BAMSC

BAY AREA MIDDLE SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP

25-26 April 2026 for debate
26 April 2026 for speech

DEADLINE

11 April 2026
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to 5th-8th graders

LOCATION

Presentation High School
2281 Plummer Ave, San Jose, CA 95125, United States

Information

The Presentation Speech and Debate program is excited to again host our annual middle school students in our Championship tournament for Speech and Debate events. The tournament will take place on the Presentation High School campus located at 2281 Plummer Avenue on Saturday, April 25th and Sunday, April 26th. The tournament will offer debate and speech events. Your fees cover the cost of entry as well as lunch on Saturday/Sunday.

Important information

To reiterate we will provide lunch for all competitors, coaches and judges Saturday + Sunday.
We will have awards announced in the center where all of the students will gather. All students who get to finals of speech events will get awards. All students who break to quarters or better in debate events will get awards. Both partners in partner events will get awards.
We will offer preliminary rounds that will break to elimination rounds in all debate events and final rounds for all Individual events.
This tournament is open ONLY to middle school students grades 5-8.
Students are allowed to cross enter at their own risk. Students can enter up to three events but can only enter one debate division (Congress is considered a debate event.). We will not provide special accommodations for cross entry. Students and their coaches are responsible for getting to all of their rounds on time. We will not hold up the tournament for cross entry nor will we re-run rounds for rounds missed.
TOPICS FOR DEBATE EVENTS: We will use the January-February NSDA LD topic. We will use the April NSDA PF topic.
We will use NSDA middle school consistent times for all events.
Debate will be on Saturday, IE/Speech events will occur on Sunday.
All judges are obligated through first elimination round or one past your school's last round. Judging fines for missing Sunday Elim rounds is $75/judge/round, please make sure especially if your school advances your judges are available Sunday for quarters, semis, finals.

We look forward to hosting you at this tournament which will feature the Best of the Bay!

Entry Price

One speech event and parent is judging $130
One speech event and parent is opting out of judging $230

Two speech events and parent is judging $210
Two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $330

One PF event and parent is judging $100
One PF event and parent is opting out of judging $250

One PF + one speech event and parent is judging on both days $180
One PF + one speech event and parent is opting out of judging $380

One PF + two speech events and parent is judging on both days $260
One PF + two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $480

One LD event and parent is judging $130
One LD event and parent is opting out of judging $280

One LD + one speech event and parent is judging on both days $210
One LD + one speech event and parent is opting out of judging $410

One LD + two speech events and parent is judging on both days $290
One LD + two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $510

Each person in a PF/Duo team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF/Duo team would need to either provide two judges, both pay the judge fee, or one of each option.

Registration will not be complete until payment is received.

NOTE: We will charge set up fees if we have to create tabroom.com accounts for judges. It is recommended you do so on your own.

Schedule

Tentative Schedule

Saturday April 25 Debate
8:30am Debate Round One
10:30am Debate Round Two
12:30pm Lunch
1:30pm Debate Round Three
3:30 pm Debate Round Four
5:30pm Debate Round Five
8:00pm Octofinals (single flight)

Sunday, April 26 Individual Events and Debate Elims
8:00am Extemp Draw
8:30am Individual Events/Speech Round One
9:30am Debate Quarterfinal Rounds
10:00am Extemp Draw
10:30am Individual Events/Speech Round Two
11:30 Debate Semifinals
12:15pm LUNCH
12:30pm Extemp Draw
1:00pm Individual Events/Speech Round Three
2:00 Debate Finals
3:30pm Extemp Draw
4:00pm Individual Event/Speech Finals

*** WE WILL SPEED UP DEBATE ELIM ROUNDS WHEN POSSIBLE. So pay attention to announcements and Tabroom. We also reserve the right to add a prelim round or add/reduce the number of elim rounds based on entry size of each division of debate. We will make final decisions about breaks and rounds after registration closes and will make those decisions public ASAP.

In person Awards will follow last elimination round ballots in speech at the Center. Please expect at 5:30-6pm and we will send a blast with 15 minutes out.

