Team Policy is Broken, Part 1: Volleys
This post begins an advanced series analyzing the problems with the Team Policy format. If you have less than 2 years of experience in any kind of debate, consider bookmarking this and coming back to it later.
We love Team Policy. It’s a fun format that can change your life for the better. Most of our coaches have many fond memories in it. And no matter what we think or say, it’s not going anywhere.
That said: Team Policy has some real problems. As a debater, you can’t change the format. But you do need to know what’s wrong so you can work around it. Certain strategies that should work on paper don’t work in Team Policy, and others that shouldn’t work are disproportionately effective. Your job is to master whatever format you’re in - the good and the bad.
This series will end with specific guidelines on how to work around the problems in the format.
The Format
Team Policy has a series of 8 speeches. The first 4 are constructives followed by cross-examinations. The last 4 are rebuttals. Typically the constructives share a time (like 8 minutes), and the rebuttals share another (like 5).
Constructives start with an affirmative speech; rebuttals start with a negative speech. That creates the negative block - a point where the negative gives two speeches back-to-back.
Volleys
A volley is a period of debate in which one side speaks, and then the other side has a chance to respond. Within a single volley, there’s no logical benefit to bringing up a point again. The judge already heard and understood it; now we’re waiting for the other side to respond.
Team Policy has three and a half volleys. From the negative perspective, they look like this.
| Volley | Aff Time | Neg Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1AC | 8 | 0 |
| Opening: 1NC + 2AC | 8 | 8 |
| Middle: Neg Block + 1AR | 5 | 13 |
| Closing: 2NR + 2AR | 5 | 5 |
That means the opening and closing volleys are closely matched, while in the middle volley, the negative gets almost triple the speaking time.
The negative block creates enormous pressure on the 1AR. It’s a huge advantage, and it’s the only one the format gives you. That means to thrive in the format, you must exploit the negative block to create an insurmountable strategic advantage. But that doesn’t mean it’s a positive thing for negatives. The difference in times is so extreme, and the block comes so late in the round, that it makes many otherwise-strong negative tactics impossible to run effectively.
Many things that we take for granted about Team Policy - from how to run Topicality to the division of labor in the constructives - are adaptations to work around the awkwardness of the negative block. In the next few posts, we’ll explain exactly why.
Up next: the problem with 4 constructives.