Check out new resources and opportunities for you, Coach!
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Get Involved with Extemp Questions at Nationals
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Extemp enthusiasts are invited to submit questions for the 2025 NSDA National Tournament! Whether you're a competitor, coach, or alum, you’re welcome to contribute. You won’t know which questions make the final cut until Nationals. If yours are selected, great! If not, your team has some strong questions you've generated to use for practice. Please share this opportunity with your students—their insights bring fresh perspectives to Extemp.
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If you'd like to be even more involved, consider joining our Extemp question editing team! Editors must be NSDA alumni, coaches, or adult community members without students competing in IX and USX at Nationals (though you may contribute to the division where you have no competitors). As an editor, you'll help refine submitted questions and finalize the Nationals set. Just indicate your interest on the form.
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Reminder: Submit Your Nominations for NSDA Awards
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High School (District to National) » Each winner of the following district awards is automatically entered into the running for the national-level award when reported by your district chair. This is a special way to recognize excellence, offer a boost to new or rarely celebrated members, and uplift the members of your community who make speech and debate great.
District deadlines vary, so be sure to check with your local leadership about when nominations are due. District chairs must report district winners to us by April 16 for national award consideration!
Middle School (National) » Recognize a coach who champions speech and debate! Nominations for the Middle School Coach of the Year Award are due May 1. These nominations are evaluated by the national office to choose the winner.
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Did Your Team Celebrate NSDE Day? Share the Details and Enter to Win!
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Did you know the NSDA turns 100 this year? As part of our Centennial Celebration, we are giving away some amazing prizes to schools that celebrated our activity on National Speech and Debate Education Day. If your team celebrated March 7, complete our contest form by March 31 to share the details and you could win prizes for your team during the 2025 National Tournament. Learn more »
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Webinar: How to Complete Nationals Registration in Tabroom.com
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Is your school attending the National Tournament this summer? Join Tabroom.com super-users Martin Glendinning and Zachary Prax tonight, March 25 at 6:00 p.m. CT as they take you through the steps of completing high school National Tournament registration on Tabroom.com. Register »
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Using Spar Debates for Practice
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Spar debates are a great way to give students relaxed experience with debate. They're also great for non-speech and debate classrooms! Start your spar debates by choosing topics yourself, having students brainstorm, or using our examples. To spar:
- Pick two students at a time. Have them flip a coin or pick a number between one and ten. The winner gets to choose which topic they will use from the spar cards and the loser will choose which side they would like to be on.
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Give the students a few minutes chance to think. Then, the loser of the toss has one minute to talk about why their side should win. Then let the other student talk for one minute.
- When done, have the rest of the class vote on who won the debate.
- Repeat the process with the rest of students for the remainder of class. NOTE: As the students get more comfortable, make them speak longer.
This content is excerpted from lesson 1 of the Start Here: Teaching Public Forum collection. The material includes additional examples and a template for cards as a fun way to introduce students to debate.
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Ideas for Planning Your 2025-2026 Season
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Build a Student Leadership Program
Offering leadership opportunities on your team facilitates peer coaching and mentorship, positively influences team culture, fosters leadership qualities in students, and inspires the next generation of coaches. Plus, it can help you offload some coaching or admin responsibilities. Upon completion of our free NSDA Learn course you will be able to:
- Build a student leadership model that fits your team.
- Attract, interview, select, and onboard student leaders.
- Train leaders to run practices independently.
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Offer a summer training for leaders.
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| Advocate for a Speech and Debate Class
Adding a speech and debate class during the day allows you dedicated time to work with students in a structure that guarantees you see the same students every time. It can also provide stability and improve your work-life balance by reducing the frequency or intensity of practices. Upon completion of our free NSDA Learn course you will be able to:
- Showcase student and parent interest.
- Demonstrate how a class helps your school achieve its goals.
- Determine the positioning and structure of your course.
- Make a pitch incorporating data and student voices.
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Apply to be a Policy Topic Writer
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Are you a high school Policy Debate coach interested in writing a topic paper and attending the annual topic meeting? Apply for the Policy Topic Fellowship! The NSDA has partnered with the NFHS to offer two Policy Debate topic fellowships to increase representation in the Policy Debate topic selection process. Learn more and apply by April 1 »
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