I (Derek) distinctly remember a round early in my career where our judge told us in his bio that impact calculus was extremely important to him. I instantly scribbled on my flow “what is that” and showed it to my partner. Alas, she didn’t know either.
Hello Lasting Impact! family! This is Tyler Barron and Derek Sun.
We wanted to share some resources Lasting Impact! is offering for NCFCA Team Policy Debate as we head into the fall.We’ll be hosting an online NCFCA TP Club starting in October. Each time we meet, we’ll be discussing both form and content – how students should debate, and what students will be debating. We’ll cover the advanced strategy behind TP, the cases that are being run, and the resolutional background and philosophical concepts debaters will need to know. This is meant to be supplemental to what you’re doing with your local clubs.
Our club will be best fit for debaters who understand the basics of TP (such as by having some experience competing in the event) and are looking to take their skills to the next level.
If you’re considering attending our club, we invite you to attend our first class free – no strings attached.
Feel free to check out our NCFCA TP sourcebook as well. The authors have compiled hundreds of pages of evidence with full 1ACs, Affirmative backups, and Negative briefs to help kickstart your research for our new resolution.
In addition, Lasting Impact! offers private coaching for Team Policy, or any event you would like tailored, personalized guidance in (https://lastingimpact.info/coach-information/). Thanks!
Thoughts from the comically small college dorm desk of one of the Lasting Impact coaches:
You can’t just rely on charm in speech and debate.
Trust me, I’ve tried.
There is no secret trick to winning tournaments, there is no special sauce in connecting with a judge, there is no proprietary speech structure that magically makes your topic comprehensible. As boring and cliched as it sounds, the only way to ensure steady growth and consistency in the competition room is practice. Practice makes perfect.
Classes start NEXT WEEK! If you haven’t gotten a chance to see ALL of the different classes/clubs Lasting Impact! has to offer this semester- now is the time! https://lastingimpact.info/product-category/clubs/
Maybe you’ve been looking at one of our Lasting Impact! online clubs but haven’t quite been ready to hit that registration button. Maybe you’re nervous about the commitment. Maybe you’re wondering if you really have time to add one more thing to your schedule. Maybe you’re not sure if an online club will be a good fit for you. Or maybe you’re interested, but you’d just like to know what you’re signing up for before you commit.
Well- now is the time to sign up! Try the first class on us! That’s right. If you’re considering one of our online clubs, we’re inviting you to attend the first class FREE. No strings attached.
Come meet the coach. Meet the other students. See what the class is like. Participate, ask questions, learn something, and get a feel for whether the club is right for you.
Then decide.
At Lasting Impact!, we believe there is tremendous value in learning alongside other students and experienced coaches. You may already have a wonderful local club—and that’s great! Our online clubs aren’t necessarily meant to replace what you’re already doing. They can be another voice, another source of feedback, another place to practice, and another opportunity to learn from coaches and competitors outside your immediate circle.
And because our classes are online, students have the opportunity to participate, gather information from across the nation, sometimes leagues. And you know what they say- information is POWER! We love getting to know our students. We want to hear their speeches, answer their questions, work through their cases, challenge their thinking, and help them grow throughout the season.
We have experienced coaches and teachers ready to go. We have a handful of students already signed up for each class.
We just need YOU!
And there are lots of ways to join us this season. Our current online offerings include –
Advanced Lincoln Douglas Value Debate
Apologetics Club
Biblical Thematic Intensive
Duo Interp Intensive
Extemp Club
Foundations of Lincoln Douglas Value Debate
Master Impromptu Speaking
Open Interpretation Intensive
Platform Speech Intensive
Team Policy Foundations
Intermediate/Advanced Team Policy
Head to the SHOP to learn more about them – https://lastingimpact.info/product-category/clubs/ Whether you’re a brand-new competitor who needs some help figuring out where to begin or an experienced competitor looking for more advanced coaching and feedback, there’s a place for you. Maybe you need accountability to actually get that speech written. Maybe you need someone besides Mom or Dad to listen to it. Maybe you want another coach looking at your debate case. Maybe you need regular practice. Maybe you simply want to surround yourself with other students who are excited about speech and debate and want to get better.
