Small School Debate: Experiences and Tips - Part 2

Note: Large parts of this article, and our experiences, center around debate camp just because it can be such an important resource. We recognize that debate camp is extremely expensive and inaccessible to many debaters and W.in Debate is hoping to release a W.in Debate Camp Scholarship for Gender Minorities to combat some of these inequities soon!

Resources disparities frame debate, from the actual arguments read in round to the attitudes of competitors, coaches, and judges. All five of us have unique experiences as gender minority debaters coming from small schools, however, we also have a lot of privilege to be able to attend debate camp and hire private coaches. The goal of this article is to highlight some of our experiences, outline learning opportunities, and provide tips that we have gathered from our own experiences.

Experience #4: Tanya Wei, Westridge School

I attend an all girls school in California called Westridge. My team has decent institutional support for our team in general, but provides more specified debate support for events like Public Forum, Congress, and Parliamentary. I was the first person ever to do circuit LD, and as a result, I also did not have varsity teammates or LD specific coaches to turn to for advice. One of my coaches suggested I attend camp, so I ended up attending VBI Online the summer before my sophomore year which was extremely helpful in terms of learning the basic fundamentals of circuit debate, as well as making some friends and meeting people on the circuit.

Although attending camp was a great jumpstart, I found myself frequently feeling lost or scared when attending tournaments because it was such a new experience for me. On top of that, I didn’t really know many people in debate my sophomore year and it was all online, which made the whole process extremely daunting. I had to juggle learning what a Kritik was, how to answer theory shells, and cutting my own prep all at the same time, which was extremely overwhelming. Because of this, I decided to reach out to my mentor from camp to see if she had any advice to give. Through a few conversations, she ended up connecting me with one of her former students, who is now one of my coaches today. Through this coach, I met some of my closest friends on the circuit today. She also helped ease the transition to circuit debate, which I am extremely thankful for.

I would say one of my most positive debate experiences thus far was attending in person camp last summer, the summer before my junior year. Similar to my sophomore year, I didn’t know many people going, but having camp in person was much much better in terms of the overall experience; I was able to make more friends much faster since we could actually hang out during free time and have in person interactions. Camp last year was also a great place for me to refine my skills since we did lectures and drills basically every day, but I was simultaneously having lots of fun since I was in lab with my friends, which made the experience a lot less solely work centered and stressful.

Another really positive debate experience I have had is making friends on the circuit. I’m so thankful for everyone I’ve met through debate, from people I can rant to about my hatred for phil debate (sorry), to having long discussions about counterplan competition, to arguing over whether China’s settler colonial… I’ve realized that a big reason why I enjoy debate so much and stay in debate is because of the people. My friends have always been there for my biggest wins and horrific losses, and I’m so grateful for the support bubble I’ve found within debate. Some of the friendships I’ve created through debate have expanded beyond just stressing over tournaments together, but to being some of my closest friends period. I’m not the most extroverted person, so reaching out and making friends seemed scary at first, but in retrospect I’m so glad I did because I have met so many amazing, smart, kind, and supportive people that make debate worth it and in person tournaments fun.

Tip #4: Wiki mining (Tanya)

If you’re ever stuck on what to read, the Wiki is a great resource. Wiki mining, or looking through the wiki and seeing what other teams are reading, is a great way to learn about the generic arguments everyone’s reading on the topic, as well as exploring new positions that you may not have thought of or encountered. I personally wiki mined a lot my sophomore year because doing your own prep is a ton of work, especially if you don’t have coaches or a prep group helping you cut cards or do research during the topic. The High School LD (HSLD) Wiki is where a lot of teams disclose their affs (1ACs) and neg positions (1NCs). You can use the search function to look for specific teams, debaters, or arguments that are being read. If you click on a specific debater’s wiki from a specific school, you can also see their round reports (what they read, what their opponent read, the 1AR, 2NR, and 2AR collapse) if disclosed. This can give ideas as to what arguments teams are reading and going for in their speeches. If available, you can also download docs from different rounds through the open source column. This gives access to the full cards and shells people have read, such as 1ACs, disads, counterplans, Ks, theory shells, case answers, and more. Beyond the HSLD wiki, the OpenEv wiki is also a great place to access generic resources. Here, files produced from policy camps such as Michigan, Dartmouth, Emory, Berkeley, and some LD camps like TDI are all open sourced and available for download. Although a lot of the docs here are centered around prep for the policy topic, there are still great resources like impact files, framework (T-USFG) files, generic K responses, generic process CPs, and many more.

