Breaking New
Ground for Debates
We’re a community of experts focused on providing students with every tool they need to succeed as leaders and critical thinkers of the future.
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We train tomorrow’s leaders at Break Debate. We aim to lay the groundwork for critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills shaping the next generation.
Break Debate provides personalized debate coaching using our innovative GenDebate curriculum, designed to meet students where they are and foster both critical thinking and leadership skills. We transform the complexities of debate into a structured and supportive learning experience, guiding students to excel in competition and beyond.
Meet our Founders
As a two-time TOC qualifier, Vikrant Maan saw the challenge of learning debate up close.
For many students, debate often lacks the structured guidance found in traditional academic subjects, leaving them to navigate the complexities of competitive debate largely on their own. He knew that debate, with its intricate argumentation and fast-paced rounds, required more than just raw talent—it needed structure, guidance, and support.
Too often, students are left to teach themselves without a roadmap, and this lack of direction can make success feel out of reach. Vikrant envisioned a debate program that would change this experience, giving students the support system they needed to not only compete but thrive.
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As a CEDA quarterfinalist, Brett Cryan also navigated the highs and lows of competitive debate and co-founded Break Debate to develop this mission.
He realized that debate could be transformed from an intimidating and unstructured activity into a learning experience that mirrors the best of academic teaching—organized, thoughtful, and tailored to the needs of each individual student.
Brett rejected the idea of cookie-cutter models, where every student learns the same way. Instead, developed a unique curriculum called GenDebate, based on research-driven learning techniques to meet students where they are, offering innovative methods that adapt to their individual strengths and weaknesses.
Our Strategy. Your Success.
A Budding
Community
Our community is at the heart of our success. Our students work collaboratively, form friendships, and help each other even after their time in debate circles ends.
Personalised
Tutoring
We offer personalized debate tutoring that understands how a student approaches a topic. We focus on their strengths, goals, and development.
A Track Record of Excellence
Our students have debated and won against the best debate competitors in the U.S. We’ve seen Top 10 placements in over 100 tournaments.
Top Notch Research
& Evidence
Our topic preparation team combines the best research and evidence to support your arguments. We arm you with the latest knowledge that you need for success.
Meet the Team Making Break Debate
Whether you want to excel in Lincoln-Douglas or Public Forum debates, we have an expert who can help you excel. We’re a team of passionate debaters who love to train students to excel in every arena they face.
Bryce Sheffield
Bryce is a policy debater at the University of Houston with experience in both K and Policy. He qualified for the NDT as a freshman and went 4-4, winning the ADA spring tournament in JV. He focuses on policy research, emphasizing responses to the K and the politics DA.
He has coached three teams to bids in PF and finals at Glenbrooks, as well as helping multiple LD teams break at national tournaments.
Enya Pinjani
Enya is a 2023 graduate of Southlake Carroll, Texas, who has qualified for TOC twice and reached the elimination rounds in her senior year. She won the Scarsdale Invitational, was a finalist at Strake Jesuit, and was a top speaker at Apple Valley, Mid-America Cup, and Greenhill.
Enya was her school's first female LD debater to qualify for TOC. She specializes in Policy, Theory, Framework, and K debate and coaches underprivileged debaters to qualify for TFA State and national tournament eliminations.
Vishnu Nataraja
Vishnu debated LD for four years at Dulles High School, qualifying for the TOC his senior year with 10 bids. He won the Mid-America Cup, reached the finals at the University of Houston, and made the TOC and Glenbrooks semifinals.
Vishnu also reached late eliminations at St. Marks, Harvard, Strake Jesuit, and Greenhill. His primary focus is on theory and philosophy arguments, and he enjoys developing creative debate strategies.
Vikrant Maan
Vikrant co-founded Break after a successful debate career at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. With four years of experience, he became known for presenting arguments that focused on theory, philosophy, and critical thinking. He earned five career bids and qualified for the Tournament of Champions twice. His achievements include reaching the finals at Blake, semifinals at Florida Blue Key and Glenbrooks, and quarterfinals at Apple Valley. Beyond his personal debate success, Vikrant is passionate about teaching and mentoring. He has coached for various non-profits and is an assistant LD coach at Lexington High School.
Ella Zhang
Ella competed in Public Forum debate for four years at Cary Academy, earning 11 TOC bids and being ranked the 3rd PF team in the nation. She was invited to 8 round robins, reaching the semifinals at Yale and the Harvard Round Robin and quarterfinals at UK and Durham. Ella enjoys lay and K debate and consistently breaks into deep-out rounds at various tournaments.
Brett Cryan
Brett is the co-founder of Break. As a debater, he attended the quarterfinals of CEDA, Kentucky, and several high school tournaments. He likes to teach Policy and K arguments.
