WUDC Journey

THE FAILURE, THE PREPARATION, THE HEARTBREAK, THE ACHIEVEMENT

Sofia WUDC 2026 DCA elect. Those five words seem surreal when attached to my name. They feel like a futuristic dream whose realization for 20-year-old me would be equivalent to traveling to Mars. For the non-debaters let me break it down. WUDC refers to the World Universities Debating Championships. It is like the Olympics for debate. Every year a different country hosts the championships and universities choose their Olympic athletes (debaters). For the past three years I was an athlete (an independent adjudicator (IA) as we say it in debate lingo). Now, the CAP (Chief Adjudication Panel) team is one of the most coveted positions in the debate Olympics. This group is made up of the highest achieving debaters decorated with the most enviable accolades and accomplishments you could ever imagine a debater achieve. We have people who have won the world championship, people who have judged the grand final of the championship, people who have been best speakers at the championship and many others with impressive achievements. So, by now you understand the prestige that comes with the position. It is akin to an Olympics gold medallist now being on the Olympics judging panel or coaching team.

Now that you understand how much this means to us debaters let’s take it back to where it all began. In March 2020, about two weeks before the lockdown officially began in Ghana, I was in the university of Ghana, and I joined the debate club. As the universe would have it school was closed, and we went into lockdown. All activities became virtual, including debate. Despite the negative reactions people have towards having to debate on zoom screens, I’d say the online experience projected my experience plus achievements within debate. Because by 2021, I had broken as a judge at Nepal Australs. Australs, for my non debaters, is a regional tournament for the Australasian region attended by hundreds of universities in Australia and Asia. Seeing as I wasn’t even in any of those continents, outside of debate being online, I would have never had the opportunity to attend. In fact, apart from the logistical constraints, acceptance into these tournaments is extremely competitive. I doubt with my few achievements at that time that anyone would have paid me any IA remuneration to attend the tournament.

I may have broken at a regional tournament in 2021 but 2021 also came with Korea WUDC which brought with it heartbreak. After 9 intense preliminary rounds, your girl didn’t break. Heartbreak aside, it was a good learning experience, so I took it under my belt and called it a day. 2022 came with my first ever WUDC break at Belgrade WUDC. I was elated. Selorme? A WUDC breaking judge? Exciting! But that excitement was short lived because just a few months later I was in Zagreb, Croatia for the Zagreb EUDC (European Universities Debating Championships) where I attended as a speaker who did not break. Yho! The heartbreak! Then 2023 came with my first ever in-person WUDC experience in Madrid, Spain. After breaking my heart in Croatia, Spain definitely lifted my spirits when not only did I break but my oh my oh my oh my, guess what! I judged the Open Grand Final of WUDC for the very first time ever! Do you know what that means? To judge the open grand final of worlds? The worlds championships? Unbelievable! That’s how crazy it was. But do not celebrate yet because before Madrid though, I had applied to join the CAP for Vietnam WUDC and received a rejection. AH! See, I knew I would not get it. I only had one WUDC break from Belgrade, and I applied with the hopes of getting feedback in preparation for future applications I may make. Ironically, the CA team never got back to me on the feedback so yeah, I was left heartbroken and feedbackless. How exciting!

But I didn’t give up! We don’t do that here. Give up? What’s that? However, 2023 was a turning point honestly. I would say 2023 was the golden year of my debate career. Why you ask? In that single year I judged the open grand final of the most competitive Round Robin tournament in the world, the HWS RR, served on the CAP for the North American Universities Debating Championships (NAUDC) and the United States Universities Debating Championships (USUDC), I also finally broke as a judge at Burgas EUDC. I also most importantly served on the CAP for another worlds, the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) in Ha Noi, Vietnam. It was an absolutely tremendously life changing year for me not in only in debate either, but this conversation is about debate so let’s focus. Riding on the high of all these achievements from the beginning of the year, I applied to join the CAP for Panama WUDC 2025.

