The Tournament-Day Checklist

Tournament results are decided partly in the round and partly by whether you showed up prepared. Work backward from tournament day using this list.

One week before

• Confirm the topic and re-read your case out loud once, checking it still fits your speech times.
• Print or organize all evidence, cases, and flows so they are in one folder, not scattered across notebooks.
• Run at least one full practice round against a different opponent than your usual practice partner.

Two days before

• Pack your debate materials: cases, blank flow paper, extra pens, a timer or stopwatch, a water bottle.
• Check the tournament's start time, location (or login link if online), and round schedule.
• Get a full night of sleep two nights before, not just the night immediately before, since pre-tournament nerves often disrupt sleep the night right before anyway.

The morning of

• Eat a real breakfast, low blood sugar mid-round hurts focus more than most debaters realize.
• Arrive or log in at least 15 minutes before the posted start time.
• Run the 3-Minute Pre-Round Warm-Up once before your first round, not just before rounds that feel important.

Between rounds

• Do not immediately re-litigate a round you think you lost with teammates, it eats time you need to prep the next round and rarely changes anything.
• Eat something and hydrate, even briefly, between every 2-3 rounds.
• Glance back at your case once between rounds to keep it fresh, rather than only reviewing it once at the start of the day.