League History

More than seventy years of speech and debate in the Washington area, and the people who built the league.

Our story

The Washington Area Speech and Debate League began in 1952 as the Washington-area unit of the National Catholic Forensic League. It was first known as the Washington Catholic Forensic League (WCFL), and for most of its history as the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensic League (WACFL), joining the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington. It took its current name for the 2025–26 season. From the start it was open to every school, public and private, and that remains true today.

Generations of students have competed in its monthly Saturday tournaments and its March championship, MetroFinals. Its alumni include lawyers, teachers, public servants and many of today’s coaches. The league has always been run by volunteers, coaches who gave their weekends so that students could find their voices.

Two students celebrating with their medals at a WASDL tournament

Timeline

Founding years

1951
The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) is founded.
1952
The Washington Catholic Forensic League (WCFL) is founded as the Washington-area unit of the NCFL, open to public and private schools alike.
1950s
Harry Klugle of Wheaton High School and then Daniel S. Masterson Jr. lead the league as President. Masterson also serves as Washington Diocesan Director and as President of the NCFL.
1974
The league hosts the NCFL Grand National Tournament for the first time.

Building the league

1978
The league organizes into two dioceses, the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, each with its own Diocesan Director, and becomes the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensic League (WACFL). Eleanor Wright of Yorktown High School becomes President, and Masterson becomes the league’s first President Emeritus.
1983
Masterson’s colleagues at the Food and Drug Administration make a gift to the league in his memory, and the coaches create the Daniel S. Masterson Jr. Service Award. Eleanor Wright is its first recipient. Lincoln-Douglas Debate is run as part of Student Congress until 1987.
Mid-1980s
The league reaches out to schools across its outer boundaries, including the Shenandoah Valley, growing toward more than fifty member schools.
1987
Lincoln-Douglas Debate becomes its own division, with its own Vice President.
1990
Roland Burdett of Woodbridge High School becomes President, and Eleanor Wright becomes President Emeritus.
1996
Judy Seward of Centreville High School becomes President. The league hosts the NCFL Grand National Tournament.

A new century

2002
Coaches name the President’s Award the Judy L. Seward Sweepstakes Award and create the Eleanor E. Wright Spirit of Competition Award. Kevin Briscoe is elected President.
2003
Led by Roland Burdett, the league hosts the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Arlington over Memorial Day weekend, the vision Eleanor Wright and Judy Seward championed.
2006
Roberta Hyland is elected President. In the fall, Public Forum Debate becomes a league event, with its own Vice President.
2010
Tournament registration moves online to Tabroom.com.
2011
The league hosts the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Washington, D.C.
2018
The league hosts the NCFL Grand National Tournament.

Today

2020–21
When the COVID-19 pandemic closes schools, the league moves every tournament online and keeps students competing. In 2021 it serves as headquarters for the NCFL’s online Grand National Tournament.
2022
The league hosts the NCFL Grand National Tournament. Jim Dunning of Broad Run High School becomes President.
2023
Mark Deaton of Westfield High School becomes President.
2025–26
The league takes its new name: the Washington Area Speech and Debate League (WASDL).

The people behind our awards

The league’s highest honors carry the names of three leaders who shaped it. Each award reflects what its namesake cared about most.

Daniel S. Masterson Jr.

Awards in his name

Masterson Sweepstakes Award
Masterson Service Award

“Put the goals of forensic competition above that of winning.”
The Masterson Service Award

A Washington native and graduate of Gonzaga College High School, Dan Masterson earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry at Georgetown University and spent more than two decades as a research chemist at the Food and Drug Administration. Alongside that career he coached debate from 1959 until his death, at Ursuline Academy in Bethesda, Georgetown Prep, and later St. John’s College High School and Immaculata High School. He led the league as President and Washington Diocesan Director until 1978, became its first President Emeritus, served as President of the National Catholic Forensic League, and hosted the finals of national speech and debate contests in Washington.

About the awards

The Masterson Sweepstakes Award is the league’s top school honor, the overall award of the sweepstakes standings, earned by a school’s results across every event. After his death, his FDA colleagues made a gift to the league, and the coaches used it to create the Masterson Service Award for a coach or judge who has been a positive influence on students at their own school and at others. Both honor a leader who built the league for every school, not just his own. See every Masterson Service Award winner.

