I am a long time debate coach from ACORN Community High School in Brooklyn and now principal at MS 50 also in Brooklyn.

I will vote for any argument, as long as it is explained well. I am very open to critical arguments and performance.

I am not impressed with speed and don't love it being used as a spreading strategy. I prefer thoughtful, well researched and well explained arguments.

Please be respectful to opponents at all times. Hateful, racist, homophobic, sexist, or ableist language will result in loss of ballot.

I am a lay judge, so I prefer a slower pace of speech and debating. Spreading won't be very helpful for me to understand. I will vote on the stock issues, DAs, counter plans, but I am not a big fan of K. Please crystallize important issues and explain why you should win the debate especially at the end. I believe (direct and specific) clash is one of the most important things in a debate, but I won't tolerate rude or disrespectful language.

Please include me on the email chain.

capa2003_1@yahoo.com

Having personally participated in various speech / music competitions and drama productions, I can empathize with what it is like to be a contestant and the enormous amount of effort and energy it takes to compete. Also, I know how invaluable these learning experiences are. Congratulations, no matter how you are ranked during the competition, you have already won!

While contestants may have been working on a debate or speech topic for many months, keep in mind that judges are hearing the subject matter for the first time. Present the information in a way that is easy for judges to understand.

Stories are powerful. They help paint pictures of what the world has the potential to look like if positive action is taken.

Know that in my comments I try to plant positive seeds in hopes that even though a contestant may not win a competition, they will gain valuable insight that will serve them well in the future.

Always do your best, find something positive in every situation, keep trying new things, and be kind.

I oversee the program at my school as head coach. Having said that, I am a pretty traditional judge. Trickery, excessive speed, and jargon usage are not appreciated and could lose you the round. Gain the advantage by demonstrating the coherence of your presentation, the strength of your argument, and the accuracy of your supporting data. I will only reveal if asked to do so by the tournament organizer. I will not provide verbal feedback. The ballot is intended to serve those two purposes.

When assessing you, these are some of the things I look for when judging.

1. Speak slowly and clearly. Learn to judge adaptability if you are accustomed to speeding. You've lost the round if I can't follow your reasoning and comprehend what you're saying.

2. I prefer empirical data; attempting to win an emotional debate will not win you the round.

3. I prefer cases that are well-planned and logical; I want to be able to draw connections between the many points.

4. I'm not as skilled at flowing as someone who judges PFD on a weekly basis, but I can still flow and can tell if you are doing the same.

5. DO NOT BE RUDE. I can handle assertiveness, but it's not appropriate to yell, ridicule opponents, roll your eyes, shake your head, or act in general contempt.

QLS 24 | USC 28

Policy (3yrs) and PF (1 yr).

Email Address: zleyi0121@gmail.com ; debate@student.quarrylane.org

I learned everything I know about debate from Chris Thiele - his paradigm is 1000x more detailed than mine will be.

Top Level (TLDR):

- Tech > Truth

- OpenSource is good. Paraphrase is bad

- Speech Doc is mandated. Please set up an email chain before the round starts and send all your cards and evidence for each speech.

- Don't steal prep and time your speech

- Speed is okay with me (ie: normal high school/college spreading, so don't read spreading theory against your opponent pls. it's dumb.) Just be clear and be slower at the tag and analytics. (Notice English is my second language.) Quality>Quantity.

- Please Line by line the argument. Don't drop arguments and bring up brand-new stuff in your last speech.

- I have no offense with most arguments. You may say, "human extinction is good" or "xx country is evil." I am cool with animal and alien impact as well. At least you should follow the structure of "author+claim+warrants+data+impact."

- Won't judge kick unless getting instruction

- (MS/Novice rounds)

1. I don't believe in the stock issue. Sorry. How people debate in recent TOC/NDT is the only pattern of debate I learned.

2. Collapsing is important: I found many teams choose to go for all the things they have at the beginning to the end for both aff and neg, but none of the flow is fully developed. pls don't do that. Extend more than 2 offs in the 2NR is a signal of losing my ballot.

- Not a huge fans for overview. Just need one sentence in the top of the 2nr/2ar instructed me how I should write my ballot and why you win the debate.