At this point, I had served on equity for worlds two times, had two world breaks, already served on another world panel and had broken in major regional tournaments. I thought my chances were good. But as I said early on, this is competitive. The best of the best apply for these positions. And guess what, I didn’t get it. Do you know how heartbreaking it is to ride on the high of numerous achievements all throughout the year only to be stricken down from the expectations of the one coveted position you’ve been looking up to all year? To make it all worse, before that I had also received a rejection email from when I applied to DCA EUDC. 2023, I thought we had a deal. How are you going to treat me like a queen from the beginning only to make me feel less than a pauper by the end? Yho! The pain. The pain. Thankfully though, this time the rejection came with feedback. Feedback that I am eternally grateful for because it helped me understand where I was going wrong. Where I was missing critical nuances in my applications. Instead of dwelling on the heartbreaks from the end of 2023, I attended Vietnam WUDC in Ho Chi Minh city with the hopes of another WUDC break. So, imagine my utter shock when breaking judges were announced and your girl’s name was not on the slides. Eiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

What do you mean I chaired 8 strenuous in rounds to not break. Wahala be like bicycle… it looks like my village people worked really hard for this one. In fact, they worked harder than I did from the look of things. Ah my poor heart. How much more disappointment can you take? But fret not, for the CAP team had plans. They were messing with a large number of us. But my people, we don’t play with these things ok? Our names were not on the slides because we didn’t fill the appropriate number of feedback the CAP wanted. Who plays with a girl’s third break at WUDC so cruelly because of feedback? Aaahhhh. My people don’t do that! They had created a separate special slide for all us judges who fell into that category. So yeah, we broke but they needed us to complete feedback. If you are confused at this point, the short and the long is, I got my third WUDC break at Vietnam WUDC. And your girl went on to judge another grand final. On periodt! Yep two open grand finals in a row. And I served on equity again as well.

Right at Vietnan I told myself 2026 is the last year I would apply for WUDC CAP. I mean I am not getting any younger (hahaha) but for real, I was poised to complete university in a year. What is the point? So, I started my preparation to apply for the WUDC CAP position on January 12th, 2024, at 2PM sharp.

Yes, I started the application 10 months before it was opened. Don’t judge me. In fact, I would say I started this application two years before the 2026 application was opened because remember Vietnam was a learning lesson and Panama came with hope but also turned out to be another learning lesson. But yes, 10 months of preparation brings us to today. Me, Selorme, a WUDC DCA, kikikikiki. Anyway, so I prepared for the moment the application form was released. I picked it up and started filling it with the information I had already prepared since January. When I was emailed to prepare for an interview, I still didn’t get my hopes up. I mean I was interviewed for EUDC and Panama WUDC and still didn’t get the position so why put myself through the torture that comes with having high expectations again? When the dates for the dates for WUDC DCA announcements were postponed I didn’t even know. A friend texted and asked if I had seen that the dates were postponed. That’s when I realized. So yes, the torture period was extended lol. I spent the last week to announcements preparing myself for whatever may come. Joy when I get an acceptance email and a few minutes of teas when I get a rejection. As a girl who preps herself, I had to prepare for any outcome lol.

On that faithful evening when I received the email, I honestly panicked. Well, what if it was a rejection? Three years in a row? Come on! Even you will be panicking. One thing about me, I hate notifications, so I turn off all the notifications for almost all my applications except my mail. Why? Important things could come through ok? I peeked at the notification and saw excited. Eerm, why would they be excited if I was rejected? Ah these people. I now read the rest only from the notifications and saw the word ‘successful’. excited? successful? Wait, those words could only mean that I got in. I was laying in bed. Girlllllllll, I literally jumped out of my bed barefoot and run out of the room. It was on the corridors that I opened the complete email and read it. My people, I got in. Several years of rejections and achievements, 10 months of prep for one application and I got in. I even got sick after receiving the news. Worse off, my exams were scheduled for that same week. So yes, I was happy, I was sick, I was stressed, and I was relieved, I guess. But that is definitely the most chaotic my emotions have ever been.

What’s the moral of this story? Don’t give up! Don’t you ever dare give up! The years will be good and bad. You’ll have your highs and your lows. You’ll survive. Trust me! You will. Four years after starting debate, I finally got the position I’ve always wanted to use to give back to the community. Had I given up after the first time or the second time, I wouldn’t have gotten it. So, no matter how bad it’s going, wake up, strategize and don’t give up!

P.S:

I didn’t talk about the people who always doubted me, who said I got my achievements because of affirmative action and not because I worked hard for them because those people are irrelevant. They are the least important part of your or my story. Don’t let their hate or jealousy hold you back, ever!

Go out there and live your best life!