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The Golden State Academy
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    JOHN LEWIS SVUDL INVITATIONAL

    PARENTS, AT THIS TOURNAMENT PLEASE ALWAYS CONTACT GSA FIRST BEFORE CONTACTING TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR, THEY DO NOT LIKE IT

    18-20 November 2022

    DEADLINE
    11 November 2022
    ​NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE
    ELIGIBILITY
    open to middle and high school students
    LOCATION
    DEBATE will be online through NSDA Campus

    ​SPEECH will be in-person at Silver Creek High School, San Jose, CA

    Information

    The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL) presents:
    The John Lewis SVUDL Invitational, formerly known as the SCU Dempsey-Cronin (aka SCU 1).

    The Silicon Valley Urban Debate League has taken ownership of the SCU Dempsey Cronin, and will be running an online Speech and Debate invitational to be held the weekend before Thanksgiving, from Nov 18-20. Members of the SCU Debate Society will be working with SVUDL to put together this tournament, and we invite you and your squads to join us.

    All proceeds from this tournament will go to the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, a local non-profit organization whose mission is to empower Silicon Valley students, regardless of their race or socioeconomic status, to reach their full potential to become professional and community leaders by teaching critical thinking and communication skills through speech and debate programming.

    SVUDL is pleased to continue to honor the legacy of the late Congressman John Lewis by naming this Speech and Debate tournament after him. Born near Troy, Alabama in 1940, Congressman Lewis devoted his life to securing civil rights, fair and equal access to voting rights, and was a tireless soldier who literally and repeatedly risked his life in the movement against racial segregation and injustice.

    We are also pleased to announce that we are again a NIETOC designated bid tournament for those interested in the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions. We are also designated as a bid tournament for the speech and semifinals bid in Public Forum for the Tournament of Champions, held by the University of Kentucky.

    This will be a hybrid tournament, with all Speech events and Congress held in person at Silver Creek High School in San Jose, CA. All other Debate events (LD, PF, Parli, Policy) will be held online using the NSDA Campus platform. 

    Dates
    All Debate formats will start Friday, November 18 this year. Speech events and Congress start Saturday, November 19. 

    Double Entry Policy
    Due to the hybrid nature of the tournament, students will not be allowed to double enter across Speech and Debate events. Congress will also not be allowed to double enter. 
    However, students are welcome to double enter in speech. All Speech events will be placed in 2 patterns. Students are allowed to enter up to 2 events per pattern, but no more than 3 events total. 

    Please note that the schedule listed is tentative. Depending on the size of entry, the schedule may be adjusted. 
    Please note, we may make adjustments to our tournament procedures to bring us more in line with other national tournaments. Coaches will be notified of any changes made as soon as they have been finalized.

    Waitlists 
    All space in debate and speech will be allocated on a first come, first served basis; register early! 

    Topics
    LD Debate Topic: NSDA Nov/Dec topic  
    Public Forum: NSDA November Public Forum Topic.

    Divisions  
    All Speech and Debate events will offer a novice and open division. We reserve the right to collapse divisions if entry size is too small for two separate divisions. 
    Novice is defined as a student’s first year of competition, or not advancing to an elimination round in your first two years of competition, regardless of debate format.

    Patterns
    Debate Pattern: Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas Debate - held online
    Speech Patterns - all speech will be held at Silver Creek High School 
    • Pattern A - Impromptu, OPP, POI, OI (Declamation), Duo 
    • Pattern B - DI, HI, Extemp, OO, Info
     
    General Tournament Procedures
    The tournament will consist of six preliminary debate rounds for varsity, five prelims debate rounds for novice, and the three preliminary rounds of varsity and open speech events. We reserve the right to combine divisions if the entry warrants.  
    Semifinals will be held in individual events with 50 or more entries or the discretion of the tournament director. Undersubscribed events may waive finals. 
     
