POLY PREP

MS POLY PREP

1 May 2021

DEADLINE

29 April 2021
NO REFUNDS

ELIGIBILITY

Open to elementary and middle school students

PLATFORM

Online through NSDA Campus

Information

Hello Middle School Debate Community,

I would like to cordially invite you to the ‘MS Poly Prep for the TOC Tournament’ being held on May 1, 2021. We hope to offer a fun, simple, 4 round prep tournament open to both competitors that are competing in the MSTOC, and anyone else looking for another opportunity to compete. We will offer all TOC events along with novice and 5th grade divisions for PF. We will also be offering elementary spar debates for students in grades 3-4.

We hope the hallmark of the tournament will be great judging. We will be flooding the pool with our best high school judges and veteran volunteers from the Brooklyn Debate League. Our judges will be chosen with providing the best educational feedback in mind and we hope our entries will do the same when choosing their judges. We will also be able to provide hired judging for anyone in need.

We believe in setting an early example for our middle school students of the expectations they should have from tournament tabrooms. As such, we will have an equity officer, endorsed by the leadership of the Brooklyn Debate league, who will be available to any competitor or coach throughout the tournament. We also believe in celebrating the diversity of Speech & Debate so our tabroom is being entirely run by women and people of color.

I’m sure your youngest kids are as bummed as mine that trophies have been scarce this season. In order to celebrate our competitors, we will be sending out medals to our top entries in Speech events and all those with positive records in debate events.

We hope to see you on May 1st!

Events and Divisions
Middle School Debate

For middle school debate students, we offer the following divisions: Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Open, Novice, and 5th Grade Public Forum Debate, and Congressional Debate

Congressional Debate will utilize resolutions similar to the ones that will be debated at TOC by choosing bills within the same genre of each TOC session:

Session 1 - Education
Session 2 - Justice & Policing
Session 3 - Energy & Climate

Speech
For middle school students – All TOC Events

Elementary School
For your youngest competitors, we have a division of Elementary Impromptu Speaking and a division of Elementary Spontaneous Argument (SPAR).
Elementary school students are also welcome to enter any of the middle school 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 Brooklyn, all times for the tournament will be on Eastern time (but we hope the schedule will work for those on both coasts).

Judging Information
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 for Middle School events may be parents or may be current high school students with significant forensics experience.

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.

Fines
$30 – Missed Ballot Fee (if judging)
Any drops will incur the full entry fees

Entry Price

One speech and parent is judging $60
Two speech and parent is judging $80

LD and parent is judging $60
LD & 1 speech event and parent is judging $80
LD & 2 speech events and parent is judging $100

PF and parent is judging $60
PF & 1 speech event and parent is judging $80
PF & 2 speech events and parent is judging $100

If you are opting out of judging, you will pay an additional $70.

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 will be in Eastern Time Zone (EST).

Schedule – All Events Except Congress:
Round 1 – 11am
Round 2 – 1pm
Round 3 – 3pm
Round 4 – 5pm
Awards: 7pm

Congressional Debate Schedule:
Session 1 – 11am-12:30pm
Session 2 – 1:15pm-2:45pm
Session 3 – 3:30-5:00pm
Awards: 7pm

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

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email (DO NOT USE 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

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
Students are only able to enter in one debate event OR up to 2 speech events. You cannot do both speech and debate.
Got any questions? Please email nbudiman@tgsastaff.com, info@tgsastaff.com, vrivasumana@tgsastaff.com

NOTE:
Elementary school students can compete in the MS division, but not the other way around.

JUDGE PROVISION

Are you supplying a judge? *

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

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 less than a minute.

First time judging? Click here to learn how to do it! 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".

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