How to Become a National Champion?
By Griffith Vertican
The Revival of Griffith Vertican has commenced!
On September 16th, I competed in one of the toughest gravel bicycle races in Southern California, known as the Mammoth Tuff. It included 77 miles on road, gravel, dirt, and rocky terrain at 7,800 feet altitude, and over a hundred super fit bicycle racers. The race lived up to its name as the pace was fierce, the terrain was punishing, and the altitude was brutal. In years past, this is the kind of race I would have just been happy to survive. But this year, things were completely different.
Three years ago it looked like my best days were behind me - I was overweight, out of shape, and so discouraged. During that time I suffered so many setbacks that I was tempted to believe I would never win again. And then after my business collapsed (due to the Covid shutdown) I was heading straight towards depression. From both a fitness and spiritual standpoint, I was, in a word, pathetic. Self-loathing is never good, but it's particularly destructive if you refuse to make changes. However, my demise was woefully overstated. I decided to make a choice, a choice to do things differently.
Two and a half years ago I began to adopt a new mentality based on what author James Clear would call making marginal gains in his book Atomic Habits. The idea is that instead of trying to set big goals for yourself and making big jumps in fitness, you focus on consistently making the smallest strides of improvement. Initially, this program didn't go well because the changes were nearly imperceptible. It meant that I kept getting smoked even by those well above my age group (like in their 60s!) and those who were much heavier than me. In fact, I remember being incredibly frustrated that I couldn't even hang in the back of the slow B group last season. But stuck to the marginal gains method, kept fighting, and trained consistently. I tried doing just a little bit extra towards the end of my training sessions. I dramatically reduced my time on social media (much to the joy of my critics, I'm sure!) and sedentary entertainment (i.e., video games and movies). One of my greatest achievements during this time was ounce by ounce managing to drop over 12 lbs. - a particularly huge victory for me.
In sum during the last twenty-eight months, I achieved enough marginal gains to produce a big result. Virtually every major achievement in my life - from winning the collegiate national debate title, winning a state title in mountain biking, and passing the California attorney bar exam - has come through this method of marginal gains. That is exactly what happened at the Mammoth Tuffer race. Out of 144 racers, I captured the 3rd fastest time overall, one of my best races in years!
This marginal gains method not only has to do with becoming a champion athlete but a forensics champion as well. No matter the goal, incorporating a marginal gains strategy will put you in the best possible position to succeed. With that in mind, I'm going to give you a strategy that will greatly help you to be intentional and specific with what those marginal gains are and how to maximize them. Here’s the core principle: What you do intentionally is far more effective than what you do randomly. In other words, the more consistent and intentional you are with your time and direction the more productive you'll be overall. So to help you do that, there are four big areas you need to focus on and prioritize in order to increase your odds of success particularly in debate. (However, these core principles will also work in speech or any other activity you want to improve in.) These four areas include practice, research, writing, and strategizing which are all of utmost importance. Having a schedule to break out what you’re going to do and when you're going to do it provides both structure and accountability.
Practice:
The way you budget your time will largely depend on your goals. This strategy can be customized, but a general approach can be found below. Let’s take a ten-hour time budget. I suggest spending 2-3 hours a week on practice. This should be dedicated to practice rounds and limited prep drills. Your goal should be about 2 practice rounds a week and can include a combination of Team Policy, Lincoln Douglas, or Parliamentary. The rest of your time you can spend on 15-20 minutes of 1AR drills, flowing drills, cx practice, or Limited Prep categories. Essentially, whatever area you find to be needing the most improvement.
Research and Writing:
Secondly, you’ll spend 4-6 hours researching and writing. However, you can’t just research. You need to write briefs and create argumentation as a result of your research. This is likely to take the majority of your time at the beginning of the season but may decrease as the year goes on since you’ll have most of your cases written. Obviously, you’ll first want to make sure that you have your own unique cases and strategies, but as the year progresses more of the writing will consist of briefing, prescripting cross-ex, and prescripting responses in support of your own case, as well as voting issues and rebuttal extensions. If you’re not sure what to brief, our NIHD Casebooks are a great place. You can start your research pool by briefing all of the cases found there (see links below).
Strategizing:
Finally, you’ll spend roughly an hour on strategizing. This will include both the quantifiable and unquantifiable areas. Build networking groups so you can get case intel from a variety of regions, but also think about how much sleep you're getting or what food you eat may be affecting your debate performance. Be specific with the goals you're working towards and hold yourself accountable to them. While it is great to set goals like winning a tournament or national title, the most important goals are benchmark goals. By benchmark I mean any type of goal that you can personally control. Perhaps this could include a specific amount of briefs, a number of practice rounds or speeches, and any other work that you can quantify. For example, if you’re trying to produce one negative brief per week, you should have completed eight briefs by the end of February. You may have different areas with vastly different strengths, but don't be afraid to set different levels of goals to help yourself improve in the areas that need it the most. The critical thing about strategizing is that it is never ideal to do it alone. You must incorporate accountability whether it comes from a coach, parent, partner, friend, or sibling. Having someone to check in with will drastically increase your likelihood of achieving your goals. Plus, the best ideas usually require more than one person. No matter who it is, bouncing your ideas off of others is critical to sharpening your tactical strategy. Be sure to spend time gaining ideas from those around you on your cases and speeches. This includes ballot review, giving your speech to a neighbor, or reading your 1AC to a parent.
Achieving my fitness goals has been so encouraging, and while I am not sure how long I can maintain this level of fitness, I am sure that the life lessons I am learning will be invaluable. Paul the Apostle makes the same analogy in Ephesians 6:13 where he states: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” As debaters, we too must prepare. We must train our bodies, our minds, and our hearts for the battle ahead. And in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 Paul encourages us to be self-controlled and self-disciplined so that we will live with an eternal purpose. “Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” Finally, Hebrews 12 encourages us to remove obstacles and the things that may be holding us back, and that in the unseen realm, the heroes of old are cheering for us to persevere even in the face of great difficulty. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,”
My friends, whatever struggles you are facing or demons you're battling, I believe in a God who loves you, that better days are ahead, and that victory is within your grasp. Perhaps your victory will start today with assessing what may be holding you back and then by determining to make just one small change towards a new direction.
My friends, I too am cheering for you. Let’s make 2024 your best year yet.
With much love,
Coach Griffith
P.S. If you’re looking for direction in any of the above areas, one of the best ways to up your game is to work with a coach throughout the season. Our NIHD coaches would love to help!
Additionally, you’ll want to be sure you check out our new Team Policy and Lincoln Douglas Casebooks!
A few notes to remember as you formulate your schedule, 1) tournament weeks will look a bit different and you’ll want to focus on the aspects that will best prepare you for the tournament such as memorizing your speech, finishing your case, or briefing a popular case. 2) It is more important to finish your briefs than to do a practice round right before a tournament. 3) It is more important to get to bed and rest well the night before a tournament than to stay up till 3 am drinking Red Bull and last-minute prepping.
Example Schedule:
Example Tournament Week Schedule:
