ATTENTION
HIGHSCHOOL
&
MIDDLESCHOOL
POLICY
DEBATERS!
Next Level Policy Debate Coaching
Are YOU a Next Level Debater?
Got the Coach you need?
Wanna Be "Next Level" ?
Debate is THE SPORT of this Era!
Gerard Grigsby Academy Is For You If:
You feel overmatched by good debaters.
You wish you had more coaching & guidance.
You are a good debater but you don't fully understand the arguments on the topic.
You would like expert help on developing strategies.
You wish you had a better developed arsenal of files.
You don't know how to improve your speeches, especially your rebuttals.
You are frustrated that your tournament performance isn't what you expected.
You are serious about turning your hard work into SUCCESS!
Being a good policy debater is about more than being smart, a good speaker, or liking to argue.
POLICY DEBATE is the sport of the century! Why you ask? We are at an all-time low of intelligent debate in almost every developed nation. It's convenient to keep the public uninformed and unable to effectively research in real time. Instead, let the next gen takes us to a place of super intelligent communication through the art of policy debate?!
Here’s how the RIGHT policy debate coach can help you WIN!
Understand what the TOPIC Means - in a broad sense.
A debater is only as good as their understanding of the topic. We will explore what the topic means and develop strategies that help turn your team into a high perfoming one.
Choose good affirmatives or range of cases to run.
Learn proven techniques to select a good case that helps you set your team up for success and overcome the deer-in-the-headlights moment when it comes time to choose a good affirmative.
Evolve and develop the cases throughout the season.
Learn how to identify the weaknesses of your affirmative case and leverage its strengths. Learn how to identify which elements of your case require updating, as well as techniques and strategies to accomplish that.
Develop generic and specific negative strategies.
Create more favorable outcomes in rounds using proven research and file processing techniques. Learn how to develop strategies that provide the means to deploy arguments addressing the core controversies of the topic, as well as hyper-specific negative strategies.
Refine and perfect execution through practice debates and rebuttale re-dos.
Pratice makes perfect. Activate your Policy Debate Super-Powers via practice rounds and rebuttal re-dos. Become the absolute best version of yourself through practice, practice, practice.
Navigate the policy debate camp world.
Policy debate camps are a critical resource got the success of a debater's career. Having the coach you need to help you determine the best camp choices, get the application and references to get accepted, and discover funding options is imperative. .
Words of Praise from THESE
Debater Brains:
"
The 2 weeks I spent with Mr. Grgisby as my coach taught me a lot about policy debate. His coaching style was very enjoyable. He is able to teach the content in a digestible and interesting way and never makes it feel like a drag. The knowledge he gave me about the new topic this upcoming year is invaluable, and I feel much more prepared for my future debates. Beyond that, the skills he taught about how to be a better debater will surely be incredibly useful for the rest of my debate career. After a mere two weeks with him, I felt like I had learned a lot about debate which I had not known before. With his ability to create a friendly and educational environment and his ability to teach important skills, Mr. Grigsby is an incredible debate coach that I strongly recommend to anyone.—
Esteban Pierrend
BASIS Peoria
2024 AIA State Champion, Arizona
"
I went to policy debate camp this summer, and Mr. Grigsby was my coach. He taught me so much! He helped me with my rebuttal skills, spreading, and cross-examinations. Most importantly, Mr. Grigsby taught me the significance of hard work, and how it always pays off. He was very patient with our group and worked through the material very thoroughly with us. By the end of camp, I had a very clear understanding of the material for this upcoming season, and knew what arguments are the best to run. I highly recommend Mr. Grigsby as a debate coach
Aanya Venkat
Arizona College Prep Sophomore
"
Mr. Grigsby is truly a wonderful coach. I have been able to learn so much under his guidance this summer at debate camp; I learned about various different Ks and their underlying literature. The 2 weeks I spent learning from Mr. Grigsby really helped me and improved my skills as a debater. Not only did I improve my spreading and ability to create many more analytics for on case arguments, but I also got tons of prep for next year that we read through in class and got a good understanding of. We also had tons of practice rounds which helped me constantly improve and see where I'm going wrong in my speeches. It was truly an enlightening experience and I recommend Mr. Grigsby to any debater who is looking to get better.