As a coach, his students have earned a cumulative 100+ bids, with 40+ students qualifying for the TOC.
Agastya Shridharan
Agastya competed in LD debate for four years at Scripps Ranch High, specializing in critical, philosophical, and creative strategies. He has earned 12 career bids and has qualified for the TOC three times, reaching Double Octo-finals twice.
Notable wins include the Harvard Round Robin, Duke Invitational, and Woodward National. Agastya was also the first speaker at Harvard International (twice), Stanford Invitational, and Harvard Westlake Debate. He founded the LD program at his high school and was a board member of PepTalk Debate, supporting 80+ “small-school” debaters.
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Sachin Aggarwal
Sachin is a freshman at Emory and a coach for Break. He debated at Durham Academy for four years and mastered many arguments. He’s earned five TOC bids, reached the semifinals at Bronx and Yale, and won the Newman Invitational.
Sachin's favorite arguments include small affirmatives, PICs, and random kritiks. He has coached many students and is eager to help more at Break.
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Peregrine Beckett
Peregrine has coached students to win the Tournament of Champions, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and numerous other major competitions.
As a competitor, Peregrine placed 3rd in the United States in both high school and college and spent time ranked 1st in the nation.
He has championed 8 tournaments, including the Mid America Cup, was the top preliminary speaker at Harvard, and reached finals of both Harvard and Yale.
Ike Song
Ike debated policy for 4 years at Georgetown Day School, reading kritiks for the first three years and plans and policy-style arguments for his senior year.
He won 9 bids in high school and is now a freshman debating at Emory University. He also coaches Northview High School and enjoys theory around condo and competition, impact turns, and technical K debating.
Chan Park
Chan is a sophomore who debates at Emory. He competed in LD for four years in high school, earning four bids and qualifying for the TOC in his junior and senior years.
Chan employs diverse arguments, including theory and kritik, and has a special fondness for process counterplans. Outside of debate, he enjoys building mechanical keyboards and playing video games.
Fiona Hu
Fiona debated for four years at Cary Academy and earned 12 TOC bids (7 gold, 5 silver). Last year, she reached the semifinals at Yale, the Harvard Round Robin, and Laird Lewis, and octofinals at Durham and GMU while breaking at Glenbrooks, Emory, and Harvard.
This year, she championed GMU, quarterfinaled UK and Durham, and octofinaled Harvard and Glenbrooks. Specializing in K's and lay debates, Fiona is excited to join Break Debate and meet everyone!
Aidan Etkin
Aidan did policy debate in high school, specializing in “techy” Ks like cap, race IR, etc. He went positive at the TOC his junior year as a debater and received coaches’ poll votes.
As a coach, he has got his team to the TOC quarters and helped multiple other debaters win bid rounds/ reach deep eliminations. His strengths as a coach lie in his file production, ability to teach meta-level concepts like judge instruction and strategic vision, and helping debaters structure and prioritize arguments.
Tuyen Le
Tuyen competed in LD for three years in high school and was a policy debater at the University of Houston (’21-’23), winning JV ADA and JV/Novice Nationals her freshman year.
Now a freelance consultant and assistant coach at Seven Lakes HS, she has coached students who reached deep elimination rounds at major tournaments, including the TOC quarterfinals. Tuyen specializes in policy-style arguments with case-heavy strategies. Outside of debate, she is a published researcher focused on post-colonial theory and international relations.
Adarsh Agrawal
Adarsh was a policy debater in high school, and he qualified for the TOC twice and NSDA nationals, clearing both and reaching the UIL state quarterfinals twice. Currently, he debates in USC on scholarship, where he has qualified for the NDT and cleared at major tournaments, reading various arguments.
As an LD coach, Adarsh has helped students win top speaker awards at Harvard and Berkeley, with his students earning 18 bids.
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Joe Rhee
Joe Rhee is a junior at Vanderbilt majoring in Human and Organizational Development, with minors in Data Science and Asian American studies.
Joe Rhee, a TOC Octofinalist and NDCA 2nd Speaker, achieved notable debate successes, including winning the Heritage Hall Invitational and reaching the MAC finals in college. As a coach at Montgomery Bell Academy, his teams have excelled at the TOC, with deep expertise in identity-based kritiks, kritik answers, and affirmative writing rooted in Asian studies, antiblackness, queer theory, and performance literature.
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Aaron Kim
Aaron is a third year debater at Emory University. In high school, Aaron was in multiple late elimination rounds in national circuit tournaments, receiving 4 bids to the Tournament of Champions and has coached multiple teams since his graduation. Outside of debate, he enjoys playing basketball and chess.
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Shreeram Modi
Shreeram is a junior at NYU and did LD for 3 years at Lynbrook. He has won tournaments as well as multiple speaker awards in college policy and attended the NDT his sophomore year. In high school, he read arguments across the spectrum with a focus on policy style arguments and now mostly reads kritikal arguments.