Although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, please keep in mind that there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, if you are signing up for this tournament, please make sure you do not double book yourselves on these dates. Keep your schedule open and DO NOT leave the tournament without notifying the GSA chaperones first.

Drop Fee

Drop fees will be the same amounts as the entry fee PLUS any fees the tournament charges us for late drops. Drop requests should be made to Victor and Nadia.

Please do not drop out last minute to avoid being charged these fees.

Contact Info

Victor Rivas Umana
Contact email: [email protected]
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Registration Form

STUDENT INFORMATION

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (DO NOT USE PARENT'S EMAIL) *

Student Phone Number *

Does the student have a Tabroom account? *

Yes and it is linked with GSA's account(s) Yes but it is not linked and we need you to add to your roster No but I will create one before submitting registration

If this is your first time competing, make sure to first create a Tabroom account here: https://www.tabroom.com/user/login/new_user.mhtml
It's super simple and quick (<1 minute), but follow the guidelines here in case anything is confusing: https://docs.tabroom.com/Sign_Up

PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION
Students are allowed to cross enter at their own risk. Students can enter up to three events but can only enter one debate division (Congress is considered a debate event.). We will not provide special accommodations for cross entry. Students and their coaches are responsible for getting to all of their rounds on time. We will not hold up the tournament for cross entry nor will we re-run rounds for rounds missed.

JUDGE PROVISION
All judges are obligated through first elimination round or one past any GSA student's last round. Judging fines for missing Sunday Elim rounds is $75/judge/round, please make sure especially if your school advances your judges are available Sunday for quarters, semis, finals.

Will you (parent) be judging at this tournament? *

Judge Name *

Judge email (Must be linked to a tabroom account. Register first at tabroom.com before completing this sign up) *

Judge phone *

Does your judge have a Tabroom account? *

Yes No but I will create one before submitting registration Not judging

Does your judge understand that he/she is responsible for the entire tournament schedule and that missing a round incurs fines from the tournament? *

Yes, understood Not judging but understood as well

Click here to complete the highly recommended Cultural Competency judge training course

Signing up a judge without having a Tabroom account will result in us charging you for the set up fee.
You can do this easily on your own by going to tabroom.com. It literally takes less than a minute.

First time judging?
This is a great collection of short videos that one of the leagues have put together to learn each event: click here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

Tournaments encourage judges to have a paradigm on their Tabroom account, which can be a few sentences on your preferences of debating styles, etc. See here for example. It doesn't need to be this long, but make sure to add something before you sign up. For example: "I am a parent, please speak clearly and slowly and avoid technical jargon".

More tournament resources can be found here.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

I will keep a copy of this form for reference. *

YES

We are signing up with the understanding that my child will work to be ready by the tournament date. If we choose to drop out because my child is not ready that will be considered when making assessments for future classes. *

YES

I understand that if I fail to drop the tournament before the deadline that I will still be responsible for the fees of both my son or daughter, along with that of his or her partner and the fines. *

YES

I understand that if payment is not received we won't be registered and our spot will be given up to someone else. *

YES

I confirm that I have completed all necessary paperwork for this tournament. *

YES

I understand that The Golden State Academy has no control over tournament entries other than the initial sign up. I understand that my child's priority will be based on either the last time I signed up OR the date paid, whichever is latest. *

YES

I understand that my child must check in and check out periodically at the tournament with the coach and that if I do not my child will be barred from participating in following tournaments. This is to ensure coaches can see where students are at competitively and to give any initial feedback for improvement. *

YES

I understand that I can check my entry status through tabroom.com. *

YES

I am a consenting adult. I understand that by submitting this form I agree to all that has been covered. *

YES

Submit/take to payment

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

M-F: 3:45 pm - 8:30 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Telephone

510-270-8480
510-470-0531

Email (preferred)

For more info email us at: [email protected]

Locations

Fremont: 200 Brown Rd #201, Fremont, CA 94539

Cupertino: 20432 Silverado Avenue Suite 211, Cupertino, CA 95014

Aborn Institute: 2804 Riedel Road, San Jose, CA 95135

Dublin: Loving Tree Academy, 6693 Owens Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588