LA REINA

LA REINA CAL LUTHERAN WINTER INVITATIONAL

Saturday, 18 February 2023 - speech
Sunday, 19 February 2023 - debate

DEADLINE

11 Feb 2023
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to elementary and middle school students ONLY

PLATFORM

Online through NSDA Campus

Information

The La Reina Speech and Debate program, in conjunction with California Lutheran University, is pleased to invite you and your program to join us for our annual La Reina / Cal Lutheran Winter Invitational, which will take place this year on February 18th and 19th, 2023. Although Cal Lutheran is not currently sponsoring a speech and debate program, we are tremendously grateful to their administration for allowing us to bring the tournament back to their campus as the pandemic winds down and we all work to return things to normal.

This year we will offer all SCJFL middle school and elementary school events online and all CHSSA and NSDA high school events in-person on the Cal Lutheran campus. Speech events will run on Saturday with three preliminary rounds plus finals, and on Sunday we will offer three preliminary rounds of debate plus a fourth round containing a hidden semifinal, with debate awards and then public final rounds available for everyone to watch. We will also offer three rounds of congress in middle school, high school novice, and high school varsity divisions. We encourage students to compete “up” for the additional challenge, particularly for experienced middle school competitors who may want to compete in-person in high school novice divisions. However, we reserve the right to collapse divisions and merge events as entries warrant but will make every effort to preserve the spirit and character of each particular event in doing so. We are also closing registration on Monday the week of the tournament to allow us to both merge/collapse events and order trophies before the tournament. Thank you for understanding.

We will be using the January/February topic in Lincoln-Douglas, the February topic in Public Forum, the 2022- 2023 national topic in Policy, original fact, value, and policy resolutions in Parliamentary Debate, and Congress bills taken from the February 2023 NSDA Docket. Both LD and PF will be double-flighted, but Parli will be single-flighted. We will be using NSDA Campus for online competition and Zoom breakout rooms for online support services, tabbing, ombuds issues, middle school Parli/Extemp prep, etc.

We are looking forward to hosting everyone as we prepare for quals season.

Debate Topics:
Lincoln-Douglas Topic: January/February Topic (open borders)
Public Forum Topic: February Topic (right to work)

Divisions:
We define a “novice” as a high school student who has attended 5 or fewer tournaments.

Patterns:
Speech Pattern A: Extemp, Declamation, Original Oratory, Dramatic Interp, Duo Interp, MS Poetry
Speech Pattern B: Impromptu, Expos/Info, Humorous Interp, Original Advocacy, Original Prose & Poetry, SPAR, MS Prose, Storytelling, POI
Debate: all events in one pattern. Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum will be double flighted.

Judges
All judges are expected to have an electronic device (laptop/desktop computer, iPad/tablet, or at minimum a compatible smartphone) capable of accessing the NSDA Campus platform and we will charge nuisance fees if judge problems cause the tournament to run late. All debate judges are also expected to have a basic judging paradigm available on tabroom.com for students to review before rounds.

Electronic Device Failure Policy
We strongly encourage all online students and judges to use a wired Internet connection and have a backup device and backup connection (like a hotspot) ready to go in the event of device failure or loss of an Internet connection. In the event of device failure or loss of connection, students and coaches should notify the tournament immediately and will have 10 minutes to restore their connection and return digitally to their round. If the student or judge is unable to return in time, we will make reasonable accommodations to attempt to allow the affected students to finish their round – speech students may have to give their speeches to their judge in a backup competition room or will be judged on the basis of their interrupted performance. Policy, Parli, and Public Forum debaters may have to continue as “mavericks” without their partner and Lincoln-Douglas debaters may have to forfeit their round.

Prohibition of Recording Rounds
We do NOT allow the recording of individual rounds, either in-person or online. The only case in which a student may be recorded is if his/her/their parents are recording that student only. Please remember that nearly all of our students are under the age of 18 and thus can NOT legally consent to being recorded. Thank you for honoring this policy.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy
We believe that the cross-cultural understanding that forensics develops in understanding how different people experience the world differently and understanding different sides of an argument is one of the most important life skills that the activity develops. Thus we are proud to support the ongoing efforts of the NSDA and other forensics organizations to promote understanding. We will be including relevant language on our tournament ballots and will address judge sensitivity during our judge training.

Accessibility Policy
In keeping with our above DEI policy, we encourage coaches to contact us directly regarding any accommodations that the tournament needs to make to create an inclusive environment for all students.

General Rules:
School registration in part or whole may be rejected due to space considerations so please register early! Every year several schools cannot attend or have their entries restricted. The tournament will consist of three preliminary rounds of speech plus finals and four guaranteed debate rounds with the fourth round including a hidden semifinal round and final rounds held immediately after the awards ceremony for all to watch. All divisions will receive awards. We reserve the right to combine divisions if the entry warrants.

Sweepstakes:
We will offer two sets of sweepstakes awards – 1st through 3rd in speech and 1st through 3rd in debate.

Events Rules:
We will generally follow CHSSA rules for high school events and SCJFL rules for middle school events, with exceptions considered on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of the tournament director. All speeches are expected to be the original work of the student and may not have been used in competition prior to August 2022. Extemp will be combined national and international, with rounds themed around questions of domestic, international, and economic issues. Impromptu topics will relate to the spring season. Events with small entries will be folded into similar events. We will also use the “sudden death” format to tabulate the placement of students in final rounds rather than “total cume.”

Debate Rules:
We again will generally follow CHSSA rules for high school competition and SCJFL rules for middle school competition, with exceptions considered on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of the tournament director. We also will not break brackets to avoid teams from the same program hitting each other. Computers are allowed in all debate events except Parliamentary Debate, in which case computers may be used in prep but not during actual rounds.

Entry Price

The following fees assume that you (parent) will be judging at this tournament.

One Speech/Congress/SPAR Event $60
Two Speech/Congress/SPAR Events $70

LD only $90
LD + 1 Speech $100
LD + 2 Speech $110

PF only $70
PF + 1 Speech $80
PF + 2 Speech $90

If you enter in SPEECH ONLY and parent is OPTING OUT OF JUDGING, you will pay an additional $80
If you enter in DEBATE ONLY and parent is OPTING OUT OF JUDGING, you will pay an additional $100
If you enter in SPEECH AND DEBATE and parent is OPTING OUT OF JUDGING, you will pay an additional $150

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

Speech will be on Saturday and debate on Sunday. Tentative schedule is as follows:

Saturday, February 18: Speech
8:30am - Round 1A
10:00am - Round 1B
11:30am - Round 2A
1:00pm - Round 2B
2:30pm - Round 3A
4:00pm - Round 3B
5:45pm - Pattern A Finals
7:15pm- Pattern B Finals
ASAP - Awards in Ahmanson
Pattern A Events: Extemp, Declamation, Original Oratory, Dramatic Interp, Duo Interp, MS Poetry,MS Speech to Entertain, MS Original Duo
Pattern B Events: Impromptu, Expos/Info, Humorous Interp, Original Advocacy, Original Prose & Poetry, SPAR, MS Prose, Storytelling, Program Oral Interp

Sunday, February 19: Debate
8:30am - Round 1
10:45am - Round 2
1:00pm - Round 3
3:30pm - Round 4 / Hidden Semifinals
ASAP - Awards in Ahmanson and Announcement of Finalists
ASAP - Finals

Drop Fee

Drop fees will be the same amounts as the entry fee PLUS any fees the tournament charges us for late drops ($10 nuisance fee). 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
Suggested attire for the tournament can be found here.
More tournament resources can be found here.

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (make sure you have a Tabroom account and do not list the 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

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 mandatory 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