He is currently an assistant coach at Poly Prep and has led students in LD and CX to top speaker awards, bids, and tournament victories at tournaments including NDCA, UMich, and the Glenbrooks. His coaching interests are in policy and kritikal arguments.
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Bodhi Rosen
Bodhi is a 2024 James Bowie, Texas, graduate who qualified for TOC in his senior year, achieving four bids. He won and received the first speaker at Strake, Semied Lexington, and quartered Harvard.
Bodhi received the TFA scholarship his senior year and appreciates helping financially underprivileged debaters get success on the circuit. He specializes in Phil and K debate, and loves talking about philosophy and theology.
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Bryce Sheffield
Bryce is a policy debater at the University of Houston with experience in both K and Policy. He qualified for the NDT as a freshman and went 4-4, winning the ADA spring tournament in JV. He focuses on policy research, emphasizing responses to the K and the politics DA.
He has coached three teams to bids in PF and finals at Glenbrooks, as well as helping multiple LD teams break at national tournaments.
Enya Pinjani
Enya is a 2023 graduate of Southlake Carroll, Texas, who has qualified for TOC twice and reached the elimination rounds in her senior year. She won the Scarsdale Invitational, was a finalist at Strake Jesuit, and was a top speaker at Apple Valley, Mid-America Cup, and Greenhill.
Enya was her school's first female LD debater to qualify for TOC. She specializes in Policy, Theory, Framework, and K debate and coaches underprivileged debaters to qualify for TFA State and national tournament eliminations.
Vishnu Nataraja
Vishnu debated LD for four years at Dulles High School, qualifying for the TOC his senior year with 10 bids. He won the Mid-America Cup, reached the finals at the University of Houston, and made the TOC and Glenbrooks semifinals.
Vishnu also reached late eliminations at St. Marks, Harvard, Strake Jesuit, and Greenhill. His primary focus is on theory and philosophy arguments, and he enjoys developing creative debate strategies.
Vikrant Maan
Vikrant co-founded Break after a successful debate career at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. With four years of experience, he became known for presenting arguments that focused on theory, philosophy, and critical thinking. He earned five career bids and qualified for the Tournament of Champions twice. His achievements include reaching the finals at Blake, semifinals at Florida Blue Key and Glenbrooks, and quarterfinals at Apple Valley. Beyond his personal debate success, Vikrant is passionate about teaching and mentoring. He has coached for various non-profits and is an assistant LD coach at Lexington High School.
Ella Zhang
Ella competed in Public Forum debate for four years at Cary Academy, earning 11 TOC bids and being ranked the 3rd PF team in the nation. She was invited to 8 round robins, reaching the semifinals at Yale and the Harvard Round Robin and quarterfinals at UK and Durham. Ella enjoys lay and K debate and consistently breaks into deep-out rounds at various tournaments.
Brett Cryan
Brett is the co-founder of Break. As a debater, he attended the quarterfinals of CEDA, Kentucky, and several high school tournaments. He likes to teach Policy and K arguments.
As a coach, his students have earned a cumulative 100+ bids, with 40+ students qualifying for the TOC.
Agastya Sridharan
Agastya competed in LD debate for four years at Scripps Ranch High, specializing in critical, philosophical, and creative strategies. He has earned 12 career bids and has qualified for the TOC three times, reaching Double Octo-finals twice.
Notable wins include the Harvard Round Robin, Duke Invitational, and Woodward National. Agastya was also the first speaker at Harvard International (twice), Stanford Invitational, and Harvard Westlake Debate. He founded the LD program at his high school and was a board member of PepTalk Debate, supporting 80+ “small-school” debaters.
Sachin Aggarwal
Sachin is a freshman at Emory and a coach for Break. He debated at Durham Academy for four years and mastered many arguments. He’s earned five TOC bids, reached the semifinals at Bronx and Yale, and won the Newman Invitational.
Sachin's favorite arguments include small affirmatives, PICs, and random kritiks. He has coached many students and is eager to help more at Break.
Peregrine Beckett
Peregrine has coached students to win the Tournament of Champions, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and numerous other major competitions.
As a competitor, Peregrine placed 3rd in the United States in both high school and college and spent time ranked 1st in the nation.
He has championed 8 tournaments, including the Mid America Cup, was the top preliminary speaker at Harvard, and reached finals of both Harvard and Yale.
Ike Song
Ike debated policy for 4 years at Georgetown Day School, reading kritiks for the first three years and plans and policy-style arguments for his senior year.
He won 9 bids in high school and is now a freshman debating at Emory University. He also coaches Northview High School and enjoys theory around condo and competition, impact turns, and technical K debating.
