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The Golden State Academy
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    WESTERN JV AND NOVICE CHAMPIONSHIP

    11-12 March 2023

    DEADLINE
    7 March 2023
    NO REFUNDS ALLOWED
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to middle and high school students
    LOCATION
    Bentley Upper School
    1000 Upper Happy Valley Rd, Lafayette, CA 94549, United States​

    Information

    The Ninth Annual Western Championship
    ​for Novice & Second Year Debaters

    Debaters:

    The Bay Area Urban Debate League is excited to invite you to The Ninth Annual Western Championship for Novice & Second Year Debaters. The tournament will be held IN PERSON at Bentley Upper School in Lafayette, CA. This year we will offer competition in Policy, Lincoln Douglas, and Public Forum Debate. There will be divisions in each event for Novice and Second Year competitors.
    ​
    In order to accommodate debaters who cannot attend the in person tournament, we plan to offer online divisions as well.

    Because in person competition requires custodial and security costs, entry fees are higher than for the online divisions, though they are still a bit lower than they were pre-pandemic, in recognition of the fact that we will not be able to provide meals for competitors and judges. We do plan to provide packaged snacks, but participants should plan to pack meals. We are also looking at bringing in meals that schools can pre-purchase in advance of the tournament. We will notify schools about this if it becomes an option.
    ​
    Our goal is to provide an opportunity for first and second year debaters to experience a spring championship tournament in an atmosphere that promotes learning and prepares the debaters for more advanced competition. The tournament will also support the Bay Area Urban Debate League, a non-profit organization that provides debate opportunities for hundreds of low-income public school students in the San Francisco Bay Area. By attending the Western Championship you will provide your students with an excellent competitive and educational experience, while also bringing debate opportunities to students who would not otherwise have them. ​For more information about the BAUDL, please see our website at www.baudl.org.

    We look forward to seeing you in Lafayette this spring.

    ​
    ​DIVISIONS
    Novice -- Novices are in their first year of debate competition, regardless of the debate event.
    JV -- These debaters are in their second year of high school debate competition, regardless of the debate event. We will also accept middle schoolers in their third year of competition in this division.
    ​

    TOPICS
    Public Forum will debate the February Topic.
    Lincoln Douglas will debate the Jan/Feb Topic.

    ​
    ​JUDGE REQUIREMENTS
    Judging Qualifications:
    In keeping with the educational purpose of this event, schools are expected to provide qualified judges to cover their entries. The measure of a qualified judge is that individual’s ability to provide the debaters with a positive educational experience. Judges are expected to be able to explain their decisions to the debaters (in writing on the ballot or as an oral critique).

    Judges should have experience as a coach and/or competitor in order to be able to provide valuable comments to the debaters. Very experienced varsity high school debaters in their junior or senior year are ideal judges. All judges are expected to comport themselves so as to provide a positive and educational experience for the debaters. All judges, including student judges, should have philosophies posted on tabroom.com. Failing to meet this standard will result in removal of judges from the judging pool.


    ​Entry Price

    ONLINE debate event and parent is judging $85
    ONLINE debate event and parent is OPTING OUT OF JUDGING $215

    IN-PERSON debate event and parent is judging $100
    IN-PERSON debate event and parent is OPTING OUT OF JUDGING $240

    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 - PST

    (may be subject to change without notice)
    ​

    Saturday, March 11
    8:30 AM Rd. 1
    10:30 AM Rd. 2
    1:30 PM Rd.3
    4:00 PM Rd. 4

    Sunday, March 12
    8:00 AM Rd. 5
    11:00 AM Elim 1
    1:00 PM Elim 2 PF & LD
    3:00 PM Elim 3 PF & LD
    5:00 PM Elim 4 PF & LD*
    *If needed

    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
    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
    BOTH partners must fill out form and pay in order to be registered!

    ​JUDGE PROVISION

    ​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? 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
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 
  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Our Coaches
    • Why Speech and Debate
    • What is Speech and Debate? >
      • Speech Events
      • Debate Events
    • Why Golden State Academy
    • Tournament Photos
    • Tournament results
    • FAQ
  • Forms
  • Registration
    • MS/HS Spring 2023
    • Late MS/HS Spring 2023
    • Elementary Spring 2023
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