I am affiliated with duPont Manual High School as the head speech and debate coach. I used to debate college LD, so I am familiar with the general format of most all debate. I always say that CX>LD>PF>CON...if that's not agreeable with you, then that's unfortunate, but that's just how my hierarchy Debate chain/list works. I respect all debate divisions, so please do not misunderstand

1. I enjoy K Debate, especially if it gives insightful

Anthro K’s are not as convincing to me.

2. Do not use abbreviated jargon yet because I am still learning how to apply jargon to my RFD. For example, use CONDITIONAL instead of CONDO, or Topical(ity) instead of T, or PLAN INCLUSIVE COUNTER PLANS BAD instead of PICS… Sorry, but it will make the ultimate difference because I will be able to follow my flow/your narrative.

3. I am a flow judge.

4. I will call clear if I cannot understand you, and I won’t take off of speaker points after the first time.

5. Please stand to MY RIGHT side because I am deaf in my left ear. SO, if you are facing me, please spread or speak standing to the left side of the room. I will always try to sit in the center of the debate.

6. I have had experience judging CX at UPenn, PF at several national tournaments as well as in Chengdu, China, and I used to debate in LD in high school and at IU for a year. I have been coaching at duPont Manual HS in Louisville, KY for 4 years.

7. Theory Debate…I will deal with it, however, it makes me feel inferior or confused or . It just might take me a bit longer to articulate an RFD, so don’t ty and an endearing candidness - it's so adorable and

8. I love progressive LD, and spreading is fine with me.

9. LOUD, CLEAR, and SIGN POST along the way. Also, give me an off time road map before each speech, please. Traditional debate is wonderful too; however, I DO look for SOLVENCY AND COUNTER PLANS are also valued by me.

10. For PF, I value both long term and short impacts, but I need the debaters to weigh the round and tell me what i prefer in the end. Make it very clear to me what your voters are. For LD, I need you to uphold your framework and give me the Roll of the Ballot. Make it very clear, and repeat it for me so I am sure to catch it/them.11. I love topicality; an overview

I can take speed, but please be clear. I encourage progressive debate, so I will not dock speaks for calling clear. Therefore, I will call clear until I can understand you. Please take the time to adapt if I call clear.
I base speaker points on several different factors. This includes clarity of speaking, presentation, projection, and the ability to debate strategically. Impact your arguments and tell me why they matter. Pick the most important arguments and tell me the reasons I should vote for it. Also, signposting is a must.

If you have any questions please contact me at 502-572-4635 or erica.cooper@jefferson.kyschools.us.

Parent/lay judge. Spread at your own risk. 

I competed in LD for 4 years in HS at duPont Manual, but am now 4 years out of debate. This means I will flow, but I can't take super fast spreading and I need everything (especially progressive argumentation) to be clearly explained. Probably can't evaluate theory properly. Feel free to ask me questions before the round.

My only debate experiance is from about a year of judging. In that time I've judged mostly traditional rounds (with little to no philosphy). I try to keep up on current events so informed arguments with reasonable probabilty are the best strategy when debating in front of me. Critical, progressive, or philosophical agruments will have to be explained very clearly to ressonate; I don't have any issue with these arguments, I'm just not familiar with them.

Key Considerations:

• Substance of argument over style of argumentation is a primary metric by which I seek to appraise a round.  There are many debate styles that may come and go in popularity, but the substance of an argument is central to all.  Accomplish substance more thoroughly than your opponent and a win will be earned.

• Intelligent and Intelligible arguments are preferred.  In other words, provide a clear thesis for which you are contending and make sure that you accomplish it in such a rate of delivery that can be followed/flowed in proper fashion.

• Strong development of argumentative framework, appropriate evidence, and proper linkage are all assets in a round.

• Healthy clash is encouraged so that each posited argument clearly claims its unique ground.  Vigorous clash is welcomed as long as it is with clear respect for one's opponent. 

