Sullivan,+Luke

Luke Sullivan

Experience:

2 years policy debate at Aspen High School

First Year at Wake Forest

I generally believe that debates are won first on the link level and second on the impact level. In other words, make sure you win the link to your da if you want me to vote on the impact. If you think you are losing the link debate it would be wise to spend more time at the link level instead of spending several minutes explaining shoddy turns the case arguments. As far as impacts go I think winning the probability of your impact needs to come before the magnitude and timeframe debates.

I did not go for Topicality in High School a lot. This does not mean you shouldn’t go for it, but if you decide to make sure to not get too formulaic. I understand that there is a very clear way to debate topicality but don’t be afraid to switch it up. Also, having clear case lists are important. For example; the types of affs that your interpretation allows for, the types of affirmatives their counter-interp allows, and the kind of affs that your interpretation allows for.
 * Topicality:**

I agree with Jarrod Atchison that theory debates are the “free throws” of debate, meaning you should not mess them up. However, don’t be afraid to go for it if the affirmative team messes it up. If you do think that you are going to lose the debate either way I would be more inclined to give you higher speaker points if you engaged the debate in a more substantive way.
 * Theory:**

This was my bread and butter in high school. If you say that “the status quo is always an option” when asked about the status of the counterplan I will assume that you mean it is an option for the debaters if you want me to weigh the counterplan vs. the squo that needs to be in the 2NR.
 * Disad/Counterplan:**

I’m not very familiar with the literature. I will vote on it if it’s done right. Offensive arguments by the affirmative (like disad’s to the alt) are good.
 * Kritik:**

Tech vs. Truth- I would like to say that I am on the truth side, but due to the tide of the debate community that is very hard to do. As long as you don’t make really stupid or offensive arguments then we will be fine. Speaker Points- 26.5- You are competent, you know what you are doing 27- You have been debating for a while 27.5- You are competent and there are glimmers of you thinking on your feet 28- You are regularly making smart arguments and cross-applications on the fly. 28.5- You are very well prepared, you are making the smart arguments, and you are doing it with swagger 29- You have very much impressed me 29.5- The best speech I will have seen all year 30- One of the best speeches I have seen- you need to be extremely persuasive
 * Other Things:**