BARGAIN BELT

BARGAIN BELT INVITATIONAL

21-22 October 2023

DEADLINE

15 October 2023 if traveling on your own

ELIGIBILITY

Open to 6th-12th graders

LOCATION

In-person at Claremont High School, Southern California

Information

Please accept our cordial invitation to The 11th Annual Bargain Belt Invitational hosted by Claremont High School. We pledge to you a full service, low-cost, well-managed weekend of excellent In-Person competition. As a competitive high school team, our mission is to provide the unique educational opportunities inherent in forensic competition at an affordable cost to the forensics community. This tournament will be conducted In-Person unless the Los Angeles County Health Department recommends otherwise. Our two-day competition schedule allows for a relaxed atmosphere with most debate events on Saturday only and ALL speech events scheduled for Sunday only. We believe this schedule allows you to maximize your judges without overwhelming them. We look forward to hosting your team and providing a great weekend of competition on our beautiful Southern California campus.

We are excited to once again include a free lunch on both Saturday and Sunday for all student competitors, all judges and all adult chaperones. This has been a unique staple of the Bargain Belt since its inception a decade ago and we are excited to continue the tradition of FREE LUNCH for Everyone! We continue to provide a large number of awards and competition divisions to increase your program’s chances of success.

Events and Divisions
In debate we offer Novice and Open divisions in Public Forum debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. We will use the Sep./Oct. LD topic and the Sep./Oct. PF topic. Note, if a novice or varsity division does not reach at least 16 entries, we may collapse into a single open division. (We do not utilize the Novice LD topic.)

In Speech we offer Novice & Open divisions in all CHSSA Speech events, to include: Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Original Oratory (OO), Original Advocacy (OA), Impromptu, Program Oral Interpretation (POI), Oratorical Interpretation (OI), OriginalProse/Poetry (OPP), Informative (Info) and Extemporaneous (combining domestic and international).

Speech will have three preliminary rounds, then break to semi-finals (>30 entry) or finals (<30 entry). Note, if a novice or varsity division in speech does not reach at least 10 entries, we may collapse into a single open division. Finally, we are pleased to recognize the top Middle School competitor in every event with an award.

We are pleased to announce NIETOC bids at Bargain Belt! Tournament bids are based on entry numbers, and will be offered in DI, HI, Duo, OO, POI, Informative, and Extemp. For additional information on how NIETOC works, please visit their website at www.nietoc.com.

We will provide information on the extemp prep room at a later date.

Students may enter up to three events; consisting of one debate event and two speech events. Exceptions: A student entering Extemp, may only single enter in the speech events; but may still enter one debate event.

Awards and Recognition
Awards will be given to all Speech finalists and semi-finalists. All Congress finalists will receive awards. All Octa-finalists and higher in the debate events will receive awards. And, awards will be guaranteed for the top performing middle school student in each event. Keep in mind, debate divisions may be collapsed if the entry in one of the divisions is fewer than 16 entries.

Judging Commitments
All judges are committed to judge one round beyond when the last student from GSA is eliminated from competition. This means that all judges are committed for at least the first Elimination round. Also, if your school has 4 judges and one of your debaters advances to the Quarter-final round, ALL 4 judges are committed to judge the Semi-final round. Please make sure your judges are available for their full commitment both days. Missed rounds will incur fees as we have to replace those judges with hired judges or school judges beyond their commitment.
All judges must have a tabroom account with both email and phone number, and they must be on site and available to judge. Judges must be responsive to tournament email communication or they will not be eligible to judge. A limited Judge training will be provided on both Saturday morning and Sunday morning, 20 minutes before the start of the first round.

Competition Procedure
Debate rounds one and two will be preset, debate rounds 3-5 will be power-matched. A school will not hit itself in prelims. However, we will not break brackets in elimination rounds. School vs. school in elimination rounds will require a coach’s walk-over decision. The tournament will advance the higher seeded debater if the coach does not indicate a walk-over decision. Speech preliminary rounds will be preset. A team’s speech entries advancing to semi-finals will be spread equally between panels. There will be a 10 minute forfeiture rule in place for all rounds of competition.

Disputes and Equity
It is our goal to host a fair, transparent and equitable tournament. The Bargain Belt Invitational will utilize an Independent Dispute and Equity Committee with authority to adjudicate all competition and equity issues that are brought to the attention of the Tournament Director.

Entry Price

The fees below assume that you will be traveling on your own (parents will take their child to Southern California and book their own accommodations).

One speech and parent is judging $60
Two speech and parent is judging $70

LD and parent is judging $70
LD & 1 speech event and parent is judging $80
LD & 2 speech events and parent is judging $90

PF and parent is judging $65
PF & 1 speech event and parent is judging $75
PF & 2 speech events and parent is judging $85

If you are opting out of judging, you will pay an additional $120 for those competing in debate. You will pay an additional $70 for those competing in speech only.

Each person in a PF/Policy/Duo team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF/Policy/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

Click here to view the full schedule.
Make sure to pay attention to the time zones.

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: vrivasumana@tgsastaff.com
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: nbudiman@tgsastaff.com
Or info@tgsastaff.com

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 No but I will pay the additional $35 setup fee

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 able to enter in up to 2 speech events and one debate event, but if you're competing in Extemp you cannot enter in another speech event (you can only double enter in a debate event).
Got any questions? Please email nbudiman@tgsastaff.com, info@tgsastaff.com, vrivasumana@tgsastaff.com

JUDGE PROVISION

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 No but I'll pay the additional $35 setup fee 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? Click here to learn how to do it! Or watch our Youtube playlist here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.

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: info@tgsastaff.com

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