LADI Interview Series #2: Get to Know LADI Instructor Nick Steele!
Nick Steele is a current assistant coach at Harvard Westlake and the 2016 TOC Champion. He attended the TOC three years in a row, and won and/or reached late elimination rounds at every major national tournament. He will be working at Week 3 of the San Jose Debate Intensive this summer. Hear what Nick has to say in the following interview!
1. WHAT WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT ROUND OF YOUR CAREER AND WHY?
I don’t really think there’s one specific round that was most difficult. In general, affirming against well-researched PICs is challenging because PICs steal a large part of the advantage of being AFF: leveraging your case. For example, on the handguns topic, it was hard to give a 1AR against PICs out of certain types of guns that are especially useful for self defense, like smart guns.
2. IN WHAT WAY HAS DEBATE CHANGED SINCE YOU’VE GRADUATED? DO YOU THINK THIS CHANGE IS POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE AND WHY?
The circuit is still transitioning to more policy/K debate instead of more traditional framework and theory debate. A common trend in LD is to follow trends in policy and adapt pseudo-policy arguments to LD. I think this is generally a good trend, and I would rather judge a policy or K round than a frivolous theory or tricks round. However, the transition to new forms of argumentation often comes with a shallow understanding, and I think that that has led to a lot of bad K debates this year.
3. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE CIRCUIT WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
Debaters should read the background literature for whatever argument they’re running. A lot of current debaters read Ks and policymaking frameworks strictly from recycled backfiles. They would be well served to expand outside of those boundaries and cut newer cards/research those areas more in depth.
4. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE ARGUMENT AS A DEBATER? WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT IT?
My favorite debate argument was the IPV AFF on the handguns topic. It was small enough to not link to the majority of big NEG disads, and had good solvency and structural violence impacts that could be leveraged against Ks.
5. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ABOUT TEACHING AT SJDI?
I’m looking forward to doing a lot of drills with students and getting to know them and their personal debate styles.
6. HOW CAN DEBATERS GET THE MOST OUT OF THEIR CAMP EXPERIENCE?
Debaters should do a lot of drills!! For each subject area you learn about in lecture, you should reinforce that knowledge with drills with an instructor later that day.