Harvey,+Sonya

I am a debate coach who debated Lincoln-Douglas in high school and Parliamentary Debate in college. I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that I believe the purpose of debate is to create better thinkers and communicators. To that end, I will tolerate speed, but I must be able to understand your arguments. I think many people who spread believe that they are good at it, but are mostly mistaken in that belief. In my rounds, I like a good combination of evidence and logic with a little philosophy thrown in during LD debates. I can mostly understand jargon in debate, but I don't like for debaters to assume an understanding of jargon. I prefer debaters that can communicate with words that mean something in the real world. If you can't explain your position in plain language, you probably don't really know what you are talking about. You must be able to link your evidence to your contentions and explain impacts.

Courtesy in debate is a must. I like assertive debaters. Debaters who are rude for no reason will be voted down if at all possible. Please don't presume to tell me how much prep time you've used. I have a really nice phone with an app that keeps up with time. I'll tell you how much time you have left. If you've ever seen The Great Debaters, you'll remember that the judge is God and behave accordingly.