(Sign up for the final Moot Camp today!! It’s just around the corner––August 17th and 19th. It’s so much fun every year, and campers always express being grateful they decided to come.) https://lastingimpact.info/product/camp22585/
I’m a Moot Coach, so I hear a lot of people’s thoughts on the event. But oddly enough, the most common objection I hear to competing in Moot is not “idk, it looks scary.” It’s not “I dunno, it doesn’t look fun,” or even “I don’t have a partner.” No––the overwhelming #1 objection is “I don’t have time for it. I’m too busy this year.”
Don’t make that excuse…
If you think Moot is boring, you prefer philosophy debates, whatever. That’s fine. But don’t make the argument that Moot is too time consuming for you. Why? Because that’s wrong. For the person who wants to try it out, Moot takes between 8-15 hours of prep––depending on how good you already are––TOTAL. Not just to write a case. TOTAL.
Don’t get me wrong. If you’re trying to WIN the tournament, if you’re trying to get 50 speaker points on every ballot, then yeah, you’ll need to double or triple that time. But if you want to just compete? You want to put yourself in the position to possibly break? 8-15 hours. That’s it.
Why? Think about the elements you need. (1) Read the packet. (2) Read the caselaw. (3) Write two cases. (4) Practice. Four things. Total. Reading the packet should only take about 2 hours. The facts are usually 5 pages––a 5-10 minute read. That means you can re-read the facts 6-12 times in 1 hour. And you can spend the second hour either doing it again, or reading the rest of the packet (what’s called the “majority” and “dissenting” opinions). Next, read the caselaw. There are typically 8 pieces, but if you ask anyone who’s read it already, likely, you can skip reading two of them (which don’t get referenced). 6 hours of caselaw. Each is about 15-25 pages––1 hour reads. So it’ll take 6 hours to read all the necessary caselaw.
Look at that. 8 hours in, and you’ve read everything you need. You can then either borrow a case, buy a sourcebook case, or just rip straight from the packet (I know some 3-3 teams who did this!). If you wanna write your own case, that’s another 2 hours each. 12 hours total. Now do some practice leading up to the tournament––and you’re right at 15 hours.
15 hours. Stop saying you don’t have the time.
You do, because this is all over the course of the fall semester, which has 18 week starting in September. You do, because during those 18 weeks, surely you can spare less than an hour every week on Moot stuff. Surely you can put down your phone, not look at YouTube shorts, delete Instagram, etc., for a commitment of less than 1 hour a week.
But why should you do it? Is it just because the bare minimum time commitment is so low? No––it’s because it’s worth it. Every year, people tell me they couldn’t believe they had started on Moot so late in their career. People love the opportunity to engage in REAL debates that involve legal questions like the Constitution and the Supreme Court. It’s highly academic, not just some debate over a killer squirrel TP case. It’s so fun to go back and forth with a judge.
And I’m telling you, it’s doable. If you start the first week of September, you’ll be easily good when competition season rolls around. Don’t let the time excuse get in the way.
Make time for one of the greatest events in High School Debate. Don’t forget to sign up for camp… and this year we are also offering a Moot Club! Check out all the offerings in the SHOP at Lasting Impact! https://lastingimpact.info/shop/ All classes/clubs/camps are recorded.