GIG HARBOR HIGH SCHOOL INVITATIONAL ​

    13-14 November 2020

    DEADLINE
    To register: 7 Nov 2020

    Recordings due on Cascade Commons on 11 November at 9 pm.
    ​DO NOT SEND US YOUR LINK, you need to record and submit it yourself.
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to middle and high school students
    PLATFORM
    Online through Cascade Commons

    Information

    We’re pleased to invite you to the Annual Gig Harbor Invitational Tournament.  The dates for this year’s tournament are November 13th and 14th. And, given the crazy world we live in, the entire tournament will be held virtually. We currently plan on running the tournament on the Cascade Commons Platform designed locally to support our local tournaments. Please note, we will be adding information to this invitation as we know more, please check back frequently for updates.

    We will be using Cascade Commons - a platform developed by students and coaches in Bellevue, Washington. To access the platform, go to cascadecommons.org. Around 24 hours after you sign up, you will be added to the system and you should receive a confirmation email. Once this confirmation email is received, all competitors, coaches and judges from that school will be able to access the website and submit asynchronous recordings. Additional information and guides on the process of signing up, submitting asynchronous recordings, and participating in synchronous speech events will be sent out in this confirmation email.

    It is     imperative that the contact information for each student matches what is provided here. This means that (a) the email address provided should be able to receive emails from external organizations, please beware that certain school districts prohibit students from receiving emails from non-school accounts, which can complicate support communication and extemp/impromptu topic distribution; and (b) students and judges must use the email you listed on this form to signup for an account on Cascade Commons.
     
    We are happy to announce that we are again a NIETOC bid tournament.  Extemp, Impromptu and the debate events will compete synchronously, while the other speech events will be asynchronous, with one recording submitted early in the week of the tournament. In the interest of building community, if possible, we will attempt to have a final round of most individual events on Saturday evening where competitors can log in and watch speeches if we have the technical ability to make that happen.
     
     
    We offer the following events:

    Congressional Debate
    2 sessions on Friday evening and a super session on Saturday divided into open and novice as entries permit. We will keep house sizes small in order to facilitate online competition.

    DEBATE
    Novice CX Debate           
    Novice LD Debate           
    Novice Public Forum Debate
    Junior Public Forum Debate
    Open CX Debate             
    Open LD Debate             
    Open Public Forum Debate          
                                                                           
    Novice CX will use the limited case areas adopted by the WSFA.
    Lincoln/Douglas competitors will use the     Nov/December LD Topic as announced by on www.speechandebate.org on October 1st.
    Public Forum debate will use the November topic as announced by the NSDA on October 1st. You can obtain the Public Forum topic and guidelines for that debate at www.speechanddebate.org.  You may want to verify the topic with us. Junior divisions may be collapsed with open if entries in either division are too small.
     

    Individual Events                                  
    Inform  (Novice-Open)                 
    Oratory  (Nov-Open)
    Extemp  (Nov-Open)                    
    Programmed oral interp (Nov-Open)
    Duo Interp  (Nov-Open)               
    Impromptu  (Nov-Open)
    Dramatic Interp  (Nov-Open)         
    Humorous Interp (Nov-Open)
    Ed Com (Open Division only)       

    If a division has fewer than 10 contestants the event will be collapsed into one division.

    PLEASE READ THE EVENT RULES CAREFULLY
     
    INFORMATVE: A speech that is designed to be informative in nature. Visual aids and note cards are permitted, but are not required. Time: ten minutes (10) maximum, with thirty seconds (30) grace.
    DRAMATIC INTERP: One or more cuttings from a published play, prose, poetry, TV, or radio script, which is serious in nature. The presentation is MEMORIZED. Time: ten minutes maximum with 30 seconds grace.
    DUAL INTERP:  A cutting from a published play, prose, poetry, TV, or radio script, which may be either humorous or serious in nature. The selection must be memorized but given without props or costumes. Time: ten minutes (10) maximum with 30 seconds grace. We will be following the rules of NSDA nationals that partners MAY NOT appear in the same room/recording. If you need help figuring out how to film a duo with this limitation, check out some advice from the NSDA. https://www.speechanddebate.org/duo-interp-split-screen-demo-nats-2020/.
    EXTEMPORANEOUS:  Thirty minutes before speaking time, each speaker will select a topic from a choice of four. Questions will be based on current events of the last three months. Speaker will be expected to organize and analyze material relevant to the subject area and answer the chosen question. One note card for novices only is permitted. Time: seven minutes (7) maximum, with thirty seconds (30) grace. This event will be done live on Saturday.
    ORATORY:   An original speech designed to persuade—that is, to change or reinforce an existing belief, to eulogize, to cause agreement with speaker’s position, or to motivate to action. Minimal notes may be used in Novice Oratory. Time: ten minutes (10) maximum, with 30 seconds grace.
    IMPROMPTU:  Student will enter the room and be given a choice of three topics. The student will choose a topic and have six minutes to prepare and speak on the chosen topic. Time may be used in any manner the speaker chooses (example-2 minutes prep and 4 speaking or 4 minutes prep and 2 minutes speaking). Time: six minutes (6) maximum, with thirty seconds (30) grace. This event will be done live on Saturday.
    HUMOROUS INTERP:  One or more cuttings from a published play, prose, poetry, TV, or radio script, which is humorous in nature. The presentation is MEMORIZED. Time: ten minutes with 30 seconds grace.
    Programmed oral interp: At least one cutting of prose and one cutting of poetry and/or drama linked thematically. We will follow WSFA rules. Time: ten minutes maximum with thirty seconds grace.


