ROBERT GARCIA MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL
    If your school has a speech & debate team, please DO NOT sign up for this tournament through GSA​
    ​Got questions? Please contact Victor at [email protected]

    14-15 September 2024

    DEADLINE
    9 September 2024
    NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to middle and high school students
    LOCATION
    In-person at Saint Francis High School, Mountain View, CA

    Information

    12th Annual Robert Garcia Memorial Invitational
    Saint Francis High School, Mountain View

    Welcome to the Annual Robert Garcia Memorial Invitational! We are excited to offer our tournament again for the 3rd time after the pandemic. Here you will find some important information regarding sign-ups and the tournament itself.
    ​ 
    This tournament will be in-person only.

    Topics
    ​We will use the September topic for Both LD and PF.

    Judging
    We prefer judges with some experience in the events but will also accept moderate-to-well-trained lay judges. Please see below for judge training resources.

    Divisions
    Students may enter the Middle School/JV/Novice division or the Open Division. The MS/JV/Novice division is restricted to debaters who are in their first or 2nd year of competition (a year of competition is defined as any year in which the debater attended a debate tournament in any of the NDSA debate formats). Open division is available to anyone who wishes to enter. No hybrid teams (where there are debaters from different schools debating on the same team).

    Supervision/Contacts
    All schools must have permission from their Principal to attend the tournament.
    Students and parents MUST NOT leave the premises without first notifying the GSA chaperone.

    ​Entry Price

    PF and parent is judging $80
    PF and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $200

    LD and parent is judging $80
    LD and parent is OPTING OUT OF judging $230

    Drops or changes after the deadline will incur a $50 nuisance fee on top of the entry fee.

    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.
    All students who drop after Wednesday will not receive refunds and drop fees are $10 each.

    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.

    Tentative Schedule

    Saturday
    8:30am-10:30am - Round 1 of LD and PF
    10:30am-12:30pm - Round 2 of LD and PF
    12:30pm-1:00pm - Lunch
    1:00pm-3:00pm - Round 3 of PF and LD
    3:30pm-5:30pm - Round 4 of PF and LD

    Sunday
    8:30am-10:30am - Round 5 of PF and LD
    11:30am-12:00pm - Awards
    12:00pm-2:00pm - First Elim for PF and LD
    1:30pm-3:30pm Lunch
    2:30pm-4:30pm - Second Elim for LD and PF
    5:00pm-6:30pm - Third Elim for LD and PF
    7:00pm-8:30pm - LD and PF Finals

    ​Although the tentative schedule lists the start and end times, please keep in mind that there are various factors that may arise during a tournament that can cause rounds to be delayed. Therefore, if you are signing up for this tournament, please make sure you do not double book yourselves on these dates. Keep your schedule open and DO NOT leave the tournament without notifying the GSA chaperones first.

    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
    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
    ​JUDGE PROVISION
    (Judges must attend both days!)

    ​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

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​​