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Middle School Novice Curriculum Guide
Give Speeches!
Practice makes perfect! Before the tournament, you should practice your speaking. It will not only familiarize yourself with the arguments but will also help with your nerves: giving a speech for the first time can be nerve-wracking but giving that same speech five or ten times will make you confident in it. Not that you need to practice the same speech, but you should make sure to practice as much as you can.
Practice goes better the more it resembles actual debates. Try to schedule practice debates or short cross-ex exercises with your partner and your coach, along with any other teammates. It can also be useful to give your speech on your own time to make sure you can make all the arguments you need to within the time limit.