Thomas,+Asia

I debated all four years of high school at The Meadows School in Las Vegas.

I was more of a K debater in high school and definitely do love "the k's". However that being said, that does not mean I will like your K. I find that a large some of K's in debate are either generic and not well written or too complex and not explained enough and yet again, not well written. I was thankful enough to have a coach that had a ton of experience and put together amazing cases and because of that I have a higher threshold for what I consider a good K.

On theory, I was definitely not a fan of it in high school and think people use it to get out of engaging in substance. I understand theory so its not a crisis if you run it in front of me but I would prefer if you do not because I like when debaters actually engage in round. On the other hand I definitely do see the strategic value of theory and if I will definitely reward you for a well run shell and strategic layering but don't run 4 shells because I'll hate you and that makes you an ass hole. If you run theory against something that isn't a big deal, I'll still listen and will vote on it, but know your speaks will definitely suffer from it. Don't be afraid to run it, but just know that if you're running theory just to run theory I'm not the judge for you and you will not be happy with your speaks.

On T, I actually really like T. The only thing I have to say about T is that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN RVI ON T!!! Don't even try it, I use to be an advocate for RVIs on T but now I'm a firm believer that it's complete bull shit.

On policy style args, I like them, go for it.

Also just some general stuff, don't be an ass in round. I like some sass but if you are blatantly rude I will gladly tank your speaks and will likely say something to you after round. I am a firm believer that debate needs to be a safe space and the community hasn't done the best job at doing that. If you make racist, sexist, etc. comments I will drop you and give you the lowest possible speaks. If you are hitting a debater who is clearly less experienced than you, I think you should definitely go for the win but don't go all out on them and make them feel bad. I will yell clear but if you don't listen I will stop flowing completely and base my decision on what I have. If something is a deal breaker but I don't have it on my flow, don't get mad if you lose. Depending on how tired I am I will either make a lot of facial expressions and nod my head or I will literally look so disinterested with no expression. Also, **I am a huge stickler about prep theft. I will be timing the round as well and the only time that matters is what I have. FLASHING COUNTS AS PREP. There will be none of that "wait let me get it all in one doc and take 2 minutes to pull up other files" madness.**

Any other questions feel free to ask before round! If you are confused or don't like the results after round or want to know what you could have done better, be nice and just come talk to me after, I'm really not as mean as I look. If you or your coach have a problem, come talk to me but if you attack me you won't like how I come back at you. If you want a better idea of how I think about different areas of debate, reference Sara Kaplan, Tim Alderete and Scott Phillips wikis.