Akarsh Jain
BASIS Peoria
2024 AIA State Champion, Arizona
Ready to become a better Policy Debater?
Book your FREE Zoom policy debate coaching consultation with Coach G.
More reasons why becoming a great policy debater can lead to real-life Success.
Top Colleges with Top Funding
Here is a short list of national policy highschool debaters:
- Michael Horowitz - author & professor of political science: BA Emory, Ph.D. Harvard
- Stephen Breyer - Supreme Court Justice: BA Stanford, Magdalen College Oxford, LLB Harvard
- Samuel Alito - Supreme Court Justice: BA Princeton, JD Yale
- Ketanji Brown Jackson - Supreme Court Justice: BA Harvard, JD Harvard
- President John F. Kennedy: BA Harvard
- President Lyndon Baines Johnson: BS Southwest Texas State Teachers College, Georgetown University
- Senator Elizabeth Waren: BA University of Houston, JD Rutgers
Skills for Becoming a Great Partner
The right policy debate coach will help you find your areas of strengths and challenges. In the GGA coaching process, finding the right partner and the right way to be a partner will become superpowers in a lifetime of relationships.
Problem-solving, innovative thinking, and creativity are all advantages policy debaters develop that lead to great partnerships in all areas of life.
A Brain Capable of Tackling a Complicated World
Whether your skills as a policy debater take you down a traditional road to law, legislation, and policy or a path to social justice and community solutions, the world needs you to help solve it's most perplexing issues!
Confidence Confidence Confidence
Imagine debating the number-one national plolicy debate team in the U.S.. The adrenaline and exuberance are palpable. Whether you win or lose the round, the experience will give you a never-endining edge.
Coach G has brought successful championship seasons to multiple generations of debaters
over the course of his career.
About Coach G
Gerard Grigsby is an experienced and highly decorated Policy Debate coach, who has directed competitors on the national circuit for more than 25 years. He has coached multiple generations of successful championship debaters over the course of his career, including State and/or National Qualifier champions in Arizona, Wisconsin, and California. Additionally, his teams have achieved tremendous success, reaching late elimination rounds including semifinals or better in tournaments in California, Arizona, Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Kentucky, New York and Massachusetts. Gerard’s Debaters have achieved great success including being invited to several prestigious National Round Robin Tournaments, generally reserved for the nation’s top teams including the USC Round Robin, The California-Berkeley Round Robin as well as The Baylor Round Robin and the Harvard Round Robin, both of which included decond-place finishes. His teams have won several national tournaments, including The New York Championship at The Bronx High School of Science, The University of California at Berkeley, Stanford, UC Fullerton, UC Long Beach, Omaha Westside, and The Sophomore Hoe-Down at The St. Mark’s School of Texas. His teams have also earned second-place honors at the Harvard Round-Robin, the Baylor Round Robin, New Trier, and The University of Redlands. Gerard has coached several teams to compete at the NSDA Nationals, the National Catholic Forensic League Nationals, and the National Tournament of Champions. Gerard has previously coached at nine debate institutes, including, the Stanford National Forensic Institute and the California National Debate Institute at The University of California at Berkeley. He has worked with the Bay Area Urban Debate League, which offers debate training to highly motivated but underresourced student populations in the San Francisco Bay Area. A highlight of his career includes being nominated for The Acolyte Award, given to the top high school assistant coach/argument coach in the country.
The GGA Commitment
We are passionate about teaching debaters how to maximize their talents, abilites, and efforts, helping raise a generation of critical thinkers poised to solve the world's problems.
We are commited to bringing the sport of debate to a wider community of students that have traditionally not had access to these opportunities.
NOW IS THE TIME!
We believe that the best way to impact the landscape of an underserved community is to lead with education. GGA is commited to providing the necessary skills to empower young minds. We believe that this commitment to providing the requisite know-how will help Implement the changes necessary to lift communities. Imagine what policy debate could do to change the world around you!
*Donations are currently nondeductable - GGA's 501c3 IRS status is pending for 2023.
