The OCU Speech and Debate team has introduced their new coach, Anthony “Ant” Woodall, as of late November and the abrupt departure of their old coach.
“I was caught off guard by how suddenly the change came, but I did know it was coming,” sophomore member of the team Jackson Barnes said. “I was both excited to see what was to come, and solemn that it ended the way it did.”
The new director of forensics, Woodall has a long history with speech and debate, some of it even involving OCU.
“I used to compete for college forensics, and every February, the Oklahoma State Championship would be hosted here,” Woodall said. “I came here for four years as a competitor, two more years as a volunteer coach for another school, and then for another couple of years as a judge until Covid happened. So, when they asked if I could help, I was like, ‘I can try.’”
Woodall’s first request after being offered the job was to meet the team.
“There’s a lot of different cultures for college debate,” Woodall said. “Just like in different sports, you have certain cultures of what kind of plays you do, what kind of team you run, and the same thing happens in debate. I have a very specific philosophy and I wanted to make sure that the team knew that before they asked for me to be their coach.”
The team agreed on Woodall after the meeting and told the department chair Dr. Mohamed Daadaoui that they approved of them as a replacement.
“They seemed to know their stuff and want to focus on what would make our team grow in whatever field we were focused in,” Barnes said. “Some of us are [interpretation] oriented, debaters, or just enjoy public speaking, and they wanted us to know that we should focus on what we wanted. They were intelligent, well-spoken, and seemed more than ready to help our team.”
Now officially the advisor, Woodall said that OCU’s student-leader team dynamic provides an exciting opportunity for them.
“The fun part about having a student led program is that I don’t so much have to teach debaters as much as I have to teach debate teachers,” Woodall said. “I’ve given some of the more experienced students readings on pedagogy so they can learn how to be better teachers and better student coaches. The newer students are getting some of those basic things still. So, I get to do a little bit of both.”
Beyond the transition of leadership, the Speech and Debate team also face leftover changes from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In the post-Covid era, it’s both a lot harder and a lot easier to run a forensics team,” Woodall said. “It’s harder in the sense that a lot of universities are starting to redirect resources, and it’s easier because in the wake of everyone going virtual, a lot of tournaments are offered online. So, we’ve been looking at nothing but online competitions.”
The team and Woodall have begun weekly practices together and are heading forward into a year of competitions.
“The transition has flowed fairly seamlessly,” Barnes said. “We have our next tournament on Nov. 4, and I’d like to say that Ant has made us feel ready and well-prepared in what might seem like a hectic transition.”
Though not sure of how long they’ll stay at OCU as coach, Woodall is ready to take on this year with their new team they said.
“I have very high hopes for the team,” they said. “I can see just how capable they are, and that lets me push them in a unique way that sometimes coaches don’t get to do until they’ve been in the program for a long time.”
Those interested in joining the Speech and Debate team can reach out to any of the team members for more information.
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