DEMPSEY CRONIN MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL

    29-30 April 2023 for debate
    30 April 2023 for speech

    DEADLINE
    22 April 2023
    ​NO REFUNDS AFTER 22 APRIL 2023
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to middle and high school students
    PLATFORM
    Online through NSDA Campus

    Information

    Dear Colleagues:

    We cordially invite you and your team to attend The Dempsey-Cronin Invitational, held on the weekend of April 29th-30th, 2023. This tournament will be held on the NSDA Campus platform.

    In Memory of Rev. James J. Dempsey and Mr. Marty Cronin
    The tournament is named in honor of the late Rev. James J. Dempsey, S.J. and Director Marty Cronin. Father Dempsey was a longtime college coach at many notable institutions and co-founder of the collegiate Northern California Forensic Association. Mr. Marty Cronin was an outstanding teacher and coach for many years who serviced the community and helped create a competitive atmosphere where his students thrived. Cronin was president of the Douglas County Professional Education Association, an officer in the Nevada state high school forensic association and active in state politics. Both Fr. James J. Dempsey and Marty Cronin represented the best of this community. In accordance with their values, we hope to provide an educational and competitive event for your students.


    Events and Divisions
    This tournament will NOT be offering bids for NIETOC and is NOT designated as a bid tournament for the UK TOC. Our tournament is intended to provide additional opportunities for Middle School, Novice and JV competitors

    High School
    • Debate
      For high school debate students, we offer the following divisions: Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Parliamentary Debate.
    • Speech
      For high school speech students, we offer synchronous competition in all NSDA Main Speech Events (DI, HI, POI, Info, OO, Duo, Extemp) with the following exceptions: Extemp will be one division that will combine International and Domestic topics. Duo will be Asynchronous. We also offer a division of Declamation (also known as OI), a division of Impromptu Speaking, and a division of Prose and Poetry (to include both Prose & Poetry Interp and Original Prose & Poetry).
    Middle School
    • Debate
      For middle school debate students, we offer the following divisions: Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Congressional Debate.
    • Speech
      For middle school students, we offer divisions of Middle School Spontaneous Argument (SPAR) and Middle School Impromptu.
    • All
      Middle school students are also welcome to enter any of the high school speech divisions.


    Logistics

    Location/Platform
    This competition will take place online on the NSDA Campus platform. 
    All competitors must be linked to a Tabroom.com account associated with their school in order to access their competition rooms.
    All rounds will be single-flighted in order to reduce screen time for both competitors and judges.

    Time Zone
    Due to our school’s location in California, all times for the tournament will be on Pacific time.


    Double Entry Limitations
    Students are able to enter in one Debate event and up to 2 Speech events with the following exceptions:
    • Students who enter in Congressional Debate cannot enter a speech event, but may still register for another Debate event.
    • Students who enter Extemp can only do Extemp during the Speech pattern, but may still register for a Debate event.
    • Middle school students who register for Debate and two Speech events can additionally register for Middle School SPAR provided they do not advance in Debate.


    ​Judge Qualifications and Expectations
    • All judges are required to have a linked Tabroom account. This is to ensure they have access to both their ballots and the competition rooms on the NSDA Campus platform.
    • Judges covering high school competitors must be over the age of 18 and have graduated from high school.
    • Judges for Middle School events may be current high school juniors or seniors with significant forensics experience.
    • Judges should have significant experience with digital forensics competitions. Schools are responsible for preparing their judges in the use of Tabroom.com and for what to expect in a digital forensics competition. As a result, there will be no day-of-tournament judge training. Rather we encourage the use of the following resources ahead of the tournament to become prepared:
      We encourage all judges to review the NSDA Cultural Competency resources (www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/) and take the course. If you have newer judges, we strongly recommend the Adjudicating Speech and Debate course available via the NSDA (www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/).
    • Finally, we expect all judges to act in a manner that is inclusive, equitable, and offers constructive criticism to the competitors, regardless of their background or experience.

    Elimination Round Obligations
    All Debate judges are committed to judge one round beyond when the last student from that school/institution is eliminated from competition in that division. 
    This means that if you have 3 PF judges and one of your PF entries advances to the Quarterfinal round, ALL 3 judges are committed to judge the Semifinal round. 

