Kozakura,+Kenneth

Name: Kenneth Kozakura Affiliation: Cal Poly SLO, Lowell HS School Strikes: Lowell HS

I debated 3 years of policy debate for Lowell High School and 2 years at Cal Poly SLO. This is my 4th year as an assistant debate coach at Lowell High School. You have a better chance of winning if you run whatever it is you are good at doing than arguments you think I like. I default to analysis made by debaters to determine how I read the evidence after the round and I try to evaluate debates through an assessment of risk that is explained (in good rounds) to me by the debaters. There are very few cases where I will look at cards. I'm not perfect but I try to be as flow-centric as possible and take the path of minimal resistance to locate the winner.

My only real preference is that in the 2NR and 2AR debates are framed for me, ie you answer the question, "why do you win the round,"as explicitly as possible whether it is in an overview or embedded elsewhere. If you don't frame the round for me, I will probably draw different conclusions than you want me to. I'm still a relatively young judge so that means I'm 1. not as jaded as the old coaches or judges 2. I don't automatically default to the "right" decision that you think other judges do, you need to walk me through it.

I think debate is a pedagogical activity that should produce students that are well versed in argumentation whether that's critical or policy oriented. Most people characterize me as a K judge. I debate/debated the K a lot and "performative" arguments. I do like hearing process cps, politics disads, and smart strategies. Similarly there are tons of Ks that I have limited exposure to and some that I have a lot of exposure to. It is in your best interest to assume that I have no idea what your critical argument is and try to sell it to me that way.

I keep an ok flow but if you are the fastest debater in the nation, you might want to go at maybe 80% your top speed. I noticed that most of my flowing deficiencies come from unclear tag lines or failure to draw delineation between tags and cards. I'm not telling you to pause for a million seconds between tag and card but alter your inflection or volume or something else. Numbers help.

CP bad (Consult/Agent/etc) or Perm Bad (Intrinsic/Severance) theory probably means I will reject the argument not the team. It's hard to convince me otherwise.

If you have specifics before the round, ask.