• Special Note: A significant and primary task of a winning debate is to address the resolution, address the resolution, and address the resolution.  Those who address the resolution will have a far better chance at earning a win than those who seek to address a matter that lies outside of the stated scope of a round.  Specifically, one should be prepared to debate the chosen topic not a topic about the topic or of your preference.

Experience: 

• I have debated in high school and college with primary experience in Policy and Lincoln Douglas styles.  I have coached at the high school level for a number of years during my teaching tenure at North Oldham High School and strongly support the Wilson Wyatt Debate League philosophy of providing constructive reflection for debaters.

****Last Updated: Greenhill 2021****

Background

· I’m a fourth year pre-med student at Purdue University. I aspire to attend medical school in a couple years. I competed in LD for duPont Manual High School (Louisville, Kentucky) from 2014-2018. I cleared at almost every bid tournament I attended and reached bid rounds at Emory and UPenn. I mostly LARPed, but I enjoyed reading Ks and T/Theory too during my time on the circuit.

TL;DR

· Add me to the email chain: dsyi12400@gmail.com

· I’ll vote on any argument that meets the minimum requirements of having a claim, warrant, and impact. The more arcane aspects of debate don’t matter to me (for example, I don’t have an opinion on whether PICs are bad or 3 condo CPs are good) because it’s the debaters’ responsibilities to generate arguments and defend their positions. I’ll evaluate the flow as technically as I can because I care more about the debating than the ultimate truth of your arguments, so tech > truth. I do, however, believe that debate is designed to be a competitive research game.

· Maintain a local recording of each of your speeches. If there’s a disconnect, finish your speech and promptly send out the recording.

· Feel free to ask me questions about my preferences before the round via email or Facebook. Good luck and don’t forget to have fun!

Specific Preferences

Procedurals

· Speed is good, but do NOT use your top speed in online debates. If you have analytics typed out in the doc, I’ll have a higher threshold for “too fast,” but over the course of my judging history (all which has been online) I’ve come to realize that my worst decisions have come from debates where the debaters are going too fast. Efficient and well enunciated speeches will seriously trump fast and unclear speeches: I CANNOT vote on arguments I didn’t hear. I’ll yell clear as much as I need to. Please pop tags and author names.

· Prep ends when the doc is compiled. Sending the doc isn’t prep, but don’t steal prep.

· I’ll disclose speaks if you ask and if both debaters are ok with it. Speaks are adjusted according to the tournament’s difficulty. They reflect how well I expect you to do.

· If you make a Star Wars reference I’ll add +0.1 to whatever your speaks were supposed to be. I’ll add +0.2 if it's a Darth Vader or Yoda quote. Don’t be afraid to “do it.” Add it to the speech doc and make it stand out, so I don’t miss it!

Likes

· weighing that is contextualized to your opponent’s arguments

· good overviews

· collapsing

· fast and efficient tech skills

· good case debate—I appreciate negs that actually read carded arguments and analytics against the aff and I am impressed by affs that are very techy when responding to case dumps

· numbered arguments

· good evidence comparison

· impact turns—bonus speaks if you can end the debate with these

· being funny (making me laugh will get you bonus speaks)

Dislikes

· saying your opponent conceded something even though it wasn’t conceded

· saying the word “extend” a ton or trying to extend every author name—just make the argument and tell me its warrant and impact in the round

· jumping around different parts of the flow

· power tagging

· going for everything in your last speech (although this is justified sometimes)

LARP

· Extinction scenarios are very entertaining—these positions were my favorite strategies in debate. I find these debates easier to adjudicate when debaters have high quality evidence.

· Impact calc and comparative weighing are imperative.

· Evidence comparison could be make it or break it. This includes reading cards: I like it when 1ARs and 2NRs strategically read cards to extend their scenarios, but they better be relevant and well-explained!

· Extensions need to have warrants—even in the 1AR/2AR. All I need is an overview of the advantage, but your extension of the aff should match the degree to which its warrants have been contested. You don’t need to say every card name. Just tell me what the aff does, what it solves, and how it does so.