    All judges are obligated through the first complete elimination round. 
    For example, if the tournament runs a partial octofinal debate all judges are obligated through the quarterfinal elimination round.

    All Speech judges are committed to the Final round, and all Congress judges are committed through the Final round.

    Missed rounds will incur fees as we have to replace those judges with hired judges or school judges beyond their commitment. Missed round fees will be $30 per ballot.

    We will be requiring every judge we hire to complete the NFHS Protecting Students from Abuse training course prior to the tournament: (https://nfhslearn.com/courses/protecting-students-from-abuse). Please upload completed certificate to this registration form.

    We also strongly recommend the NSDA Cultural Competency Course. You can access each of these courses via the NSDA Judge Training Webpage: (www.speechanddebate.org/judge-training/).


    Event Specific Information

    Public Forum:
    • Topics
    We offer the April NSDA topics in Public Forum debate for both Middle School and High School students.
    Please pay close attention to the name of the division you have selected when registering your entries.
    • Coinflip Process
    Teams will flip for sides and for speaking order in all rounds. Coinflips will be conducted online via Tabroom.com. Flips will become live one minute after pairing release, and the winning team will have five minutes to choose a side or speaking order. If the time elapses, either team may choose.
    • Evidence Expectations
    In Public Forum, evidence must be made available to view upon request from either an opponent or judge.

    Lincoln-Douglas:
    • Topics
    For middle school students and high school students, we offer January/February & March/April NSDA topics in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
    Please pay close attention to the name of the division you have selected when registering your entries.
    • Coinflip Process
    Teams will flip for sides in elimination rounds. Coinflips will be conducted online via Tabroom.com. Flips will become live one minute after pairing release, and the winning entry will have five minutes to choose a side. If the time elapses, either entry may choose.
    • Evidence Expectations
    In Lincoln-Douglas, evidence must be made available to view upon request from either an opponent or judge.
    • Argument Restrictions
    The tournament does not take a position on what types of arguments can be advanced by debaters on either side. 


    Observer Policy

    Coach Viewing
    We will permit one coach from each school to be added to the backend of the tournament with limited access so they can enter and observe competition rounds. 
    We feel this will help you locate your students more efficiently and would help teams to troubleshoot potential tech issues.
    This is a privilege. Under no circumstances is a coach to watch a round their competitor is not competing in. It can be revoked if we find out this has been violated.

    Equity and Disputes
    If, at any time during the tournament, there is a concern regarding equity or a dispute regarding a tournament procedure, we are requiring the individuals to fill out a google form so they can be contacted by the Ombudsperson and Equity Officer. The equity form will be located on our tournament tabroom page. The decisions of the Equity Officer / Ombudsperson are final.


    Elementary Congress
    Elementary Congressional Debate Legislation​

    ​Entry Price

    One speech event and parent is judging $70
    One speech event and parent is opting out of judging $140

    Two speech events and parent is judging $90
    Two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $160

    One PF event and parent is judging $70
    One PF event and parent is opting out of judging $190

    One PF + one speech event and parent is judging on both days $90
    One PF + one speech event and parent is opting out of judging $210

    One PF + two speech events and parent is judging on both days $110
    One PF + two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $230

    One LD event and parent is judging $90
    One LD event and parent is opting out of judging $210

    One LD + one speech event and parent is judging on both days $110
    One LD + one speech event and parent is opting out of judging $230

    One LD + two speech events and parent is judging on both days $130
    One LD + two speech events and parent is opting out of judging $250

    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

    Please note that all times are in PACIFIC STANDARD TIME (PST).

    Click here to see the schedule page

    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
    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.
    EVENT SELECTION
    Contestants should make an effort to notify their judges when they are double-entered. Tardiness to rounds may result in disqualification.
    ​Students are able to enter in one Debate event and up to 2 Speech events with the following exceptions:
    • Students who enter Extemp can only do Extemp during the Speech pattern, but may still register for a Debate event.​
    ​JUDGE PROVISION
    Max file size: 20MB

    ​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

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