- Cool with Post-Round. I think it's pretty educational. However, the question should be a more technical base regarding the argument. Instead of "I said this in my speech. did you not flow it?" (Truth: I post-round when I am a debater. I think it's more a process of self-validation. The ballot won't change, but I would tell you I made a wrong judgement if I truly think I made a wrong decision. The chance would be pretty rare though.)

For policy specific:

Topicality

- Prefer competing interpretations. Offense/Defense + weighing is better than just going for reasonability.

- More evidence + card comparison determine the truth usually

- In-round abuse is good, but you don't need it to win my ballot.

Theory

- I will vote on theory. However, if you are going to run really weird theories, you should consider either you have amazing standards and warranting or the other team screwed up.

- I prefer to be more offensive in theory. The same goes for topicality. Competing for an interp is definitely stronger than saying we meet.

- Condo: real theory arg, but I am really bad at going for it as a debater. I think the condo is a winning strategy for me only when the neg team drops (auto win or T > Condo?) or the neg off case span is extremely abusive. You can still extend condo and go for it, but my threshold for neg to get away with it in 2NR would be low.

- For independent theory on off case (eg. fifty state fiat and process cp bad), "reject the arg not the team" is sufficient for me if the neg team is not going for it.

Framework

- Powerful tool if you utilize it well. (Fun facts: I had ran a policy aff with 2min case + 6min FW in high school)

- Winning a well-developed FW would determine how I eveluate every argument in the round

- If you want to win the framework, you should contetualize with your opponents' counter fw and explain why your fw is less arbitary and produce better education, policymaking, etc for debate.

- Policy Aff Vs K: There's a really high threshold for me to agree not to weigh the aff, but if the aff team drops your FW, then nvm. (Truth: I hate FW. Every 2N told me I couldn't weigh anything.)

- FW Vs K Aff: Naturally, I prefer to go for Clash and TVA. Fairness can be an impact but less for me, especially when debate collapse on subjectivity change. History already show us K Aff won't completely disappear by reading more FW. Question more down to why the alternative model of debate is more important than the k. The only two true internal links for me on the neg are ground and limit. (Truth: everyone read FW against me I hate FW, but still go for it b/c I hate k v k more)

Case

- I think it's really hard for neg to know more about the case than aff does. If neg has an amazing case neg, I will reward the team.

- Go in-depth into the argument. Card comparisons are always effective. Weighing should not be later than 1AR.

DA

- It would never be wrong to go for a DA. Go hard on weighing + turn case!!

- Follow basic offense + defense pattern

- I feel like DA is the only section that is truth > tech for me. The evidence is the most essential part. The more recent cards plus good warrants always change the uniqueness and control the link.

CP

- My favorite off strat, go on competition

- I hate random cheating cp, especially when there are more than 6 offs. However, go for it when you need to win. (Truth: I also run these cps myself as 2N, but I still hate them when I need to answer them)

- Perm: prefer"perm to do both," "perm to do cp," and "perm to do the plan and part of the cp." You can read other forms of perms, but I don't think that's a winning strategy. (edit: if the plan is a process or devolution cp, i may buy intrinsic perm if u go well on theory)

Ks

- Prefer more plan based link.

- Both sides can fiat the alt. Prove to me how the alt solves the k and the case better compared to the plan. Of course, you don't need an alt to win the debate. I will treat the K like a philosophical DA if you don't go for alt; then weighing and framework is important. FW prefer weigh the aff against the alt. If your A strat is win the fiat K and "you link you lost," I am probably not the best judge for you.

- Perm is generally just served for checking uncompetitive alternatives.

- Ethics violation: If someone's discourse/behaviors has been called out as an ethical issue, I think an apology should always come first. If the situation falls into a deadlock, I would prefer to stop the round and call the tab instead of treating it as a link.

KAffs

- I debated K aff throughout my junior year, so I think I am somewhat familiar with it. I think K aff is pretty interesting, even though most of the time, it will end up collapsing on t-usfg. Statistically, 90% of the time, I am answering the framework, so I will still vote on it if you run it well. On neg, I usually run T against K aff, but you are free to run anything else.

LD:

- I have no experience with LD debate or topic, so I may judge based on policy standards. This means I will still try my best to understand your argument, but better no trick and philosophy.

Be respectful

Have fun!