by Toby Rivas | Dec 4, 2018 | Communication/Rhetoric, From Intermediate to Advanced, From Novice to Intermediate, Strategy
If you’ve ever played volleyball, you know the terror of a spike. A player slams the ball over the net so hard you have no hope of returning it. In debate, a spike is a little different, but still a powerful offensive tactic. Referring broadly to preemption, a spike...
by Joshua Hu | Jan 3, 2018 | Debate Rounds, From Advanced to National-Class, From Intermediate to Advanced, From Novice to Intermediate, Strategy, Technique, Top Drills
There is no one right way to structure rebuttals, no special formula your speeches should follow so that the judge must vote for you. However, there are certain fundamental elements of great rebuttals. When well-developed, these elements will tremendously increase...
by Joshua Farquhar | Dec 6, 2017 | Uncategorized
Quite a few sports have been suggested as the real “gentleman’s sport.” Golf, tennis, fencing, motorsports…these have all held the title. There is one sport, however, that supersedes all of these. One sport that combines everyday life, procedures, and...
by Noah Howard | Nov 1, 2017 | Debate Rounds, Strategy, Technique
It was 10:30 pm at NITOC 2016, and I was about to give the last speech of the last out round of the day. I had almost everything prepared. Almost. The problem was, Neg had run an argument that I just couldn’t come up with a response to. But it was okay, I had two...
by Harrison Durland | Oct 24, 2017 | Communication/Rhetoric, Technique
“Surely, surely you can’t be serious; that’s absurd—borderline conspiracy theorist!” Yet, sure enough, he was being serious. And as we got into a heated conversation, I soon regretted not taking him seriously. In this age of rapid information and opinion sharing,...