Chan Park
Chan is a sophomore who debates at Emory. He competed in LD for four years in high school, earning four bids and qualifying for the TOC in his junior and senior years.
Chan employs diverse arguments, including theory and kritik, and has a special fondness for process counterplans. Outside of debate, he enjoys building mechanical keyboards and playing video games.
Fiona Hu
Fiona debated for four years at Cary Academy and earned 12 TOC bids (7 gold, 5 silver). Last year, she reached the semifinals at Yale, the Harvard Round Robin, and Laird Lewis, and octofinals at Durham and GMU while breaking at Glenbrooks, Emory, and Harvard.
This year, she championed GMU, quarterfinaled UK and Durham, and octofinaled Harvard and Glenbrooks. Specializing in K's and lay debates, Fiona is excited to join Break Debate and meet everyone!
Aidan Etkin
Aidan did policy debate in high school, specializing in “techy” Ks like cap, race IR, etc. He went positive at the TOC his junior year as a debater and received coaches’ poll votes.
As a coach, he has got his team to the TOC quarters and helped multiple other debaters win bid rounds/ reach deep eliminations. His strengths as a coach lie in his file production, ability to teach meta-level concepts like judge instruction and strategic vision, and helping debaters structure and prioritize arguments.
Tuyen Le
Tuyen competed in LD for three years in high school and was a policy debater at the University of Houston (’21-’23), winning JV ADA and JV/Novice Nationals her freshman year.
Now a freelance consultant and assistant coach at Seven Lakes HS, she has coached students who reached deep elimination rounds at major tournaments, including the TOC quarterfinals. Tuyen specializes in policy-style arguments with case-heavy strategies. Outside of debate, she is a published researcher focused on post-colonial theory and international relations.
Adarsh Agrawal
Adarsh was a policy debater in high school, and he qualified for the TOC twice and NSDA nationals, clearing both and reaching the UIL state quarterfinals twice. Currently, he debates in USC on scholarship, where he has qualified for the NDT and cleared at major tournaments, reading various arguments.
As an LD coach, Adarsh has helped students win top speaker awards at Harvard and Berkeley, with his students earning 18 bids.
Joe Rhee
Joe Rhee is a junior at Vanderbilt majoring in Human and Organizational Development, with minors in Data Science and Asian American studies.
Joe Rhee, a TOC Octofinalist and NDCA 2nd Speaker, achieved notable debate successes, including winning the Heritage Hall Invitational and reaching the MAC finals in college. As a coach at Montgomery Bell Academy, his teams have excelled at the TOC, with deep expertise in identity-based kritiks, kritik answers, and affirmative writing rooted in Asian studies, antiblackness, queer theory, and performance literature.
Aaron Kim
Aaron is a third year debater at Emory University. In high school, Aaron was in multiple late elimination rounds in national circuit tournaments, receiving 4 bids to the Tournament of Champions and has coached multiple teams since his graduation. Outside of debate, he enjoys playing basketball and chess.
Shreeram Modi
Shreeram is a junior at NYU and did LD for 3 years at Lynbrook. He has won tournaments as well as multiple speaker awards in college policy and attended the NDT his sophomore year. In high school, he read arguments across the spectrum with a focus on policy style arguments and now mostly reads kritikal arguments.
He is currently an assistant coach at Poly Prep and has led students in LD and CX to top speaker awards, bids, and tournament victories at tournaments including NDCA, UMich, and the Glenbrooks. His coaching interests are in policy and kritikal arguments.
Bodhi Rosen
Bodhi is a 2024 James Bowie, Texas, graduate who qualified for TOC in his senior year, achieving four bids. He won and received the first speaker at Strake, Semied Lexington, and quartered Harvard.
Bodhi received the TFA scholarship his senior year and appreciates helping financially underprivileged debaters get success on the circuit. He specializes in Phil and K debate, and loves talking about philosophy and theology.
Enya Pinjani
Enya is a 2023 graduate of Southlake Carroll, Texas, who has qualified for TOC twice and reached the elimination rounds in her senior year. She won the Scarsdale Invitational, was a finalist at Strake Jesuit, and was a top speaker at Apple Valley, Mid-America Cup, and Greenhill.
Enya was her school's first female LD debater to qualify for TOC. She specializes in Policy, Theory, Framework, and K debate and coaches underprivileged debaters to qualify for TFA State and national tournament eliminations.
Vishnu Nataraja
Vishnu debated LD for four years at Dulles High School, qualifying for the TOC his senior year with 10 bids. He won the Mid-America Cup, reached the finals at the University of Houston, and made the TOC and Glenbrooks semifinals.
Vishnu also reached late eliminations at St. Marks, Harvard, Strake Jesuit, and Greenhill. His primary focus is on theory and philosophy arguments, and he enjoys developing creative debate strategies.
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