Last changed on
Sat February 10, 2024 at 3:18 AM EST
Sup
I did PF for 4 years in high school and this is my 6th year coaching. I also debated a little bit in college as well.. I have coached PF for 6 years and LD for 3.
Per usual, I make an effort to update my paradigm for every ohio state tournament and discuss my general paradigm, current trends in ohio debate (from my view point), and then any specific PF/LD comments.
Generally speaking, my flow is going to be pretty detailed. A lot of my decisions are made heavily on the flow. However, weighing your arguments is really crucial, especially in the scenario where each side has the same # of arguments won. On the concept of extending/frontlining, to me, if you want to win an argument, it needs to be extended/brought up in each speech. Like, if my contention 2 is going to win me this round because it is soooo important, i better hear about it in every speech. At the same time, I don't think you need to extend/reread your blocks to the opponent's case if they do not address them, simply just say they didn't address them. Which brings me to a pretty important concept... "my opponent did not respond to this argument": 1) if you say this, and they did in fact, respond to the argument, that is bad for you. 2) If you say this and they did not respond to the argument at all, it's straightforward and good for you. 3) if you can explain why your opponent's responses miss the mark and do not actually address the argument that you are making - this is really good for you (I feel like people don't take advantage of this enough).
That brings me to my "current trend in debate". Full transparency, I am typically in tab nowadays at tournaments and judge significantly less than I used to. This year specifically, I find that at the end of the round, a lot of the contention level arguments are being won by neither side and are a wash. Here's an example of why this is happening: Team A reads a contention. Team B gives 3 blocks to the contention. Team A will frontline and respond to 2 of those blocks. Team B will only extend the unresponded to block and defend one of the blocks. Then team A will say that they actually responded to all blocks. It becomes a mess. You are probably reading this saying "Oh I would never do that" or "wow why is this guy spending so much time explaining a random scenario". BUT, you all do it! the best debaters are the ones that can address everything on the flow. That does not mean they frontline all 12 responses against their case, but they have the knowledge and understanding of their argument to know which responses matter, which responses can be grouped, which responses can be indicted, and which responses can be ignored. If you want to be the best, prove it on the flow.
LD - I really like a good value/VC debate. But, if they are just the same thing, just have the contention level debate. With that being said, more often than not people just say "our values are the same" when they actually aren't.
PF - I debated PF when summary was 2 minutes. It’s now 3. That changes EVERYTHING. It’s basically an extension of the rebuttal. Like, if I were a PF debater today, I would go full flow the first 3 speeches and then use the final focus to analyze the flow.
