On Point: Speech and Debate

Tyler Barron joins me to discuss his extemp process and how he separates himself from the competition. We delve into topics such as being more personable, extemp prep routines, and speaking well. Tyler has qualified for nationals every year he has competed and has, thus far this season, won the Online Open for Extemp and has placed 3rd or higher in every tournament he's participated in Extemp.

Emma Lo joins me today to discuss how to effectively strategize, craft, and utilize TP rebuttals to make the most of your round. We dive into topic areas from the theoretical to the practical. Examining various issues like time management, organization, and proper impacting. Emma has pre-qualed to Nationals in TP for the past 3 years, and has been awarded numerous debate achievements. Most notably, Emma and her partner Nathan Chen have gone to finals 4 times this season alone, and have won 3 out of those 4 finals rounds.

Gabe Zylstra, one of the most consistent LD debaters this year in terms of performance and placing, joins me today to discuss how to approach this resolution in order to communicate clearly and effectively. We also explore the process behind consistency in rounds and in terms of performance. This year in LD alone, Gabe won an online mixer, a qualifier, and placed second at the NC National Open. He also placed 12th in TP at the most recent regional qualifier ;)

Avishai Deshpande and Caleb Muleta are the Duo champs of the Black Mountain, NC National Open tournament. They join me today to discuss the process they went through to construct their duo and share some of their personal strategies that helped them win NC. Avishai is qualified to Nationals in LD, Info, Biblical Thematic, and, of course, Duo. Caleb broke in a few speech events to regionals, placed 12th in digital, and broke in LD at NC.

Joshua Rush, a 6 year TP debater, joins the podcast today to discuss how to brief better, make more effective presses, and craft compelling narratives. Last season, Joshua placed 5th at Nationals and just recently he won the St. Paul National Mixer, earning a prequal to Nats.

Luke Buck, a goated speaker and debater from R6, enlightens the speech and debate community on how to make your limited preps stand out and appeal to the judges by being more personable in your delivery. Luke Buck, two weeks into the 2024 season, has gotten 1st, 2nd, and 2nd in Extemp, Apol, and Impromptu at the first regional qualifier respectively. At the National Mixer in St. Paul, Luke got 1st, 2nd, and 1st for Extemp, Apol, and Impromptu. Last year at the 2023 National Championship, he got 7th in Apol, 6th in Extemp, and 5th in Impromptu.

Justus Aryani, objectively one of the best current debaters, helps run Ziggy Online Debate and is very active in the debate community. When he partnered with his brother, he got to finals 3 times in his second year, and in 2023, he placed 7th at nationals. Recently, he placed 2nd in TP at the Online National Mixer with his Moot Court Partner, Erin. Today he joins me to discuss debate limitations, what they are, why we struggle with them, and how to overcome them.

Ethan Tong is the head coach and founder of Blackstone Moot Court, the premiere Moot Court coaching organization in the nation. In addition to Moot coaching, he has coached Lincoln-Douglas, Team Policy, and Apologetics. His students have routinely placed at the National level. A recent graduate of Hillsdale College with a Philosophy and Religion degree, Ethan is attending Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, pursuing a Masters of Divinity. Find out more about Ethan and Blackstone here: https://blackstonemoot.webflow.io/

Daniel Six, a recent stoa alumni, was ranked 3rd nationally for Extemp and 9th for Lincoln-Douglas in the 2023 season. Daniel is also the founder of the Unshakable speech and debate podcast. Daniel's podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/207DQMbbCDls2mJxUzXHID?si=a7a332b62d024769

An an alumnus of NCFCA, Noah was a champion-level LDer in high-school. In 2016, Noah became a regional LD debate champion and placed in the top ten Nationally. The following year, he went undefeated at the Wenham, MA national open, winning the final round 5-0, and shortly thereafter placed 2nd at the National Championship after achieving a perfect preliminary record. During his highschool debate career, Noah competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate, moot court, and a wide variety of speech events. He has been coaching and judging LD since 2017.  Noah's Ethos Debate article: https://www.ethosdebate.com/debating-rationalism-and-empiricism/