That’s what our clubs are for!!
But we also know that looking at your calendar in September can be intimidating. School has started. Local clubs are kicking off. Activities are piling up. Tournament season will be here before we know it.
So we’re taking the risk out of it…
Don’t know if you have the time? Come try it.
Don’t know if you’ll like the coach? Come meet them.
Don’t know if the class will be helpful? Come experience it.
Don’t know if you want to commit? You don’t have to—not yet.
Your first class is on us, and there are no strings attached. Classes begin next week, so now is the perfect time to jump in and see what you think.
If you’d like to attend the first class FREE, email Anne at Anne.lastingimpact@gmail.com and tell her which club you’d like to try. She’ll help you get connected.
We have the coaches. We have the classes. We have students ready to learn.
Now we just need you.
Come try the first class on us. You might just find exactly what you need for your speech and debate season.
A new speech and debate season is exciting. New resolutions. New speeches. New events. New goals. Maybe even a brand-new league, club, or coach. But it can also feel a little overwhelming. Where do you start?
Whether this is your first year in speech and debate or your fifth, the beginning of the season is an important time. It’s tempting to jump immediately into writing cases, choosing scripts, researching topics, or thinking about tournaments. Those things are important, but before you race ahead, take some time to build your foundation.
Read on to to learn more about building your foundation or to see our BIG 2026 LABOR DAY SALE click HERE…
Two Books. One Product. A Guide for the 2026-27 NCFCA Season… Elements of Lincoln-Douglas: A Debate Handbook for Students & Coaches
Over the years, Lincoln-Douglas debaters have had casebooks, sourcebooks, handbooks, and research briefs. Years ago, Lasting Impact! introduced something different: our very first LD Guide.
It was a huge success!!
Since then, we’ve been flattered to see the idea of an LD “Guide” catch on. But debate keeps changing, students keep growing, and after more than a dozen years of working with thousands of competitors – including an abundance of speech and debate champions – we keep learning too. Along the way, we’ve also had the privilege of working with countless coaches, parents, and judges, all looking for resources to help them navigate the challenges of LD debate. This new two-book series equips Lincoln-Douglas students and coaches with the SKILLS to debate well and the TOOLS to tackle this year’s resolution.
So this year, we’ve taken the idea of the LD Guide even further. We’re excited to introduce a brand-new resource from Lasting Impact! for Lincoln-Douglas students, parents, and coaches:
Elements of Lincoln-Douglas: A Debate Handbook for Students & Coaches
And this year, your purchase includes two complete books for the price of one… Click HERE to purchase or read on….
There is something exciting about the beginning of a new speech and debate season… Across the country, clubs are kicking off. Leagues are launching their new seasons, new events, new rules, resolutions are being discussed, script ideas are being tested, club leaders are gearing up- adding tools to their toolbox, and students are starting to imagine what this year could hold…
A new season means new OPPORTUNITIES!!
Maybe this is your very first year in speech and debate. Maybe you are coming back determined to finally break into outrounds. Maybe you want to try a new event, becoming a stronger speaker. Maybe you want to qualify to Nationals. Maybe you want to make new friends, or simply grow in confidence. Whatever your goals are… right now is an important time to think about what you want from your season… what opportunities are you going to look for?
A familiar scene unfolds every season when a new Lincoln-Douglas resolution drops. The Affirmative stands up, armed with grand moral obligations and deontological duties. The Negative responds by flooding the room with empirical statistics and recidivism rates. By the end of the round, the judge is left holding a ballot for two completely different contests. Neither debater answered the other’s core framework. They didn’t clash; they simply talked past each other for 45 minutes.
