HST: The Role of Coaches and Mentors in Speech and Debate

The story below, written by CHSAA Assistant Commissioner Rashaan Davis, was featured in the May 2025 edition of the High School Today magazine; The Voice of Eduation-Based Athletics and Performing Arts Activities

In Colorado and across the nation, education-based activities are more than just after-school pursuits – they are engines opportunity, belonging and transformation. The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), which supports more than 30 sports and activities from football to Unified Bowling, music to student leadership, plays a vital role in this work. But among the wide range of programs it helps sustain, none embodies the CHSAA mission of access, opportunity and voice more clearly than speech and debate.

Speech and debate is a co-curricular competitive activity that equips students with essential skills in public speaking, critical thinking, research and argumentation. From extemporaneous speaking to dramatic interpretation, from Congressional Debate Lincoln-Douglas, the range of events allows students to explore their interests and discover their voice. The rise of virtual tournaments in recent years has only expanded access, allowing more students – regardless of geography or circumstance—to engage in this powerful learning experience.

But while the competition structures and formats are vital, the heart of any speech and debate team is its coach.

Behind every powerful performance is a coach whose voice may never be heard on stage, but whose influence resonates in every carefully chosen word. These mentors teach more than rhetoric – they shape confidence, unlock character, and provide the courage students need to become leaders in their schools, communities and beyond. They are the ones who believe in students before the students believe in themselves.

“To be a speech and debate coach means committing countless hours to an activity that matters deeply to students who are all-in,” says Tom Tafoya, head coach at Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado. “They work so hard to create something amazing, and when you see one of them win a state or national title, it makes every sacrifice worth it.”

Tafoya points to former student Peter Alisky as a powerful ex- ample of a reluctant student who found his place through coaching.

“Peter’s natural talent carried him through his freshman year, but it wasn’t until he bought in that it clicked,” he says. “He went on to become a two-time state and national champion in U.S. Extemp.”

For Tafoya, coaching is about more than event prep; it’s about life preparation.

“A good coach helps kids understand their potential. My job isn’t just to prepare them for rounds; it’s to prepare them for life. And even with the long weekends and late nights, I love it – because what we do makes a difference.”

Hari Gridharan, a graduating senior from Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colorado, echoes that sentiment from the student perspective. A four-year competitor in Congressional and Policy Debate, Gridharan was part of a program serving more than 200 students, but he says the personal mentorship he received is what changed his life.

“The role of coaches is setting the stage for new students,” Gridharan reflects. “Coaches got me to love it, and I could see myself doing it throughout high school. They exposed me to different sides of issues.”

That spark of engagement grew into something much deeper.

“They’ve been some of the greatest mentors I’ve ever had,” Gridharan says. “They taught me about community, leadership and how to mentor others. They helped me develop soft skills that will serve me throughout life – how to be a positive member of my community.”

As Gridharan prepares to study applied economics at Cornell University, he credits his coaches with helping him build a second home.

“Without speech and debate coaches, I would have never had this home away from home. Their legacy is creating a tight-knit community built on belonging and love. I’ve spent more time in the debate room than in my own bedroom – and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

At Air Academy High School in the Colorado Springs area, Renee Motter has spent nearly three decades coaching students toward that same sense of belonging and purpose. With 28 years of experience, including leadership at the state and national levels, Motter understands the broader power of this activity.

“While it might look like it means lots of Saturdays lost,” she says, “what it really means is making a difference for students and the world. This is life-changing for them; they find their voice, they discover what they’re passionate about, and they learn how to make themselves heard.”

Motter’s coaching journey began unexpectedly when her first teaching job in Minnesota required her to lead the debate team. Though her own competition experience had been in interp and public speaking, she dove in – and never looked back.

“I learned a lot fast,” she laughs. “And I’ve been shaping young voices ever since.”

Motter is quick to emphasize that programs don’t just run on student enthusiasm alone.

“Just like in athletics, students need coaches to guide them, to help them grow,” she explains. “It is the coach who inspires, who pushes, who sees more in the student than they see in themselves. It’s also the coach who fights to keep the program alive – through logistics, recruitment and funding.”

For Motter, the greatest successes aren’t found in headlines or hardware.

“The real victories are the kids who say, ‘Thanks for giving me a place to belong,’” she says.  “It’s the student who calls after college to say, ‘Because of speech and debate, I nailed my first big presentation.’ Or the one who texts from a doctoral interview to say, ‘I got the spot, and I wasn’t even nervous.’ That’s the kind of impact that lasts.”

Motter’s advice to new coaches is as wise as it is practical: “Do what you can do. Start small. Focus on sustainability. If you can impact students for 10 or 20 years instead of burning out in the first two, that’s the real win.”

When asked about her legacy, Motter speaks not of accolades but of outcomes. “I hope mine will be students who are able to— and choose to – use their voices effectively to make the world better for themselves and those around them.”

As students graduate and move on to new challenges, they take with them more than argumentation skills or polished delivery. They carry resilience, integrity, empathy and the confidence that comes from knowing their voice matters. And they carry the imprint of the coach who stood beside them, believed in them, and never let them forget their worth. In this way, speech and debate coaches do more than build competitors – they build citizens.

Rashaan Davis is assistant commissioner of the Colorado High School Activities Association and a member of the High School Today Publications Committee.

Photo in the magazine provided by South Dakota Public Broadcasting.