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Debating is a team sport. To be a successful debater, you have to be a good team player.

It’s often said that ‘There is no I in team’ (conveniently forgetting that there is a ‘me’). Team work is about putting the interests of the team above your own. Your objective as a team member is not to make people listen with awe, admiration or even laughter to your speech; it is to win the debate. So here are some basic principles for team work as a debater, which will help you to win debates together.

• Analyse honestly your own strengths and weaknesses as a debater, and discuss them with your partner(s). Think about how your strengths can balance their weaknesses and vice versa.

• When you’re picking a team, aim for a range of abilities. This post on different types of debaters can help coaches put together the most effective teams: what sort of debater are you?

• When preparing together, make sure you all have more or less equal air time. Don’t be too dominating in discussion; but don’t be too quiet either.

• Divide up the points for your speeches between you clearly and stick to that division. Make sure not to repeat your partner’s points or, worse, contradict them.

• When your partner is speaking, look interested: nod approvingly, make a serious face at the serious points, shake your head when they condemn something, laugh when they make a joke. This will be encouraging for them, and may also subliminally influence the judge.

• Have a stack of index cards on the table in front of you during a debate. If, while your partner is speaking, they need a key fact, or you can see a useful point they could make, write them a note on a card and pass it to them. (Speaking to your partner while they are speaking is not allowed, but passing notes is.)

• Always congratulate your partner after a speech, however it has gone. Use back slaps / high fives / hugs as appropriate. Analysis of what went wrong can wait till later.

Learning how to be a model team player is an essential skill for debating. And also for life.