Although wiki mining is a great resource, cutting your own prep is extremely underrated and has massive benefits. Echoing what Ava said, cutting your own prep means you know your evidence better and the topic much better than your opponents do, which allows you to better explain your arguments in the 2NR or 2AR as well as during CX which is great for perceptual dominance. In my prep group, we mostly cut all of our own prep instead of having coaches cut files, which has helped me understand the arguments I’m reading better. However, if you’re ever stuck or need new ideas, the wiki is always a viable option. Just make sure you know the 1AC or 1NC before reading it in round!

Experience #5: Ava Manaker, Strath Haven High School

I attend Strath Haven High School, which is a public school in PA. I was very lucky that my school has an established debate program and a coach. My freshman year, Strath Haven had a very strong policy program, but due to advice people had given me, I struck out as the only LDer. My coach, who mostly specializes in traditional debate, was able to explain how to structure a case and give me an explanation of what debate looked like. My first topic was on fossil fuel subsidies, and I was so nervous for my first tournament that I spent months researching everything I possibly could. I particularly wanted to learn circuit and looking back, I regret not using a lot of the resources I had access to - policy debaters! - but since no one really knew what LD was or how it worked, I didn’t realize how large the crossover was and I was too intimidated to ask older teammates about debate.

It wasn’t until COVID my freshman year that I really began to learn how circuit debate worked. I spent quarantine reading, baking, and spending approximately 23 hours a day on debate. Just kidding. But it was close. Since I had no idea what LD really was, I just ended up watching circuit rounds voraciously. At first it was incredibly daunting, I’ve always had a preternatural gift for speaking fast (my parents can attest that they stopped understanding my brothers and me by the time we were 10), but understanding spreading was beyond me. My older brother (he competed in policy 2014-17, but mostly on traditional circuits) showed me the wiki, and I was eventually able to parse through what was going on. I spent a ridiculous amount of time watching YouTube lectures on debate, reading through websites (more hyperlinks), and giving practice speeches.

By this point, I realized how insular the world of circuit was, and I desperately wanted to attend camp. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the summer between freshman and sophomore year, so I continued doing the same thing I had over COVID. Looking through the wiki to understand how arguments were structured and what prep involved, watching and flowing rounds or lectures, and giving practice speeches. In junior year, I was very excited that I had the opportunity to attend camp. Camp was incredibly helpful for two reasons. The main reason was meeting people. I never really had circuit connections; I had no clue who anyone was or how most things work (I didn’t even know that private coaching existed), but my lab had some fantastic people who I’m still friends with today. I’m immensely grateful to have met a group of people who make debate worth it. I was spared from a lot of the scarier aspects of debate because I had almost entirely online tournaments until my senior year, but even now, I’ve been to tournaments where it seems like the cafeteria is entirely made up of bro-y dudes from big schools/prep groups. Even beyond the close friends I made at camp, I’ve met a lot of people just from small messages before/after rounds. I’m very lucky that I’ve mostly seen the good side of circuit debate, but I think that most people will be kind if you give them a chance.

The second reason camp was helpful was that it provided an outside perspective. Getting feedback from extremely good debaters and coaches gave me a new way of looking at things and accelerated a lot of my progress. However, I want to note: camp is exorbitantly expensive. From my experience, neither of these things are impossible to get without camp. Drilling and learning about debate can all be accomplished by hard work, and I’m friends with tons of people I didn’t attend camp with.

