Expectations From an Online Tournament from Lasting Impact! By: Thaddian Burson

I could say it a thousand times: Adaption to online tournaments will be essential for the upcoming debate season! Raise your hand if you want to try out online debate for the first time at an actual tournament with check marks or at-large points in the balance? No hands? I agree.
The speech and debate world is undergoing a huge shift to try and balance speech and debate while protecting people’s lives. This shift is towards online debate. As students, we can choose to either resist it and just hope that something changes, or embrace it and learn to adapt. I am with most of you in that my initial gut reaction to online debate was: “Yuck!” Yet, after participating in several online tournaments, one of which was hosted by Lasting Impact!, my perspective has entirely changed. I believe that online tournaments provide a more than viable way to continue speech and debate in the Covid era.

Lasting Impact! is offering a chance to prepare for these online tournaments in the form of their Fall Circuit. It starts Sept. 28, 2020. Go to www.impacttournaments.com for more info or to register. In the meantime here are some expectations that you can have for this circuit and future Impact Tournaments…

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From Virus to Virtue (The Need For Lifetime Debate) by: Laurie Dawson

Laurie Dawson went from teaching a couple Lincoln Douglas Debate students to 40! This year, she is teaming up with Lasting Impact! to create two LD Clubs for Stoa. She has a passion to help students become life long thinkers. Laurie’s approach as a coach is innovative and heavily focused on personal engagement, aiming far beyond the high school debate realm and into adulthood. Passionate about teaching students to think and reason for themselves, Laurie believes competitive debate catalyzes both intra- and interpersonal development. The skills Laurie refined in business and non-profit leadership are the same skills imparted to her Lincoln Douglas debaters:
– to assess, research, and organize large amounts of information
– to employ traditional logic when constructing and deconstructing arguments
– to reason and persuade whilst maintaining moral and ethical integrity
Laurie coaches toward the mastery of these foundational skills and then builds upon them – line up on line. Her modern approach to classroom learning has resulted in many, even first year debaters, becoming national qualifiers…

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Preparing Your Younger Student For Debate? By: Amy Eichholz

We are so blessed to have Amy Eichholz as part of the Lasting Impact! Team! She has been teaching Beginner Debate for years, and has seen the benefits through her own children, as well as the numerous students who have had her as a coach. We are excited to offer Debate Readiness to our online community. For more information on the class click HERE or go to the SHOP on our site, OR keep reading to hear Amy’s heart on preparing young debaters…

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Hope Rawlson Does it Again – 2020-21 LD Guidebook is HERE!

This summer the Lasting Impact Team and myself have been working hard on the 2020-2021 NCFCA Lincoln Douglas Debate Guidebook!

Through this process, I have discovered the difficulty level of this resolution – it isn’t an easy one. We want you to be as prepared as possible; we want you to reach your fullest potential.

The Guidebook is to do precisely as the name implies – guide you through the year. If you have never stepped foot in a round or if you are a seasoned pro looking to dominate your senior year, this book is for you.

For beginners, it contains thorough explanations and illustrations of each element of an LD case. Additionally, multiple cases are provided that can be used as-is or made into one’s own.

For advanced debaters, we have made sure that over 90% of the evidence found is from highly credible sources, that the briefs cover every major example you need to know about, and that inside contains everything you need to jumpstart your year.

Young or old, teacher or competitor, this Guidebook is for you.

You won’t be disappointed! Get it HERE.

Want to know more about the author… Here is what Hope had to say when we asked her a few questions…

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Introducing – Lasting Impact! Fall Circuit sponsored by: DFW Speech and Debate

As we launch into this 2020-21 unprecedented season of speech and debate, we are excited to see leagues and coaching organizations adapt.

Champions intuitively understand a foundational truth: mastery requires practice. In the face of last year’s canceled spring season, Lasting Impact! piloted an online tournament platform with a heart for providing a quality online tournament experience. The resulting tournament exceeded expectations. This got us thinking: why not provide a fall practice experience with the same level of quality? After all, we are not trying to replace in person tournaments, yet the art of communication needs to continue to grow and develop.

After lengthy brainstorming and planning, we’re incredibly excited to announce the Inaugural Lasting Impact Fall Circuit, hosted by Lasting Impact! and sponsored by DFW Speech and Debate. The Fall Circuit will provide lincoln value and team policy debate options for STOA and NCFCA students. It includes weekly rounds starting September 28th. After the six preliminary rounds finish, we will host a one-day outrounds experience November 7 (with awesome prizes). The entire experience will run on a seamless online platform. This will give students, parents, coaches, and clubs all the opportunity to check out a virtual tournament!

Registration opens at noon today!! Click this link to register! For the next two weeks, we will discount the registration price of $49.99. Without required affiliations, travel costs, and other associated costs of competing in person, this online fall experience provides high-level practice for preliminary and elimination rounds at a fraction of the cost. You won’t want to miss it. We’re excited!

The resolutions will be…

TP Stoa

Resolved: “The USFG should considerably decrease its military commitments.”

LD Stoa

Resolved: “Economic stability is more important than economic growth.”

LD NCFCA

Resolved: “In democratic elections, the public’s right to know ought to be valued above a candidate’s right to privacy.”

TP NCFCA

Resolved: “The European Union should substantially reform its immigration policy.”

We look forward to meeting with you, and experiencing debate in a wonderful new way! No affiliation necessary to compete.

Check out the Impact Tournament site at www.impacttournaments.com

We are excited to be uniting with DFW Speech and Debate. We are excited for the opportunities to still offer high quality competition and ways for our youth to grow. We are excited for what the Lord has in store. The question is – are you??