· I think CPs are some of the best neg args. All types of CPs are cool, but don't blame me if your opponent reads theory.

· CPs should avoid a DA or turn to the aff, so just saying “CP solves better” isn’t a DA to the perm.

· DAs are great. The best DAs have a “DA turns case” component. 2NR impact calc is critical: probability and magnitude are important, but strength of link and evidence specificity need to be articulated as well.

Phil

· Some of my favorite debates to witness have been phil debates. In fact, some of the best speaks I’ve given have been a result of good phil debate (and the frameworks weren’t util—surprise!).

· Err on the side of overexplaining. I’m good on most framework authors.

· DON’T extend every card and go for every justification—give an overview of your framework’s thesis and go from there.

· The best phil debaters are able to contextualize real world examples that illustrate their ethical theory.

· You have to contextualize why the justification you go for matters in the context of your opponent’s framework. Too many phil debates end up being two ships sailing past each other in the middle of the night.

T/Theory

· I enjoy judging T/Theory debates. They demonstrate whether debaters have good tech skills and whether they know how to defend their personal convictions about debate as an activity. If you’re willing to be persuasive and you’re serious about defending your interp, then go for it.

· I “default” to the norms of the activity, which seem to be drop the debater, no RVIs, and competing interps (unless justified by debaters that I should do otherwise).

· Not all theory arguments need to be in a shell format.

· I adjudicate on a strength of link style on various layers of the theory debate (i.e. if you have a ton of offense to education, and they have a tiny amount to fairness, the fact that fairness slightly outweighs is probably not sufficient to vote for their shell).

Ks

· I’ll probably have a basic understanding of whatever K you read, but I will not vote for you unless YOU explain your theory.

· SHORTER TAGS ARE EASIER TO FLOW. PLEASE.

· Aff specific links paired with generic links are preferable to solely relying on generic links: negs should use lines directly from the aff to make the links more robust.

· I don’t believe there is a significant distinction between “post-fiat” and “pre-fiat.” The most important facet of the debate is that you defend your arguments and prove why the aff or neg is good/bad/correct/incorrect/etc. It is a fact that nothing truly happens after the round—the only thing we take away from the round is the knowledge derived from the arguments that were made by the debaters. You should stray away from using the terms “post-fiat” and “pre-fiat.”

· I expect detailed explanations for the interaction between the K and the aff. Use the appropriate K tricks and explain why the K outweighs/turns the case/perm fails/is a prior question/solves the aff/etc.

· Your aff doesn’t need to be topical, but I expect good 1AR and 2AR explanations of your offense. Buzzwords will only get you so far.

Tricks

· Honestly, I’d rather listen to a beautiful 2NR that goes for a K that is meaningful to the debater or a strategic 2AR that goes for an advantage and does amazing impact calc. I empathize with debaters who have committed hours and hours to research/prep about the topic or literature of choice because I believe in hard work. This is what I did back in the day, so I want to reward students who are going through the same thing; however, strategy and winning ballots is important, so I’ll listen to and vote on your arguments. Just be prepared to receive the appropriate speaks.

Final Thoughts

· In high school I had a great time with debate. I was fortunate to never have any serious drama or traumatic experiences during my time in the activity and I think that everyone should be able to say the same. I hold my peers to a high standard, and I hope you all help each other to do that as well. As someone who is now out of the activity, I cherish the years that I debated. It was a major part of my life and I learned a lot from the activity and the people around me. You all should make the most of every moment and do your best so that you don’t have any regrets.

· An atrocious AP Physics teacher I had in high school once told me that you can only be unhappy about an outcome if you’ve truly put in every ounce of effort and you still don’t reach your goal.

· Disclaimer: Parts of this paradigm were borrowed from Kieran Cavanagh, Alan George, and Adam Tomasi. Shout out to them for letting me borrow their content.

· May the force be with you!