Where I’d Like to See CX Go by Stephen Babb

Perhaps more than any other speech, cross-examination represents LD debate’s unique opportunity to have a truly discursive experience. With rapid speech frequently eroding the communicative dimensions of the 1NR or 1AR, CX gives debaters a chance to slow…

Three Ways to Improve Your Mental Game by Adam Torson

Why Local Tournaments Matter by Stephen Babb

I distinctly remember reaching a point in high school at which attending local tournaments came to feel like more of a burden than opportunity. To be sure, my sentiment was and is shared by a number of students and coaches alike.
Reasons to feel this…

VBI Website — Maintenance

The website for the Victory Briefs Institute 2012 is down as we do some overnight maintenance. We will have it back open on Friday, April 6.
Please pardon our delay.

Debate and the Virtue of Humility by Adam Torson

It’s hard for people who haven’t experienced it first hand to understand the transformative potential of participation in debate. We aspire to teach rigorous and critical thinking during a time when students are experiencing rapid cognitive…

The Risk of Affirmative Overstretch by Stephen Babb

It’s impossible not to understand the temptation for Affirmative debaters to crowd the 1AC with as much stuff as possible. And yes, there’s good reason to maximize the value of those precious six minutes.
But that’s where people start to…

A Time for Plans by Stephen Babb

Even those who find themselves skeptical of plan usage in LD should reconsider their positions when a topic like March/April’s “targeted killing” comes along.
First, there’s no unique advantage to broadening the scope of a particular debate on this topic. Anything that…