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Sunset Cliffs – Open Field Report

The Sunset Cliffs Invitational, hosted by Point Loma Nazarene University in sunny San Diego is now just a week away. As of Sunday afternoon, there were 40 teams representing 14 schools from eight states. This is truly a phenomenal field – by far the largest and most competitive in Southern California this year. I’ll start the pre-Super Bowl festivities off with a little field report.

This tournament will feature four preliminary rounds breaking to octafinals – all 3-1 records should clear.

NFA-LD Entry List – Open:

• Azusa Pacific University – Open NFA-LD – jacob crooks
• Azusa Pacific University – Open NFA-LD – Ryan Loofbourrow
• Azusa Pacific University – Open NFA-LD – Adam Daley
• Azusa Pacific University – Open NFA-LD – Sarah Breslin
• Creighton University – Open NDA-LD – Nick Tanner
• Creighton University – Open NDA-LD – Landon Ross
• El Camino College – Open NFA-LD – Robert Maxwell
• El Camino College – Open NFA-LD – Shouhei Ichimiya
• Modesto Junior College – Open NFA-LD – Richard Birlew
• Modesto Junior College – Open NFA-LD – Robert Birlew
• Pasadena City College – Open NFA-LD – Nolan Pack
• Point Loma Nazarene University – Open NFA-LD – Ian Sharples
• Rice Univ. – Open NFA-LD – Julie Duong
• Rice Univ. – Open NFA-LD – Paul Ernster
• Rice Univ. – Open NFA-LD – Kern Vijyavargia
• Truman State – Open NFA-LD – Christian Johns
• Truman State – Open NFA-LD – Dylan Clark
• Truman State – Open NFA-LD – Elizabeth Hatting
• Truman State – Open NFA-LD – Sarah Backhaus
• Truman State – Open NFA-LD – Susan Taylor
• University of California, Los Angeles – Open NFA-LD – Nick Matthews
• University of Oregon – Open NFA-LD – Hank Fields
• University of Oregon – Open NFA-LD – Matt Gander
• University of Oregon – Open NFA-LD – Michael Belcher
• University of Oregon – Open NFA-LD – Aaron Marineau
• University of Reno-Nevada – Open NFA-LD – Matthew Hogan
• University of Reno-Nevada – Open NFA-LD – Travis Salley
• University of Reno-Nevada – Open NFA-LD – Elia Pirtle
• University of the Pacific – Open NFA-LD – Emily Sheldon
• University of the Pacific – Open NFA-LD – Will Chamberlain
• University of the Pacific – Open NFA-LD – Sarah Hamid
• USAF Academy – Open NFA-LD – Andrew Gallion
• USAF Academy – Open NFA-LD – Jeff Williams
• USAF Academy – Open NFA-LD – Matthew Hendrickson
• USAF Academy – Open NFA-LD – Nathanael Tousley
• USAF Academy – Open NFA-LD – Stephen Beaton
• Western Kentucky University – Open NFA-LD – Frank Murdock
• Western Kentucky University – Open NFA-LD – Kaleb Jessee
• Western Kentucky University – Open NFA-LD – Sarah Spiker
• Western Kentucky University – Open NFA-LD – Max Tagher

NFA-LD Wiki team list:

There are 14 schools entered; however, five of them do not have wiki pages. Please, if you have any intel about what the missing schools are running, start a wiki page and post your knowledge to help better facilitate the preparation process as we move closer to next weekend.

The following schools have information on the wiki:

Azusa Pacific: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/Azusa+Pacific+University

Creighton University: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/CreightonUniversity

Point Loma: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/Point+Loma

Rice University: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/Rice

Truman State: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/Truman+State

University of California, Los Angeles: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/UCLA

University of Nevada, Reno: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/UNR

University of the Pacific: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/University+of+Pacific

US Air Force Academy: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/USAFA

Western Kentucky: http://nfacaselist.wikispaces.com/Western+Kentucky

Field Analysis

This year’s field is pretty deep, and the race to elimination rounds will be cutthroat. I would expect the out-of-state teams to do well – UNR, USAFA, and WKU all field excellent debaters and should have not problem securing outround spots. University of Oregon is actually new to LD, I believe, so I have no idea how they might fare (although if their success in parli is any indication I wouldn’t underestimate them). I’m not as familiar with Truman or Rice, but it would be prudent to prepare for them regardless.

For in-state schools, University of the Pacific will be dangerous as always. Rumor has it that yours truly is an okay debater. I think my target audience is familiar with the local Socal schools for the most part, so you know who stands a good chance of breaking. (If not, you can always download the latest Season Sweeps to get a good picture).

Tournament Prep Advice:

With such a large field, preparation might seem rather daunting. But it’s doable if you put in time and effort. Here are some tips to help you prepare.

- It is impossible to adequately prepare a strategy for every conceivable argument. Instead, you should focus on prioritizing your work. You can speed up the process by delegating work among your teammates – if you don’t overlap on assignments, your squad can achieve optimal efficiency.

- Your affirmative should always be your top priority. Have answers prepared, inherency updated, topicality blocked out. I can’t stress this enough – the case is your fortress, and you do not want to be caught off-guard and end up with a few breaches in your proverbial stone walls.

- Focus on strengthen your generic positions next. Rifle through the wiki and find out what kind of specific link stories you need to cut. Prepare some generic counterplans that can solve most affirmatives with a net benefit. Make sure your topicality shells actually make sense. (And if you are still reading camp evidence, discard it. I’m serious. Do some original research for once.)

- Lastly, you can cut specific negative strategies to specific cases. Simply head over to the wiki, compile cites and/or plan texts, and start putting together evidence to counter these cases. This is extremely time-consuming, but it’s far better to have some juicy solvency takeout cards available than to have to muddle around with just generics and shoddy analytics every round. Also, let me emphasize something: LD is NOT PARLI. There is an evidentiary standard in policy-based formats and it drives me absolutely crazy when debaters choose to ignore it.

- For small teams of only one or two people, preparation is hard. You just need to work at it. I can empathize with you – I am UCLA’s only LD debater and thus I do 100% of the work. Of course, I also border on being obsessive-compulsive, so I will probably average about eight to ten hours a day cutting cards over the next week. (Note: only one part of that sentence was an exaggeration). Most of that effort will go unused, but the educational benefits that can be derived from doing all that research are phenomenal, and that’s not to mention the competitive edge that it gives you.

- Good luck, and have fun!

- Nick

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