Eleanor E. Wright

Award in her name

Eleanor E. Wright Spirit of Competition Award

“She was always there, every weekend, from start to finish.”
Roland Burdett, League Secretary-Treasurer

Eleanor Wright was the librarian at Yorktown High School for 36 years and worked with its speech and debate team for more than 30. She led the league as President from 1978 to 1990 and served as President Emeritus until 2003. Nationally, she was President of the National Catholic Forensic League from 1988 to 1990, sat on its board for eight years, ran its national Policy and Sweepstakes tab rooms for nearly two decades, attended thirty Grand National Tournaments and hosted two of them. In the mid-1980s she brought schools from the league’s outer reaches, including the Shenandoah Valley, into competition, helping the league grow to more than fifty schools.

She was the first recipient of the Masterson Service Award and chaired its selection committee from 1984 to 2002. She joined the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame and was named Virginia Speech Coach of the Year. In the tab room she was famous for fairness: she would not even look at how her own students were doing, so her judgment stayed clear. She reminded everyone that forensics was for the kids and that it was supposed to be fun. At her family’s request, the league created a memorial fund in her name to give books to member schools’ libraries.

About the award

The Spirit of Competition Award goes to every student who competes at all of the season’s preliminary tournaments and MetroFinals in their event. Coaches first proposed it in 2002 as the “Iron Person Award,” then named it for the coach who never missed a tournament.

Judy L. Seward

Award in her name

Judy L. Seward Sweepstakes Award

“We enforce all the rules on all the teams in the same way all the time.”
Judy Seward, League President

Judy Seward built a brand-new team at Centreville High School and coached there for 13 years, working with nearly 400 students. She rose through the league as Tournament Director, Vice President for Speech (1994–1996) and President (1996–2001), and served as the league’s Arlington Diocesan Director. She received the Masterson Service Award in 1994. At one point she led three regional speech and debate organizations at the same time.

Fairness was her hallmark. She wrote the league’s first booklet of instructions for new judges, was the first to bring computers into the tab room to make pairings fairer, and readily stepped in to host tournaments when others could not, leaving candy for the teachers whose classrooms were used, a tradition many host schools still follow. With Eleanor Wright, she persuaded the league that it could host the 2003 NCFL Grand National Tournament.

About the award

The Seward Sweepstakes Award, also called the President’s Award, recognizes the top three schools across all league events in a season, fitting for a President who championed every event and every school. Coaches voted to give it her name in 2002.

Past presidents

Early yearsHarry Klugle (Wheaton High School)
Until 1978Daniel S. Masterson Jr. (Regina College High School)
1978 – 1990Eleanor E. Wright (Yorktown High School)
1990 – 1996Roland E. Burdett III (Woodbridge High School)
1996 – 2001Judy L. Seward (Centreville High School)
2001 – 2002Eleanor Wright and Roland Burdett, acting together
2002 – 2006Kevin Briscoe (Yorktown High School)
2006 – 2022Roberta Hyland (Lake Braddock Secondary School)
2022 – 2023Jim Dunning (Broad Run High School)
2023 – presentMark Deaton (Westfield High School)

Presidents Emeritus: Daniel S. Masterson Jr. (1978–1983), Eleanor E. Wright (1990–2003) and Jim Dunning.

All past officers and award winners →

Hosting the nation

The league has welcomed the NCFL Grand National Tournament to the Washington area seven times, and in 2021 it served as headquarters for the NCFL’s online Nationals.

1974Grand Nationals
1996Grand Nationals
2003Grand Nationals
2011Grand Nationals
2018Grand Nationals
2021Online Nationals headquarters
2022Grand Nationals
2026Grand Nationals

Each tournament brought thousands of students, coaches and judges from across the country over Memorial Day weekend.

The 2003 tournament came in a hard year. The season opened with a tournament cancelled because of the sniper attacks, and the league lost Eleanor Wright, the tournament’s official host. Roland Burdett stepped in to lead the final months of planning, and the league carried out the vision that Eleanor Wright and Judy Seward had championed since 1998.