The NCFCA TP Sourcebook is Ready!

Now that the Lasting Impact! TP Sourcebook is released, we, the four authors behind it, are answering a few questions about the sourcebook in order to provide you with the context of how this sourcebook came to be, and what we hope you gain from it…

Buy the TP NCFCA Sourcebook HERE. Or keep reading…

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Meet Your TP 2020-21 Sourcebook Team

We are excited to announce the upcoming release of Lasting Impact’s Team Policy Sourcebook! It will include a total of 6 full cases, each case including a 1AC, negative brief, and affirmative backup. These cases will cover a broad range of EU immigration subjects likely to be discussed throughout the year such as asylum procedures, search and rescue assistance, integration, humane treatment of migrants, and more. Not only will the Sourcebook include these full 6 cases, each averaging around 52 pages of evidence, but it will also include three full general briefs covering economic, security, and human rights issues surrounding the resolution. With these briefs, competitors can gain a better grasp of the topic and face unusual cases without being left empty-handed.

Finally, the sourcebook will contain one broad document outlining the major areas of this year’s topic, general tips for debating EU policy, and an overview of how the rest of the book is put together.

We are confident that this resource will help students new to Policy Debate, as well as seasoned competitors. Laid out in an easily digested format, with strategy notes and explanations on each case and brief, this resource is sure to give novices a better grasp of the topic, along with a developed collection of cases and evidence in their arsenal.

We are also excited for the opportunity this resource gives advanced debaters to broaden their scope of knowledge about the resolution, the workings of the EU, and common arguments that will appear throughout the season. From brand-new to seasoned debaters, this Sourcebook is highly versatile and perfect for any experience level.

Who are part of the Lasting Impact! Team, who spent their summer researching to give you an awesome product to prepare you for a fantastic season?

Sarah Fox
Sarah is entering her third and final year in the NCFCA, having competed in Team Policy, platform, interp, and all the limited preps, and qualifying to Nationals both years. In her first year of competition, Sarah won two tournaments in TP and one in apologetics. In her second year, she and her TP partner Eli Mayfield won each qualifier they competed in and placed second at the Anderson National Mixer, earning 13th place nationwide in at-large points before the season was canceled. Sarah has also enjoyed competing in speech events, securing 22 top-ten finishes in two years, taking each of her speeches to finals this past season, and earning a 2020 Regional Championship Ironman award. Apart from the Christ-centered community and friendships in the NCFCA, her favorite parts of competition are TP debate, public policy research, and apologetics.

Logan Hickman
Logan is entering his third and final year of Team Policy Debate. He qualified to Regionals every year and broke at each tournament he attended last year, winning one of them. Logan loves limited prep speaking and qualified to Regionals in impromptu, but Team Policy debate is his favorite event. One of his favorite parts of competing in Team Policy is researching real-world issues and being forced to think about things in a logical, tangible, persuasive way. He credits his ability to articulate his position in a persuasive manner, his research skills, and some of his logical deduction ability to his time in the NCFCA. Along with his partner, Anna Macklem, he compiled over 200 pages worth of evidence and research during the abbreviated previous tournament season. Logan will be a student leader for his club this upcoming season.

Anna Macklem
Qualifying to Regionals both years she competed, Anna is heading into her third year of Team Policy debate. Along with her partner, Logan Hickman, she broke in every tournament she competed at this year. A student leader at her club, Anna’s favorite event is TP, though she’s also competed in extemp, impromptu, and informative. She spent an average of 20 hours a week researching debate during the previous season, which translated to winning a tournament before the season was cancelled. She and two other students also wrote, developed, and taught a TP summer camp this year.

Eli Mayfield
Eli has competed in both speech and debate for three years, qualifying to the Regional Championship all three years, and to the National Championship the last two. His first two years of debate were in LD, which helped him build the skills of cross-examination and quick thinking. During his third year of debate in TP, Eli and his partner Sarah Fox won both Regional Qualifiers they attended, as well as placing 2nd at the Anderson National Mixer. He and Sarah were the 13th team nationally in at-large point totals at the termination of the season. In speech, Eli especially enjoyed apologetics, extemporaneous, and any platform category. His persuasive speech placed 14th at the 2019 National Championship. Eli will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this fall to pursue a career as a Nurse Practitioner or a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

The Lasting Impact! TP Source Book will be released Aug. 3. Check out the SHOP for all of the amazing Lasting Impact! products, online classes, clubs, and coaching.

Do you know how to research? by: Isaiah McPeak

A special kind of camp is on the horizon… the type of camp, club leaders, coaches, and students can really sink their teeth into! How do you research? Have you ever really been taught, or did it just come instinctively? What if I told you, you could learn how, and it could help you foundationally for the rest of your life! This is going to be an opportunity you don’t want to miss…

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Debate – Is TP or LD right for me? by: Wyatt Eichholz

Ah- summer a time to sit back and relax!! Unless… you want to get a jump start on Resolutions, learning more about argumentation styles, rhetoric, and debate! This is meant to be a helpful guide for you. Yes, you! Well, that is if you are new to the Speech and Debate universe or just aren’t sure which style of debate is right for you.

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Are You Ready for Debate Camp? (Online)

We are beyond excited to announce our partnership between Lasting Impact! and Skill Set Debate! Let me introduce you to Skill Set Debate-they are a small business created by young entrepreneurs in 2017 whose lives have been drastically changed by the power of public speaking. Each member of their team has a unique story and is passionate about helping others develop their personal communication style for the glory of God. I am excited about what the Lord has in store… even if it means online, because growth will continue, relationships will be made, and we will have fun!!

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