1 - Be at Team Practice every Wednesday, ready to work

DEBATE: 

• Work on researching your case

• Have conversations with team members about various topics related to your case to explore new ideas you might want to either add to your case, or be prepared to compete against in a tournament.

• Do practice rounds with both sides of your case

  • Try to compete in free online springboards to get rounds in as well

SPEECH:

• Try to perform your speech for 1-3 different leadership/coaches every practice. 

• Watch other speech squad speeches looking for keys to improve your speech. 

• Update your speech as needed.

• If doing Info - once boards are complete, they need to come to every practice.

2 - Review & Study the NSDA Resources for your event

• NSDA RESOURCE TABLE

  • Must log into your NSDA account to access.

3 - Compete as often as you are able 

• In order to letter you need to compete in at least 3 tournaments, but do as many as possible. 

• Consider doing online Springboard Tournaments (free to enter, must provide a judge)

  • With each of these tournaments, you will get feedback from national judges who watch your speech/debate, and, through the competition will see things other competitors do out side of NM that you may adapt. The Springboard tournaments are also a great way to get feedback from people outside of NM, which will also strengthen your speech/case.  

  • One note with springboards, you will need to provide a judge to compete which is a great opportunity for new judges to get better at judging. Added bonus, it is only one 1-2 hr round (depending on event). 

4 - Review ALL tournament feedback and find something to work on for the next tournament, share this with your squad leadership so they can help you. 

DEBATE

• Just because some tournament feedback may indicate the judge did not understand the event, DO NOT DISMISS IT. Consider what they discussed as far as understanding the argumentation. We do not get to control the judges in the room, but we can control how to be the most clear with our argumentation.

• Remember a huge part of debate is not that you understand the argument you are making, it is that you are able to EXPLAIN the argument you are making in such a way that THE JUDGE UNDERSTANDS the argument.

  • Also, do not forget you are judged by an adult. Just because an argument works for a HS student, doesn't mean it will work for an adult.

SPEECH

• When reviewing feedback from a tournament, if you do not agree with what was given, discuss it with our speech coach to determine if that feedback is right for you and your speech; as sometimes it may not fit what the student is trying to achieve. Students should be talking about what they are passionate about, and not just what a judge wants to hear. Sometimes feedback may point a speech student in a direction they do not want to take their speech and may choose not to make a change, which is fine, as long as they understand that not every judge may agree and it may affect their ranking, but they can be confident in their advocacy.

5 - Be open to feedback from coaches and squad leadership.

• They are here to help you improve in your event. If they are asking you to change and you are not sure, talk to them to understand the reasoning. Try it the way it is suggested and see how it works. 

• Remember, sometimes it may take multiple times to perfect a skill, be patient with yourself &/or your partner.

6 - Make Friends 

• This is a community, be a part of it. 

• At tournaments, associate with team members in and outside your squad. See how rounds went for them, cheer their successes, commiserate in their challenges - we are all in this together

• When not competing, especially in outrounds, spectate competitors still competing (if they are accepting spectators) —SUPPORT THEM. 

• Be respectful to others

7 - Squad Specific Ideas 

DEBATE:

• Have case written at least 2 weeks before a tournament 

• Write out prepared blocks (pieces of rebuttal) with evidence before tournaments

• Consider attending squad office hours for feedback on both your case and your debate skills. This also gives you an opportunity to participate in the community!

• Know your case well enough, ESPECIALLY your first speech, that you do not have to read directly from your computer for the entire speech and that you can look knowledgeable about the topic during crossX.

• Debate both sides when practicing—make sure you can defend your AFF and NEG case.

• Read new material pertaining to your case through news articles. Oftentimes, topics are about current events that are constantly changing—you want to be in the know for TODAY not yesterday.

• CONGRESS: 

  • Learn to write legislation on a topic you care about

  • Work with speech leadership about how best to present your speech

• CONGRESS, WORLD SCHOOL DEBATE, BIG QUESTION:

• Due to limited competition in NM, find online tournaments to enter to practice these events.

  • Talk to your captains/coaches for help finding these tournaments

SPEECH:

• Write or choose a script on a topic you are passionate about

• Have your speech written at least 2 weeks before the first tournament you enter -- Ideally, Mid-Sept for Varsity, Mid-Oct for Novice

• Leadership may host some office hours, consider attending them. This allows even more opportunities to improve a speech, as well as build more camaraderie with other speech members.

• Record Yourself: When possible record yourself giving your speech to see what needs improving. This is a great way to get a sense of how your body reacts when you speak and will further help you refine your tone of voice and movement in the speech in a way that is true to who you are as a person, but also removes any unnecessary and distracting components.

• EXTEMP and IMPROMPTU: 

  • EXTEMP: Read news from sources across the political spectrum daily (check ad fontes media chart for reliable sources)- create a file of sources so you do not have to start from scratch.

  • Practice fast writing skills

  • Practice speech skills