    Tournament Caps and Waitlist
    Due to the size of the tournament, we will be placing caps on the debate events. Each school will be allotted 4 entries per division per debate event. All entries over the caps will be waitlisted.
    Entries may also be waitlisted if the tournament reaches capacity. Schools will be moved off the waitlist as space opens up. Schools that have not already taken up their allotted slots in each event will be moved first, and schools with completed judge entries will also be given preference. Remaining waitlisted entries will be moved on a first-come, first-serve basis.

    ​EXTEMP TOPIC AREAS
    ​Both Novice and Varsity will receive the same questions. Extemp Topic Areas for each round are as follows:
    Round 1: Science/Technology
    Round 2: Social Issues
    Round 3: International
    Semifinals/Novice Finals: US Politics and Economy
    Finals: Environment

    ​Entry Price

    One PF event and parent is judging $85
    One PF event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $240

    One LD event and parent is judging $100
    One LD event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250

    One speech event and parent is judging $75
    One speech event and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $175

    Two speech events and parent is judging $100
    Two speech events and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $200

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

    Debate Schedule

    ​For PF, We will be using POSTED SIDES and AFF ALWAYS SPEAKS first.
    ​
    A guide to PF for judges can be found here
    PF JUDGING AND ONLINE BALLOT TUTORIAL

    Friday - Nov 18
    Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 1 - 4:30pm
    Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 2 - 7pm 
     
    Saturday - Nov 19
    Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 3 - 8am
    Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 4 - 10:30am
    Varsity and Novice Debate Rd 5 - 1:30pm
    Varsity Rd 6 and Novice Elim 1 - 4pm
    Varsity Elim 1 and Novice Elim 2 - 6:30pm 
     
    Sunday - Nov 20
    Varsity Elim 2 and Novice Elim 3 - 8:30am
    Varsity Elim 3 and Novice Elim 4 - 11am
    Varsity Elim 4 and Novice Elim 5 - 1:30pm (if needed)
    Varsity Elim 5 - 3:30pm (if needed)
    Varsity Elim 6 - 5:30pm (if needed) 
    -Elim schedule may be adjusted to start earlier if possible
    Speech Schedule
    Pattern A - Impromptu, OPP, POI, OI, Duo 
    Pattern B - DI, HI, Extemp, OO, Info

    Saturday - Nov 19
    Speech Pattern A Rd 1 - 8:00am - 9:15am
    Extemp Prep Starts - 9:45am
    Speech Pattern B Rd 1 - 10am - 11:15am
    Lunch - 11:30am-12:30pm
    Speech Pattern A Rd 2 - 12:30pm - 1:45pm
    Extemp Prep STARTS - 2:15pm
    Speech Pattern B Rd 2 - 2:30pm - 3:45pm
    Speech Pattern A Rd 3 - 4:30pm - 5:15 pm
    Extemp Prep STARTS - 6:15pm
    Round 3 Pattern B - 6:30pm - 7:45pm

    Sunday - Nov 20
    Extemp Prep STARTS - 8:00am
    Speech Pattern A and B Semis or Finals, Impromptu Novice Quarters - 8:30am - 10:00 am
    Extemp Prep STARTS - 11:00am
    Speech Pattern A and Pattern B Remaining Finals, Impromptu Novice Semis - 11:30am - 1:00pm
    Impromptu Novice Finals - 2:00pm - 3:15pm
    Awards 3:45pm

    Drop Fee

    Changes or drops made after the deadline will be charged a nuisance fee by the tournament. 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
    Make sure you have checked the double-entry policies if there are any. We are not responsible for schedule conflicts.
    ​No cross entry as speech is in-person and debate is online. However, you may sign up for up to three speech events. Please contact Nadia if you want to register for a third speech event.
    BOTH partners must fill out form and pay in order to be registered!

    ​JUDGE PROVISION

    ​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
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 
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Our Coaches
    • Why Speech and Debate
    • What is Speech and Debate? >
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  • Forms
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