Novice Scrimmage Parameters

Philosophy of the Novice Scrimmage

Our novice scrimmage is an extension of what coaches have done in the suburban Chicago area for years. The goal is to provide new debaters with an easy on ramp for policy debate. It is for true novices who are in their first year of policy debate. The goal is to get more debates in for new students, not trophies or formal tournament competition.

Traditionally, this has meant 3-4 rounds with some team awards and speaker awards at the end. 

Argument Constraints

Coaches in the area have generally agreed to set parameters on the argumentation that students would use at these start of the year scrimmages. For example, in the past at our first September scrimmage, we used a limited number of AFF cases that were fully disclosed in advance and students were limited to running case arguments, Topicality violations, and a certain set of Disadvantages. We would then add Counter Plans at the following scrimmage, Kritiks after that, etc. 

For our scrimmage, we will be limiting the number of AFFs and NEG arguments that students may run. This allows our coaches and novices to prepare in advance, clash during their debates, and avoids those "gotcha" moments where novices feel ill prepared and discouraged. The argument set is listed below.

From the National Debate Coaches Association novice packet (available here)

- Affirmatives: Fracking, Agricultural Runoff, Lead Water

- Negative: 

- Case Negs: corresponding case negs from the NDCA packet for the above Affirmatives

- Topicality: any violation that is included within the NDCA packet. 

- Disadvantages: Business Confidence DA, Federalism DA, Midterm Elections DA. DA's that are found within the Case Negs for the above AFFs are also permitted. 

**No Counter Plans or Kritiks**

We certainly respect that every coach has their own philosophy on how to introduce argumentation to novices. However, if you would like your novices to participate in this scrimmage it is mandatory to limit arguments to the list. 

Importance of Judges

Early in the year it is essential for novices to have a positive experience with their judges. While we know that varsity students may judge in the scrimmage, we as that you properly prepare them for this role. 

- Student judges should understand the norm of using video cameras during the debate. Novices need to know that their judges are there, paying attention, and care about their rounds. 

- They should remain positive and encouraging at all moments. These early scrimmages are pretty difficult for new students and our judges should be mindful of that. Experiences with judges can make or break a novice's decision to remain in our activity. 

- Best practices need to be followed. Inform your student judges that they should be at their rounds a little early to get things going on time, that they need to be patient, and that they should give RFDs with constructive, positive feedback for students.