MICHIGAN

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN HS DEBATE TOURNAMENT

7-9 November 2025

DEADLINE

1 Nov 2025
NO REFUNDS AT ANY POINT AFTER YOU REGISTER

ELIGIBILITY

Open to MS/HS students
PF debate only

PLATFORM

Online through NSDA Campus

Information

2025 University of Michigan H.S. Debate Tournament Invitation
Friday, November 7th- Sunday, November 9th, 2025
On behalf of the University of Michigan and Michigan Debate Program, we are pleased to invite you to participate in the 29th annual University of Michigan High School Debate Tournament.

Public Forum Divisions Tournament Format

Competitors will debate the forthcoming November/December Topic.
The elimination round break point will be appropriately determined by the number of teams entered, but a maximum amount of 32 teams would reach the elimination rounds if we break to Double Octafinals.
All judges are obligated for the first elimination round. Judges are further obligated to judge one round after the elimination of their school's last team. Schools whose judges do not meet their obligations are subject to a penalty fee of $75/missed round.
Judges must have a tabroom.com account and are required to enter their ballots online.

Novice Eligibility

We cannot verify the experience of each individual entrant in our tournament, so it is incumbent upon individual coaches to ensure their students are entered in the right division. Entrants found to be in violation of eligibility rules may be removed from the tournament at the Tournament Directors' discretion.
Please note that in order to compete in any division labeled, "novice," a student must be in the first year of high school debate. If a team has previously won the Novice Division of a Tournament of Champions qualifying tournament, they must enter the Varsity division.

Tabroom
Chris Palmer, of the National Speech and Debate Association, has graciously agreed to tabulate the tournament.

Dates and Deadlines
Monday, November 3rd - All judge philosophies must be posted/available on tabroom.com
Wednesday, November 5th - Judge Preferences for applicable divisions will open on tabroom.com

Recommendations for Online Divisions

We strongly encourage debaters to operate from direct Ethernet connections, as opposed to Wi- Fi.
We strongly encourage every debater to wear a headset with a microphone or to use similar technological equipment.
Debaters are required to have their web cameras on during the time that they are speaking.
Judges are required to have their camera on at any point when students are speaking and while giving RFD/comments. If there is a technological issue that prevents this from happening, limited exceptions are permitted; otherwise, this is the expectation of the tournament.
The use of Zoom backgrounds are permitted, but must be age and content appropriate.

Help Desk
[email protected] is the email address for technological assistance/questions that arise during the tournament.

Entry Price

One debate event and parent is judging $100
One debate event and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $240

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

Please pay attention to the time zones. These are all in EST.
Green times have been converted to PST.
The full 2025 schedule in U.S. time zones can be found at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZKq4-lGEyK-hy-uUNtdsR6ucJ1bIqLAS8ruW5voaOC8/edit?gid=1724630146#gid=1724630146

*SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON ENTRIES*

Saturday, November 8th:
10:00 am – Pairings Release for Rounds 1 and 2 --- 7:00 AM PST
10:20 am – Round 1 (Room check-in at 10:10 am) --- 7:20 AM PST
11:50 am – Round 2 (Room check-in at 11:40 am) --- 8:50 AM PST
12:45 pm – 1:30 pm – Break --- 9:45 AM PST
1:30 pm – Round 3 Pairing --- 10:30 AM PST
1:50 pm – Round 3 (Room check-in at 1:40 pm) --- 10:50 AM PST
3:10 pm – Round 4 Pairing --- 12:10 PM PST
3:30 pm – Round 4 (Room check-in at 3:20 pm) --- 12:30 PM PST
4:55 pm – Round 5 Pairing --- 1:55 PM PST
5:15 pm – Round 5 (Room check-in at 5:05 pm) --- 2:15 PM PST
6:30 pm – Round 6 Pairing --- 3:30 PM PST
6:50 pm – Round 6 (Room check-in at 6:40 pm) --- 3:50 PM PST
8:00 p.m.- Release list of teams clearing, judge list, and standby judges for Sunday morning --- 5:00 PM PST

Sunday, November 9th:
10:00 am – First Elim Pairing --- 7:00 AM PST
10:20 am – First Elim (Room check-in at 10:10 am) --- 7:20 AM PST
11:50 am – Second Elim Pairing --- 8:50 AM PST
12:10 pm – Second Elim (Room check-in at 12:00 pm) --- 9:10 AM PST
1:30 pm – Third Elim Pairing --- 10:30 AM PST
1:50 pm – Third Elim (Room check-in at 1:40 pm) --- 10:50 AM PST
3:00 pm – Fourth Elim Pairing --- 12:00 PM PST
3:20 pm – Fourth Elim (Room check-in at 3:10 pm) --- 12:20 PM PST
4:30 pm – Fifth Elim Pairing (*if needed) --- 1:30 PM PST
4:50 pm – Fifth Elim (Room check-in at 4:40 pm *if needed) --- 1:50 PM PST

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: [email protected]
Nadia Budiman
Contact email: [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Registration Form

STUDENT INFORMATION

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (make sure you have a Tabroom account) *

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

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
Divisions may get combined if entries are too small.

PF Partner Name *

First

Last

Choose your division, but keep in mind that if enrollments are low some divisions may be collapsed into one *

Novice PF (Nov/Dec) Varsity PF (Nov/Dec)

JUDGE PROVISION
Another PF tournament has created these easy-to-use PF judging guidelines and powerpoint. Please take a look at both of them if this is your first time judging.
PF Judging Guidelines
PF Judging Slides

*All judges are obligated for the first elimination round. Judges are further obligated to judge one round after the elimination of their school's last team. Schools whose judges do not meet their obligations are subject to a penalty fee of $75/missed round.

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 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?
This is a great collection of short videos that one of the leagues have put together to learn each event: click here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.
Click here to find other training and official certification resources. Or watch our Youtube playlist here.

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: [email protected]

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

Dublin: Loving Tree Academy, 6693 Owens Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN HS DEBATE TOURNAMENT

7-9 November 2025

Information

​Entry Price

Schedule

Drop Fee

Contact Info

Registration Form

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.Check our home page for the schedule!

School year Hours

Telephone

Email (preferred)

Locations

Entry Price

We would love to have you visit soon at one of our open houses.
Check our home page for the schedule!