By junior year, I had a (marginally) better sense of how circuit debate worked. I knew enough to choose tournaments where I would enjoy the styles of argumentation more (as an East Coaster, I can confidently say West Coast Best Coast) and had a better sense of the circuit meta-game. By junior year, I was reading exclusively policy positions and cutting 100% of my own prep. As aforementioned, this is just because it’s what I’m most interested in. I’d strongly encourage you to find something you really enjoy - be it philosophy or critical theory or international relations - and read those positions. This isn’t to say hyper-specialize - flexibility is important - but it’s much easier, at least for me, to dedicate a lot of time to something I find interesting and enjoyable.

The other notable thing about my junior year was how important friends on the circuit became. Debating more and knowing a few people from camp meant I met more people and formed some amazing friendships. No one is ever going to love debate 100% of the time, but having people that I could rant to after rounds, do practice debates and drills with, and just could FaceTime all day made debate so much more fun. I’m honestly not sure I’d still be in debate if I hadn’t met all of those people. Especially coming from a small school, having friends in the community means more people to bounce ideas off of, to practice with, and someone can send you a card in a pinch (even if you’re not in a prep group) if you need it. Even if you’re not friends with someone, when in doubt reach out. At least from my experience, most people (debaters and judges) are more than happy to explain arguments, send cards from 1ARs/2NRs, or do practice rounds.

Finally, I want to close on a note about the best parts of debate. It’s entirely possible to have lots of competitive success coming from a small school, but there are definitely barriers and it can be hard. I know it’s a cliche, but I’d strongly recommend trying to navigate the world of circuit with the importance of factors other than wins in mind. It’s a cliche, but I remember time with my friends - thrifting, getting food, or just hanging out - infinitely better than I remember any round or award I’ve won.

Tip #5: Generics (Ava)

Here’s some tips on cutting your own prep. First of all, the wiki is your best friend. Backfiles are incredibly easy to create and update in a weekend or two by effectively going through the LD, HS policy, and college CX wikis. Secondly, it just takes some time. Putting in an hour or two a day to sit down and cut cards adds up. Trying to keep up with the proliferation of arguments seems impossible if you try to do everything at once, so breaking things down into small chunks is helpful. I always keep a running list of the positions that people are reading and what I need to prep, and I keep it updated throughout tournaments. Third, triage. You won’t be able to prep every single thing, so cut case NEGs to the plans that are most threatening first. It’s useful to have a generic - like politics - prepped out that you can always go for. Fourth, get good at research. There tons of little tricks (see articles) that can help out immensely. Fifth, don’t underestimate the massive advantage from knowing all your own arguments. Honestly, this is probably the most important thing and what everyone underestimates. If you cut all your own prep, you know every single card better and know way more about the topic than your opponent does. I know this doesn’t seem like a big advantage, but it is. You’re able to make smart, intuitive arguments when someone breaks a new DA or CP; it means you can blow off bad arguments that you know aren’t true because you know more about the topic; it means you’re able to spin evidence and anticipate CX questions better, even if you don’t have the MOST cards in terms of absolute quantity, having enough that you know what to do with them and can execute qualitatively better is massively helpful.

Tip #6: Finding judges (Kendra)

1. My biggest piece of advice for finding judges is to ask on HSLD. If you aren’t familiar, HSLD is a Facebook group dedicated to highschool Lincoln Douglas debate. I would also make sure to post as ahead of time as possible, so you aren’t rushed to get a judge last minute. People have been super friendly in my experience and it is a great resource. There are also lots of judges who are willing to adjust their costs if you are a low-income/small school debater.
2. Another way to find judges is to look on Tabroom. You can hire judges through Tabroom and the tournament, but it is usually more expensive. However, if there are judges entered in for under 6 rounds, you can message or email them to ask if they are willing to sell the remainder of their rounds to you.

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