    PRE-RECORDED SPEECH EVENTS
    Asynchronous Speeches must be recorded during the submission window and uploaded to Cascade Commons by the student. Duo students may not be in the same room.
    ​    Directions for uploading speeches can be found here

    Submission window is between Monday, Nov 9th night and Wednesday, Nov 11th at 9pm. You must record and submit the video yourself through Cascade Commons. Make sure you have read the guideline above very carefully.​
     
     
    JUDGING:
    All ballots will be submitted electronically via tabroom, so please ensure judges have accounts ahead of time. We also highly recommend that judges take the NFHS judging course found here: https://nfhslearn.com/courses/adjudicating-speech-and-debate
     
    Time Commitments
    Debate judges must be able to judge Friday night and Saturday. You may split these commitments.
    Asynchronous speech judges must be available to judge multiple rounds between Thursday evening and Friday night at 6:00 PM. They should also be able to judge a final on Saturday. You may also split this commitment between days.
    Extemp an Impromptu judges must be able to judge all 4 rounds on Saturday.  
      
    ​
    DIVISIONS:  
    Novice debates are open to any student who has not competed in debate before the current school year or attended a summer debate camp/workshop. Junior Division is open to students, who are in their first year, students who have attended a debate camp, and students in their second year and who did not place twice at college or high school tournaments last year in this division. Open IE’s are for all contestants, regardless of prior experience.     If you competed last year in anything for 6 or more rounds, you must be in open division IE’s. Novice IE entries must be in the first year of competition
     
    AWARDS:  Awards will be given to all finalists in Individual Events and breaking students in debate. They will be purchased and distributed after the tournament. Please be patient with us, this is a new world. Awards will range from certificates to plaques or trophies depending on event and level. They may also include medals, key chains or other types of awards. Local awards will likely be distributed to coaches while those going farther will be mailed.

    ​Entry Price

    One Speech Event $60
    Two Speech Events $70
    Three Speech Events $80

    Debate only $60
    Debate + 1 Speech $70
    Debate + 2 Speech $80
    Debate + 2 Speech $90

    If you don't provide a judge, you will pay an additional $110
    Each person in a Policy team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one Policy 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
    We will not start before 3:00 PM Friday or 8:00 AM Saturday, but we may adjust this schedule between now and the tournament. If we have the judges, we may try to single flight some divisions of LD and Public Forum.
     
    Saturday, November 7th
    Registration deadline. Submission window will either open Monday night or Tuesday morning.

    Monday, November 9th
    Asynchronous speech submission portal opens at night or Tuesday morning the latest. You can start recording your events.

    Wednesday, November 11th
    Speech submission due at 9:00 PM through Cascade Commons. You need to submit this yourself.
    ​Directions for uploading speeches can be found here 
    ​
    Thursday, November 12th
    Speech ballots and links distributed to speech judges
     
    Friday, November 13th
    2:00-2:30 PM: Debate Check in
    3:00                  Debate Round 1, Congress session 1 (LD and PF double flighted)
    5:30                  Debate 2
    6:00                  Congress Session 2
    8:00                  Debate 3, speech ballots due
     
    Saturday, November 14th
    7:30-7:45 AM Online Check in
    8:00                 Extemp and Impromptu round 1
    9:30                 Debate 4 (super congress 1)
    11:30               Extemp and Impromptu 2
    1:00                 Debate 5 (super congress 2)
    3:00                 Extemp an Impromptu 3
    4:30                 CX sems/finals. LD and PF Quarters
    6:00                 Extemp and Impromptu Finals, if possible, showcase finals for other speech events
    7:15 PM          CX Finals, LD and PF sems
    8:30 PM          LD/ PF Finals
    8:30 PM          Awards (most likely on Zoom and/or Youtube)
     
    Policy Judges are obligated for all out rounds. LD and PF judges are obligated for two rounds past the elimination of their school's last competitors.

    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
    PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION
    Your email address will be the one included when we send the logistics email.
    EVENT SELECTION
    Make sure you have checked the double-entry policies. We are not responsible for schedule conflicts.

    About one day after you sign up, you will get a verification link from Cascade Commons prompting you to create an account. Make sure you use the same student email as the one you listed here. If not, you may be disqualified and GSA does not have control over that.

    ASYNCHRONOUS PREPARED EVENTS

    Submission window is between Monday, Nov 9th night and Wednesday, Nov 11th at 9pm. ​DO NOT SEND US YOUR LINK. You must record and submit the video yourself through Cascade Commons. Make sure you have read the guideline below very carefully.

    RECORDING GUIDELINE
    ​JUDGE PROVISION
    If your child is competing in speech, make sure you've read the information regarding asynchronous judging.
    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 takes two minutes.

    First time judging? Click here to learn how to do it! Or watch our Youtube playlist 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
​510-890-6665

Email (preferred)

For more info email us at: info@tgsastaff.com

Locations

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

Polygon Academy (Cupertino): 1025 S. DeAnza Blvd, San Jose, CA-95129

Morning Light Education: 6690 Amador Plaza Rd, Suite 230, Dublin, CA

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

Loving Tree Academy: 36601 Newark Blvd, #83, Newark, CA 94560