SCJFL 4 ELEM

2022 SCJFL 4TH QUARTER ELEMENTARY SPEECH AND DEBATE TOURNAMENT

23 April 2022

DEADLINE

17 April 2022

ELIGIBILITY

Open to 5th graders and below

PLATFORM

Online through
forensicstournament.net and 8x8

Information

Greetings!
On Saturday, April 23rd, 2022 is the date for the 2022 SCJFL 4th Quarter Elementary Tournament, and we hope that your school or organization will be joining us.

Location: online

Pattern A: Debate Events
—SPAR
—Congress

Pattern B: Individual Events (Speech)
—Storytelling (5 min.)
—Informative (5 min., visual aids are permitted)
—Duo (5 min.)
—Poetry (5 min.; uses a binder)
—Declamation (5 min.)
—Persuasive (5 min.)
—Impromptu (7 min. bank)

Students may enter up to two events. For a complete list of rules, please visit the SCJFL.org website and click on RULES & BY-LAWS.

Postings will be e-mailed.

Rules: All rules can be found in the SCJFL by-laws at SCJFL.org

Judging Requirements:

Please remember that judge training is the responsibility of the judge himself/herself.
Judges are obligated to be on standby for each round. If you do not get a ballot, please go to the help room and wait there in case you get called to cover for a no-show judge. This tournament is very strict in using fines for enforcing punctuality and judge presence, so make sure to follow all their rules to avoid getting charged.
Judges who do not accept their assigned ballot will be charged a $20 no-show fee for the first offense. The second offense will be $40. Each subsequent no-show from the judge will warrant a $50 charge. Judges can avoid this fee by coming to the judge standby room for their ballot assignment; sometimes e-mails delay delivery for any number of reasons that are outside the control of the tournament staff. By coming to the standby room, judges can be messaged their ballot directly so that they aren’t marked as having missed the round.
Judge changes after the deadline will be charged a $50 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after this date will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.
Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined $20 per round. Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.

Dear Coaches,

Thank you to those who stuck it out through a marathon session this past Saturday to better the league and help form a stronger opportunity for our students. Below are a list of changes and announcements based on the results of that meeting. The updated by-laws and full list of tournament dates can be found on our league website, SCJFL.org. Thanks!

1. SCJFL will have a dual online and in-person schedule for the 2021-2022 schedule.
- Elementary will have 3 in-person and 3 online tournaments.
- Middle school speech will have 3 in-person and 3 online tournaments.
- Middle school debate will have 4 online tournaments.
- The exact nature of the So-Cal Champs and the state tournament have yet to be determined.

2. The dates for all tournaments have been set:
A. Elementary dates:
- Saturday, October 1, 2022 = In-person at Roosevelt
- Saturday, December 3, 2022 = In-person at Roosevelt
- Saturday, February 4, 2023 = In-person at Roosevelt

- Friday, December 16, 2022 = online
- Saturday, January 21, 2023 = online
- Saturday, March 25, 2023 = online

Elementary events offered:
Congress
Public Forum
Worlds
SPAR
Storytelling
Prose
Poetry
Duo
Declamation
Impromptu
Informative
Persuasive

B. Middle School Speech Only:
- Friday, October 21, 2022 = In-person at Jefferson
- Friday, December 9, 2022 = In-person at Walter Reed
- Friday, April 14, 2023 = In-person at Jefferson

- Friday, November 11, 2022 = online
- Friday, February 3, 2023 = online
- Friday, March 10, 2023 = online

Middle School Speech Only events offered:
Oct 21, 2022 (in-person at Jefferson)
Impromptu, Duo, Informative, Storytelling, SPAR, Prose Persuasive, Humorous Interp, Declamation, Original Interp

Nov. 11, 2022 (online)
Impromptu, Duo, Informative, Storytelling, SPAR, Prose Persuasive, Humorous Interp, Declamation, Original Interp

Dec 9, 2022 (in-person at Walter Reed)
Impromptu, Duo, Informative, Storytelling, SPAR, Poetry, Speech to Entertain, Dramatic Interp, Extemp, Sightreading

Feb 3, 2023 (online)
Impromptu, Declamation, Informative, Storytelling, SPAR, Poetry, Speech to Entertain, Dramatic Interp, Extemp, Congress

March 10, 2023 (online)
Impromptu, Duo, Informative, Storytelling, Dialectic, Prose, Persuasive, Humorous Interp, Declamation, POI

April 14, 2023 (in-person at Jefferson)
Impromptu, Duo, Informative, Storytelling, SPAR, Poetry, Speech to Entertain, Dramatic Interp, Extemp, POI

C. Middle School Debate Only:
- Saturday, October 22, 2022 = online
- Saturday, December 10, 2022 = online
- Saturday, March 11, 2023 = online
- Saturday, April 8, 2023 = online

Middle School Debate Only events offered:
Public Forum
Congress
LD
Policy
Big Questions
Worlds

3. Prose will be added as an elementary event. The time limit will be 5 minutes for elementary students.

4. COVID protocol for 2022-2023: SCJFL tournaments will require participants to wear masks while indoors. Competitors are permitted to remove their mask when performing, but are not to be judged down if they prefer not to do so. Participants may remove their masks when outdoors. All participants must be negatively tested within 48 hours of an in-person tournament.

5. We will begin offering Worlds Debate for both middle school and elementary school.

6. The SCJFL created two judge training board positions who would be responsible for training judges before each tournament and reviewing ballots during the SCJFL tournaments. Please respond to this email if you are interested in seeking this position so that we can hold elections.

7. Persuasive will now permit visual aids.

8. So-Cal Champs will now offer an elementary-only sweepstakes award and a middle school sweepstakes award (no longer combined).

