For the first time in program history, Texas Tech\u2019s Arabic Debate Team achieved fourth place in the semifinals of this year\u2019s U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship in New York.<\/p>\n
Before the competition began on Sept. 26, Mohammed Ali Alabdali, the team\u2019s second speaker, knew for a fact they were making history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Rula since even before the first round, \u2018Listen, I promise you, you have my word, we’re gonna make it to the semifinal,\u2019\u201d Alabdali said. \u201cShe said we\u2019ve never done that in the history of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n
This marks the fifth time Tech\u2019s Arabic Debate Team has competed in the USADC. However, this was the first time Tech has made a semifinals placement, achieving fourth place behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and Harvard University.<\/p>\n
Alabdali, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major from Baghdad, Iraq, said his confidence in their chances came from his faith in the team\u2019s ability to stand alongside their prestigious opponents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t feel like I was competing against Ivy Leagues because I never thought I was an underdog in that situation,\u201d Alabdali said. \u201cI always thought I was just as good as they are, I’m just as smart as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Texas Tech Arabic debate team member Mohammed Ali Alabdali holds his medal from the U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship in Urbanovsky Park Oct. 22, 2025.<\/p>\n
Jake Cooper<\/p>\n
Hosting over 34 institutions, the USADC invites college teams to debate numerous topics affecting the U.S. including artificial intelligence, economics and education. Teams are judged round by round on their ability to effectively convey their arguments in the Arabic language.<\/p>\n
After competing against colleges such as Duke University and the University of Chicago, Abdulkader Almosa, a Tech alumnus who graduated in May but remained involved with the team as the first speaker, said hearing their names nominated for semifinals was a surreal moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn all of Texas Tech history, they never made it past the second round,\u201d Almosa said. \u201cSo, us making the third round was a big deal in itself, but then making it to semifinals was an even crazier thing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rula Al-Hmoud, a senior lecturer in Arabic and leader of the Arabic Debate Program, coached the team alongside her assistant, Sanaa Naciri.<\/p>\n
Hearing Tech\u2019s semifinal nomination, Al-Hmoud said she was simultaneously ecstatic and in disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost my voice. That’s how loud (I was) screaming,\u201d Al-Hmoud said. \u201cI was like, \u2018What? I cannot believe it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Almosa said many other public universities competed along with their private counterparts. It was this sheer number that made Tech\u2019s nomination even more impactful.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just really amazing to see how Texas Tech, of all the public universities in the United States that competed, we\u2019re the only one that made it to the semifinal,\u201d Almosa said. \u201cI’m just really proud to be able to represent the university through this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The competition pits teams of three against each other, with a first, second and third speaker each arguing different points during the debate. With this in mind, the trio rigorously trained their skills and knowledge in a variety of subjects to decide who and when someone would speak.<\/p>\n
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Tech Arabic Debate Team members Abdulkader Almosa, left, Mohammed Ali Alabdali, middle, and Hussam Al-Haj, right, sit at their table preparing for a rebuttal against their opponents during the U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship on Sept. 26.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Rula Al-Hmoud<\/p>\n
Almosa said their practices revealed each member\u2019s individual advantages and disadvantages. Once they understood their strong suits, they came up with a strategy that elevated their abilities, leading to the placement.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we figured out the pros and cons and each of our strengths and weaknesses, we were able to put a good game plan together,\u201d Almosa said.<\/p>\n
He also said each member brought unique perspectives and strengths, giving the team a diverse repertoire to rely on during the championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlabdali is crazy good at providing evidence, whether it’s historical or economical evidence. Since I have a background in health sciences, I would provide a medical and social perspective,\u201d Almosa said. \u201c \u2026 Hussam, who’s our third speaker, is very good with politics and engineering, so he was able to bring those perspectives, and at the same time he’s really good at rebuttals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hussam Al-Haj, a third-year architecture major from Sanaa, Yemen, and the third speaker in the debate, said the team\u2019s placement among private Ivy League universities represents a shift in quality across Tech, not just in Arabic or debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are getting better,\u201d Al-Haj said. \u201c \u2026 Football, basketball, academic-wise, research. I feel like that did affect us in a way that made us (want to) go there. Texas Tech as a community has been thriving, and we just went on that wave with Texas Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n
After returning to Lubbock, Alabdali said the team\u2019s historic placement came not just from their individual skills, but from their ability to work as a cohesive team, no matter the circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re all working together and we’re all humble and just like working together and being supportive of each other,\u201d Alabdali said. \u201cIf somebody does good, we support them. If somebody does not so good, we support them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in program history, Texas Tech\u2019s Arabic Debate Team achieved fourth place in the semifinals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1837,168,170,169],"class_list":["post-19557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lavida","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}