The pandemic years

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in 2020, President Roberta Hyland and Secretary-Treasurer Roland Burdett moved the league online right away. Tabroom.com’s new online competition tools arrived just in time, and with them the league held every one of its preliminary tournaments in the 2020–21 season.

The league’s tab team took on far more than its own season. It ran all of the Virginia High School League (VHSL) regional tournaments across the state online, then administered Virginia’s VHSL state tournament online as well. In 2021 the league also served as headquarters for the NCFL’s online Grand National Tournament.

Student participation in the league held steady throughout the pandemic.

Two students preparing together at a laptop

Long-serving leaders

The league runs on volunteers. These coaches have given years of service as officers, tournament directors and hosts.

Martha Lee1978 – 2018
Speech and Student Congress Tournament Director; Vice President for Speech (1985–1990); J.W. Robinson Secondary School and W.T. Woodson High School
Ron Richards1983 – 2023
Policy Tournament Director and host, Broad Run High School; Vice President for Policy Debate (2010–2018)
MoreLess
Ron Richards is the “grandfather” of Loudoun County debate. As Loudoun grew and opened a new high school year after year, he worked with each new school’s administration and the county office so that every one started with a speech and debate team. When a new school had no coach available, he coached its team himself to get it started; at Stone Bridge and Freedom, those teams grew from zero to 70 students combined. He secured speech and debate coaching stipends for every Loudoun County public school. He was featured in The Washington Post in 1992, and Broad Run graduate Patton Oswalt praised him on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Duane Carr1984 – 1997
Washington Diocesan Director (1984–1987, 1990–1997); Secretary-Treasurer (1987–1990); Vice President for Lincoln-Douglas Debate (1992–1996); an early Vice President for Student Congress; St. John’s College High School
Theresa Manchey1985 – 2015
Secretary-Treasurer (1990–1998); chair of the Masterson Service Award committee (2003–2015); James Wood High School
Roland E. Burdett III1990 – present
League President (1990–1996); Vice President for Lincoln-Douglas Debate (1996–1998); Secretary-Treasurer since 1998; NCFL President (2004–2006) and NCFL Tournament Director since 2006
Tim Stroud1990 – present
Coach at Thomas A. Edison High School and another Fairfax County school, then Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Briscoe1999 – 2006, 2016 – 2024
Vice President for Student Congress (1999–2002); League President and Arlington Diocesan Director (2002–2006); Public Forum Tournament Director; Vice President for Public Forum Debate (2022–2024)
Duane Hyland2000 – 2021
Vice President for Policy Debate (2000–2010), Student Congress (2011–2014) and Lincoln-Douglas Debate (2016–2020); Student Congress Tournament Director
Jessie Reter-Choate2000 – 2012
Vice President for Speech (2000–2012); Thomas A. Edison and King George High Schools
Roberta Hyland2002 – 2022
Lincoln-Douglas Tournament Director; Vice President for Lincoln-Douglas Debate (2004–2006); League President and Arlington Diocesan Director (2006–2022); NCFL President (2016–2018)
Meghan Nugent Pafumi2003 – present
Speech Tournament Director at Hayfield Secondary School; Vice President for Speech since 2012
Ann Marie Duffy2004 – present
Lincoln-Douglas Tournament Director; Vice President for Lincoln-Douglas Debate (2008–2016); Washington Diocesan Director since 2007; NCFL President (2022–2024); Gonzaga College High School
Sheryl Gusman2005 – present
Tournament host, Dominion High School; Vice President for Student Congress since 2014; Student Congress Tournament Director
Paul Bui2010 – 2020
Lincoln-Douglas Tournament Director and league webmaster
Chuck Ehrman2014 – present
Speech Tournament Director
Jim Dunning2014 – present
Vice President for Public Forum Debate (2018–2022, 2024–2026); League President and Arlington Diocesan Director (2022–2023); Public Forum Tournament Director; President Emeritus
Laurel Taylor2014 – 2024
Policy Tournament Director; Vice President for Policy Debate (2018–2024)
Larry Gusman2016 – present
Lincoln-Douglas, Student Congress and Policy Tournament Director; assistant coach, Dominion High School

Every officer since the league’s early years →

If you competed, coached or judged in WASDL or WACFL, we would love to hear from you. Send us your photos, programs, newsletters and stories about the people on this page.