by Ben Brown | Nov 10, 2022 | Fiat, From Advanced to National-Class, Negative, Team Policy
As any TPer knows, one of the most satisfying parts of the preparation process is when one stumbles across a golden piece of evidence, thinks of a killshot argument, or anything similarly incredible that looks like it all but guarantees a win against a given case. ...
by Amanda McPhetridge | Apr 25, 2022 | From Advanced to National-Class, Negative, Speaking, Technique
Have you ever witnessed a round where you can practically feel the mic-drop potential after the last speech? That’s what every single round should be like. You should be able to step away and say with a confident smile, “I rest my case.” The balance of defending...
by Jeremiah Mosbey | Apr 20, 2022 | From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, Speaking, Technique
A few weeks ago, I was listening to an old episode of The Tim Ferris Show, in which Ferris was interviewing the actor Hugh Jackman. One of the most interesting concepts that was discussed was the “85% rule for optimal performance,” as Jackman was...
by Justin Marwad | Apr 19, 2022 | From Advanced to National-Class
If you’re a veteran of speech and debate, you’ve probably heard of the exercise of “speaking to your grandmother” that your coach has taught you. Essentially, the idea is to practice speaking your argument from a debate or a concept from a speech in a way so that...
by Amanda McPhetridge | Mar 14, 2022 | Coaching a Club, Debate Partnerships, From Advanced to National-Class, Technique
Last weekend I made a beautiful chocolatey cake. Quite honestly it was fantastic, so my roommates and I ate most of it, then left the rest of it out on the counter. After a few days of the last bit sitting out, it got stale on the outside. What had once been...
by Ben Brown | Jan 19, 2022 | Concept Analysis, From Advanced to National-Class
I’ve found that a major downside of dedicating time to speech and debate instead of some other high school extracurricular is that it’s painful not being able to tell everyone about my amazing escapades in certain rounds. Sure, if I played basketball, anybody...
