Dooley,+Matt

Last Revised: 10/28/16

I debated for three years in the local circuit for Keller High School. I've been acting as a volunteer coach for Keller High School for another five years.

If you're looking for specific things that you should or shouldn't run in front of me, this page is going to be pretty lackluster because there's not a whole lot in specific I need to talk about. I'm willing to entertain virtually any argument (within appropriate reason) so long as you're giving me a reason as to why I should vote off of the argument. The clearer you make things, the more likely I am to vote for you. There's only a few specific things I want to touch on.

Speed is fine - so long as you articulate well, feel free to. That being said, there is a noticeable difference between national circuit speed and local speed, so if it looks like you're blowing by me with how fast you're going, you're probably blowing by me.

While I'm familiar with things like Ks, DAs, Plans/CPs, etc., I'm not great at evaluating theory and topicality debates. I will evaluate them, but run them at your own risk.

The last thing I would like to talk about is a bit of me just complaining about how debate is functioning in the current moment. But if there's one thing I absolutely despise about the way debate is done in this time, it's the way in which rebuttals are conducted in terms of answering different warrants. What I mean by this is that I see in rebuttals a spamming of different cards and arguments in response to other cards and arguments, to the point that by the end of the 1ar there's 15+ block cards/turns on each side of the flow. This wouldn't be as much of a problem as it might normally be, but there usually isn't much done in terms of weighing between the warrants. As a judge, one of the easiest ways to get my ballot is if you are making arguments in a way where I as the judge have to do as little work myself as possible. If there are two studies on either side of the resolution, give me reasons for why I should prefer your study over theirs. I appreciate a couple cards with really good weighing analysis with reasons to prefer than you reading ten cards without much in the way of weighing being done.

In the event of e-mail chains and/or flashing of cases is happening, I want to be included as well. It makes it easier for me to keep up with what arguments are being made during the debate, especially if you spread extremely quickly.

If I can't understand you when you're spreading, I'll call clear once or twice, depending on how bad it is. After that, anything that doesn't end up on my flow is on you.

I award speaker points based on in round behavior as well as on strategic choices you make within the round.