Lviv Debate Union – plan to hold this tournament in three stages, each of which will be held in 4 qualifying games. All for a place in the Premier League, but now there are only beginners in debates, in the British parliamentary format, and simply those looking for a new experience!

No one will make a mistake with the latter: the topics are quite accessible to play at any level. This time they covered issues of friendship, the practice of a separate family budget, children’s media popularity and the presence or absence of “free Internet” until 2077…

“And what was going on there?!”

Yes, indeed, when you hear the name of this format, the last thing you think about is such, at first glance, simple topics. But, probably, this is because the tournament is still for beginners, as they would say, “novice”. However, when you are already preparing with a teammate, everything is not so simple – God forbid “unambiguous”. Yes, you have infoslides with a breakdown of what’s what, you have time to ask questions, even a separate Discord voice channel for those 15 minutes of “antenna tuning” before the round, but the question of whether or not to dump a childhood friend because of an immoral act (which is not against the law), forecasts of a free decentralized Internet, who spends money on what confuses your mind.

And, by the way, the topics are almost traditional:

• “The TC will continue the friendship” (all the value is in the infoslide);
• “The TC supports the spread of the practice of a separate family budget”;
• “The TC will choose to become popular by 12 as opposed to popularity after 25” (what exactly is popularity was also reported in the infoslide);
• and “The TC predicts the absence of free Internet by 2077”.

The maximum of unexpectedness after LvivOpen … but nevertheless, it was an unforgettable experience. Because “TC” stands for “this chamber”, with an appeal to the history of the debate format (in the beginning it was played in the British Parliament).

The format of the tournament brought even more positivity – online, Discord, all day. All. Since morning. Although, in my opinion, offline has more drive.

Even more great memories then, again in my highly subjective opinion, when your teammate was not chosen for you by fate, but you registered as a team. There is such a practice at some tournaments (maybe at all): single registration, and the organizers choose Sancho Panza or Don Quixote for you from the same ones for the entire stage or tournament. And not because it all makes no sense, but because the game, if there were no rounds, becomes an adventure that is worth a whole weekend and “squirting” with the connection turned off.

Although, apparently, debates are a space where you will in any case “agree on life views” with your teammate. For example, last time our team unanimously and without hesitation chose the name “Those who just came to eat”, and this includes all those who go somewhere according to this principle, but that’s another matter.

And it’s probably time to move on to the main points of the note, after all.

The first action of the novice tournament took place online (like the next two), on the Discord platform, with mandatory registration, in 4 games, not without a lunch break, the gracious organizers left a channel in Discord for “making jokes”, and someone turned on the camera for their fancy lunch with a friend.

And from our group, students of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities took part: Artem Tyshchuk and Darya Kizilova.

We moved on.

So, of course, no matter how the game goes, the main thing is to say something, as they once advised, “at least repeat, and then you will come across a smart idea.” Even when you don’t take the first places, but your speaker points are still pleasing, somehow you will think that victories are victories, but you are unlikely to find such a release anywhere else!

Photo from the open channel of the Lviv Debate Union https://t.me/lvivdebates

Daria Kizilova