Meet Our Coaches

Bringing championship experience and strategic expertise to every class.

Jeff Tsai

Head Coach, Founder of GMA​
Coach Tsai is an experienced debate educator with nine years of coaching across high school and university levels. With academic training in English, International Relations, and Translation, as well as international study experience in the Philippines. His work spans coaching, adjudication, and leadership in major debate communities across Asia.
  • UADC Best EFL Speaker
  • Korea Intervarsity Debate Champion
  • Macau East Asian Cup Grand Finalist
  • Three Championship titles at Taiwan international opens
  • Three Grand Final appearances at Taiwan international opens
  • Former President of the Taiwan Debate Union
  • Head Coach of Taiwan’s WSDC National Team
  • Core Adjudicator at the Northeast Asia Open
  • Judge for UADC EFL Grand Final
  • Judge for ASDC Novice Grand Final

Zoe Saelim

Senior Coach
Coach Saelim is an experienced English Parliamentary Debate coach since 2016, training university teams, Taiwan WSDC, and Grey Matter Academy. She holds a PhD in Philosophy from Fu Jen Catholic University and serves as chair judge in local and international tournaments.
  • 2017, 2020-2022 Novice Cup Core Adjudication Panel
  • 2016, 2019 North East Asia Open breaking judge
  • 2017-2021 WSDC Team Taiwan coach

Ted Chang

Senior Coach
Coach Chang is a former WUDC top 10 best speaker and has coached teams that have reached the far out-rounds or won at the Oxbridge finals day, WSDC, and other top international schools tournaments. Having experience that spans many circuits, he brings with him a wide-range of experience and expertise, as well as an understanding of how to find your voice within debating.
  • Open Quarter-Finalist & 11th Best Speaker, WUDC 2023 (BP)
  • Open Octo-Finalist & 9th Best Speaker, WUDC 2022 (BP)
  • Quarter-Finalist, EUDC 2022 (BP)
  • Partial Octo-Finalist, EUDC 2023 (BP)
  • Open Semi-Finalist, UNSW Mini Open (Easters) 2020 (Australs)
  • Champion & 5th Best Speaker, China WSDC 2019 (WS)
  • Quarter-Finalist, Asian World Schools Debating Championship 2019 (WS)
  • Grand-Finalist & 5th Best Speaker, China Nations Schools Debating Championship 2018 (WS)

Nicole Cheng

Senior Coach
Coach Cheng is an experienced debater who has broken at major Asian, Northeast Asian, and British tournaments. She has also coached multiple debate institutions for five years and served as a core adjudicator at numerous local tournaments. Having completed her MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in London, she is committed to integrating sound pedagogical principles into her debate training.
  • Open Semifinalist, Warwick Open 2025 (BP)
  • ESL Champion, Cambridge IV 2024 (BP)
  • Grand Finalist, Taipei Debate Open 2024 (BP)
  • ESL Quarters, United Asians Debating Championship 2023
  • Grand Finalist, Luzon Intervarsity 2022 (BP)
  • Silver Final Judge, Inner Temple IV 2025 (BP)
  • Gold Final Judge, King’s Novices 2024 (BP)
  • Grand Final Judge & Overall best adjudicator, HUFS IV 2023 (AP)
  • Breaking Adjudicator, Belgrade WSDC 2022
  • Adjcore, Fuhsing Debate Open 2023 (WS)
  • Adjcore, Strait Debate Open 2023 (BP)
  • Adjcore, I&T Debate Open 2023 (BP)
  • Adjcore, IBSC Debate Open 2023 (WS)
  • Adjcore, Chingshin Debate Open 2023 (AP)

Anton Abiera

Associate Coach
Coach Abiera is a Taiwan Ministry of Education (MOE) Scholarship awardee currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Active in competitive debating since 2015, he has competed internationally across Asia, Europe, and North America in British Parliamentary, Asians, and Worlds formats. Since 2021, Anton has coached teams and served as an independent adjudicator, chairing rounds at multiple international tournaments.
  • Finalist & Overall best speaker, Formosa BP Open 2024
  • Champion & 4th best speaker, Cambridge Schools Southeast Asia 2021
  • Champion, Cambridge Schools’ Final’s Day 2022
  • Champion, Manchester Schools 2022
  • Final panelist & 2nd best judge, Taiwan Schools Debate Challenge 2023

Enzo Wu

Associate Coach
Coach Enzo is currently an undergraduate reading for a degree in Human Sciences at the University of Oxford. He has coached with GMA for 2 years now and has experience in British Parliamentary and World Schools debating since 2019. He continues to compete in university debating competitions and has judged at schools competitions run by the Oxford Union.
  • Open Champion, Asia World Schools Debate Open 2021
  • Silver Champion, Imperial Novices BP 2025
  • Open Champion, Debate A+ & Peitho International Open 2023
  • Grand-Finalist, WOLCE ProAm 2021 (BP)
  • Champion, Chingshin English Debate Challenge 2022 (WS)
  • Open Grand-Finalist, Taiwan Schools Debate Challenge 2023
  • Novice Champion, Novice Finals Best Speaker & Novice 4th Best Speaker, Fuhsing Debate Open 2021 (AP)
  • Open Octofinalist, Diliman Schools BP 2023
  • Open Quarter-Finalist, Nanyang Technological University Pro Ams 2021 (BP)
  • Junior Semi-Finalist, Taiwan Schools Debate Challenge 2020 (WS)
  • Quarter-Finalist, Taiwan Junior Debate Challenge 2019 (WS)

Laurie Dao

Associate Coach
Coach Dao is an experienced debater who brings a technical perspective to the activity. She actively contributes to debating in Taiwan and Vietnam, having made top speaker at Formosa BP Open and served as adjudication core for several tournaments in both circuits. She holds a NTU degree in Economics and is an AI Engineer by profeession. She applies the logical frameworks as a data scientist to her coaching by sharping students structured, analytical reasoning.
  • Grand Finalist, Taipei Debate Open 2024
  • EFL Quarterfinalist, United Asian Debating Championship 2022
  • Overall Best Apeaker, Formosa BP Open 2024
  • Pre-Quarterfinalist, 7th EFL Best Speaker, North-East Asian Debate Championship 2023
  • Octofinalist, 12th EFL Best Speaker, North-East Asian Debate Championship 2021
  • Pre-Quarterfinals Judge, ICUT 2024
  • 5th Best Adjudicator, Vietnam University Debating Championship 2022
  • Quarter Final Chair, Vietnam National Schools Debating Championship 2023
    Grand final chair, Oxford East Asia School 2022
  • Semifinals Judge, Vietnam Universities Debating Championship 2022
  • Adjcore, Chingshin Debate Open 2023
  • Adjcore, Vietnam Women and Queer Open 2023
  • Adjcore, Hanoi Law University Debate Open 2023
  • Adjcore, Wego Debate Open 2025
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