This year’s resolution asks whether the criminal justice system should value retribution — punishment proportional to the wrong done — over rehabilitation — restoring the offender’s capacity to live lawfully. For brevity, this piece uses the shorthand RTrib and RHab from here on.
Debaters default to treating RTrib as a rigid, abstract duty and RHab as a pragmatic, outcome-based tool. Treating these as non-intersecting worldviews turns your case into a ramp — a rigged framework that only registers points for your side. To turn a ramp into a fair scale — one that can actually weigh both sides — we need a clear map of where these arguments live.
A new speech season brings new opportunities… and this year, a few new events too! Lasting Impact! is ready to help you jump start your season!
If you’ve been wondering: • Where do I even begin with After Dinner Speaking? Should I tackle a new speech? • How do I coach these new categories? • How can I grow?
Join us TONIGHT at 7:00 PM for our FREE webinar:
Tackling the New Speech Events
We’ll walk through the purpose of the new events, discuss practical coaching strategies, brainstorm ideas, and help you feel more confident heading into the season. Whether you’re a veteran coach or just starting your speech journey, we’d love to have you with us! Heather Neumann (along with her guests) will lead these exciting sessions that will be sure to inspire and spark excitement into your season.
Then, at 8:00 PM, stick around for our Club Leader Meet & Greet!
One of the greatest blessings of speech and debate is the community. Coaching isn’t meant to be done alone! This is a relaxed opportunity to meet other club leaders, ask questions, share ideas, and encourage one another as we prepare for another exciting year.
Our mission has always been bigger than trophies. We’re raising young people who can think deeply, communicate truth clearly, and make a lasting impact for Christ.
Every speech and debate season brings excitement, anticipation, and one big question:
“What event should I do this year?”
For many students, Interpretation Events can feel intimidating at first. Multiple characters. Cutting literature. Blocking. Voices. Emotions. Scripts. Where does one begin?? It can seem overwhelming. But for those willing to dive in, Interpretation events often become some of the most rewarding and transformative experiences in all of speech and debate.
Interp isn’t simply about acting… It’s about storytelling! And do you know who can benefit from being a better STORYTELLER?? EVERYONE!! Speech Students AND DEBATERS! Read on to learn more about the power of Interps and Storytelling OR SIGN UP for our FREE July 14 Webinars… contact Heather@lastingimpact.info to get on the list (more info about them below).
Here we go again: next season’s Team Policy resolution has been announced, and plenty of people are less than thrilled. They’re worried that Türkiye is too obscure, boring, and irrelevant. As two longtime TP debaters, we can say that this isn’t new. Every year, skepticism is often the first reaction to an unfamiliar resolution, especially in foreign policy years like this one…. (Keep Reading Below…)
NOTE – We are excited to welcome Tyler Barron and Derek Sun to the Lasting Impact!Team this season! They will be coaching at some of theOnline Speech and Debate Camps offered by Lasting Impact! this summer. Check them out – https://lastingimpact.info/product-category/online-camps/ ALSO- don’t forget our NCFCA TP Sourcebookand GUIDE will be coming out soon!
Calling all parents! Our team is excited to offer a free parent registration with every student who signs up for one of our online camps this summer. The fact is, YOU are an essential member of your student’s competition team. Every late night conversation in the kitchen, every practice round you judge, every bit of feedback you offer will help your student gain a deeper understanding of the resolution, and our league culture will benefit from your expertise!
Camps start this week! It’s not too late to sign up for…
Novice Team Policy, June 26-27 from 9am-12pm CST
Advanced Team Policy, June 26-27 from 1-4pm CST
Novice LD, June 27 from 11am-3pm CST
Advanced LD, June 27 from 11am-3pm CST
We hope to see you there! If you haven’t signed up yet or haven’t checked out ALL the Speech and Debate Camps we are offering this year – check them out – HERE!! https://lastingimpact.info/product-category/online-camps/ OR Email anne.lastingimpact@gmail.com with any questions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.