9. Congress chambers will be limited to 19 competitors in middle school and 14 competitors in elementary. Lots of other Congress changes, so please check the updated rules/by-laws page for the Congress rule changes, which will be highlighted in green.

10. All SCJFL tournaments will require judges to use eballots. Judges are encouraged to bring either a laptop or other electronic device on which to record their notes.

11. The SCJFL will not pay for shipping trophies. Schools are encouraged to either pick up their awards or arrange payment with the trophy vendor.

12. The league subscription fees were increased. Here is the new breakdown:
The following will be the amount of the fees charged each school: $250 for schools that only compete at the elementary level; $250 for schools that only compete at the middle school speech level; $250 for schools that only compete at the middle school debate level; $250 for schools that only compete at the middle school speech level; $400 for schools that compete at the middle school speech and debate level; and $500 for schools that compete at the elementary, middle school speech, and middle school debate level. Fees are payable on or before the first competition of the year for that team.

Entry Price

These fees assume that parent will be judging at this tournament:
One Event $60
Two Events $70
Three Events $80

If you (parent) are opting out of judging, you will need to pay the additional $90 opt-out fee

Registration will not be complete until payment is received.

Changes or drops after the deadline will be charged a $20 nuisance fee for each change or drop.
Judges changes after the deadline will be charged a $50 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after the deadline will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.

Schedule

PST

morning:
Pattern A: SPAR, Congress
8:00 – Round 1 - Pattern A
9:30 – Round 2 - Pattern A
11:00 – Round 3 - Pattern A
12:30 – Finals - Pattern A

afternoon:
Pattern B: Storytelling, informative, duo, poetry, declamation, persuasive, impromptu (Speech)
2:00 - Round 1 - Pattern B
3:30 - Round 2 - Pattern B
4:30 - Round 3 - Pattern B
6:00 - Finals - Pattern B

7:30 – Awards

Drop Fee

All competitor changes or drops after the deadline will be charged a $20 nuisance fee for each change or drop. Judge changes after the deadline will be charged a $50 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after the deadline will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.

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.

Competitor Guide
Judge Guide
Tournament Best Practices

* Indicates required field

Student Name *

First

Last

Student Email *

Student Phone Number *

If I had not done so in the past, I need to verify my email with forensicstournament.net and agree to the competitor waiver. A notification for these will be sent to the competitor email within 24 hours of signup. *

YES I UNDERSTAND AND WILL DO

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

You may enter up to two events consisting of 1 Pattern A and 1 Pattern B event or 2 Pattern B events
But most importantly, please make sure that the student has indeed been working on the events you selected for him/her. Please consult your coach if you are unsure.

*If you are doing more than one pattern B speech event (double-entered): Please notify the judge of your second event that you are double-entered before going to the room for your first event. So, let's say you are double-entered in, say, Declamation and Informative. If you are listed as second speaker in Declamation and fifth speaker in Informative, then you should perform in Declamation first. However, please go to your Informative room first to let the judge know that you are at the tournament, and then go perform in your Declamation round. This will prevent the judge from marking you as a no-show and closing up the room before you've had a chance to perform. Please note that if you miss a round because you were double-entered, the tournament will not be able to re-run the round, so this is the best way to ensure you aren't accidentally considered a no-show. If you have any questions, you can come to the help room on Saturday morning.

JUDGE PROVISION

Judges are obligated to be on standby for each round. If you do not get a ballot, please go to the help room and wait there in case you get called to cover for a no-show judge. This tournament is very strict in using fines for enforcing punctuality and judge presence, so make sure to follow all their rules to avoid getting charged.
Judges who do not accept their assigned ballot will be charged a $20 no-show fee for the first offense. The second offense will be $40. Each subsequent no-show from the judge will warrant a $50 charge. Judges can avoid this fee by coming to the judge standby room for their ballot assignment; sometimes e-mails delay delivery for any number of reasons that are outside the control of the tournament staff. By coming to the standby room, judges can be messaged their ballot directly so that they aren’t marked as having missed the round.
Judge changes after the deadline will be charged a $50 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after this date will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.
Judges who do not write sufficient feedback to the competitors will be fined $20 per round. Unsatisfactory ballots will be determined by the tabulation staff.

Will you (parent) be judging at this tournament? *

Judge Name *

Judge email *

Judge phone *

First time judging? Click here to learn how to do it!
Or watch our Youtube playlist here.
Next, we found this judging guideline from the platform that we will be using.
Also, if you are using eBallots for the first time, check out how they work on this link here.
There are also these training cards available that include a summary of each event's rules and comments.

*Judges changes after the deadline will be charged a $50 judge nuisance fee. Judge drops after this date will be charged a $100 judge no-show fee.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE REGARDING JUDGE BALLOTS:

We will need to begin implementing the fine for blank/nearly blank/insufficient ballots.
Oral Critiques: No ballot may be returned without a written reason for decision. Oral commentary is not considered a substitute for the written ballot.
Judges who are unfamiliar with events may be removed from the tournament at the discretion of the tournament staff, and fines may be applied.
A good concept in writing a ballot is the compliment sandwich (write a compliment, add some constructive feedback, and end with another compliment). It is frustrating for students to receive a speech ballot that says, “Great job!” with a 5th place ranking and with no actual useful feedback.

Please confirm that, *

I HAVE READ THE BALLOT UPDATE TO THE RIGHT AND UNDERSTAND THAT I NEED TO WRITE A THOROUGH WRITTEN BALLOT WITH USEFUL AND CONSCTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK OR I WILL BE FINED. IF TIME IS RESTRICTED, I WILL MAKE SURE TO SUBMIT A RFD FIRST, THEN RETURN AND FIX MY FEEDBACK ONCE THE OTHER ROUNDS ARE OVER. Not judging

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 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