Triumph debate camp

Policy Debate Curriculum

Triumph Core

  • Students will learn the fundamentals of argumentation and build on preexisting debate knowledge
  • Our curriculum teaches essential debate skills such as advanced in-round strategy
  • Students will have a concrete understanding of the structure of a debate round, as well as the roles of each speaker and what they can do to execute advanced concepts

Topic Knowledge

  • Our instructors will deliver a full topic lecture with group discussion, and supplemental updates throughout camp
  • Our instructors will release our camps files ahead of camp so that students will have time to familiarize themselves with what research looks like on the topic. They will also guide students through the process of constructing those files
  • Students will view instructor demo rounds to see high-level skills and topic argumentation in action, as well as have the opportunity to learn how judges make their decision
  • Instructors will facilitate guided research sessions to help students utilize and learn advanced research techniques

Advanced Strategy

  • Students will learn how to adapt their strategy to their judge, opponent, and circumstances of a debate round
  • Students will learn debate psychology tips and tricks to be able to escape a close round with wins solely through marginal tactics. 
  • We believe a lot of debates can be won by predicting what will happen in the final rebuttals. Our instructors will teach our students about strategic vision and how to improve their own "debate-senses" when it comes to in-round strategy. 
  • Campers at Triumph Debate Camp will learn how to recognize and utilize win conditions and their paths to the ballots

Targeted Instruction

  • Our instructors develop individualized lesson plans based on our students needs
  • Students will also break out into activities tailored to their specific speaker roles with instructors who specialize in them to learn more about execution of strategy. 
  • Built into our curriculum is time for one-on-one coaching sessions with multiple different instructors

Hands-on Learning

  • Students will engage in practice debates against other campers to apply what they have learned in a debate round
  • Our instructors facilitate drill sessions, including practice speech drills, rebuttal re-dos, speaking practice sessions, and more
  • Students will take part in exercises and activities that focus on improving specific debate skills

Sample Lessons

Tip for viewing our sample lectures: click the play button in the left corner!

Negative Strategy

This lesson looks at the 1NC where we take a step back to think about the general process of preparing for negative debates. Case neg writing is how teams stay prepared to give an effective response to the 1AC.

The sample video was taken from our 2020 summer camp session. 

Negative Strategy

This lesson looks at the 1NC where we take a step back to think about the general process of preparing for negative debates. Case neg writing is how teams stay prepared to give an effective response to the 1AC.

The sample video was taken from our 2020 summer camp session. 

Procedurals: Theory & Topicality

One of the most interesting aspects of debate is that there are very few hard rules, and zero rules regarding content. Instead, we debate about the rules! These lessons will discuss procedurals in debate on both the affirmative and negative side. Students will learn both how to execute these arguments, as well as how to answer them.

The sample lesson was taken from our 2020 summer camp session. 

Procedurals: Theory & Topicality

One of the most interesting aspects of debate is that there are very few hard rules, and zero rules regarding content. Instead, we debate about the rules! These lessons will discuss procedurals in debate on both the affirmative and negative side. Students will learn both how to execute these arguments, as well as how to answer them.

The sample lesson was taken from our 2020 summer camp session. 

The 2AC: Preparation & Advanced Tactics

This lesson will explore everything related to the 2AC. Great 2AC’s are a product of effective block-writing and smart, tactical execution. This lesson will seek to equip students with these skills and examine advanced tactics that undermine the negative team’s strategy.

The sample lesson was taken from our 2020 summer camp session. 

The 2AC: Preparation & Advanced Tactics

This lesson will explore everything related to the 2AC. Great 2AC’s are a product of effective block-writing and smart, tactical execution. This lesson will seek to equip students with these skills and examine advanced tactics that undermine the negative team’s strategy.

The sample lesson was taken from our 2020 summer camp session. 

Keep In Mind...

All of our lectures are tailored to the students' individual needs/experience level.

Additionally, these are only sample lectures, lessons and electives. This list does not cover our entire curriculum, but rather, is here to give students and parents an in-depth understanding of what we teach at Triumph Debate Camp. Thus, while all of these lectures and electives will be taught at Triumph Debate Camp, there will also be many more in addition to this page.