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The Golden State Academy
  • 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
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    • Elementary Fall 2025
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    WESTERN JV NOVICE CHAMPIONSHIP

    8-9 March 2025

    DEADLINE
    26 Feb 2025
    NO REFUNDS ALLOWED
    ELIGIBILITY
    Open to middle and high school students
    LOCATION
    In-person at City College of San Francisco
    50 Frida Kahlo Way, San Francisco, CA 94112
    https://maps.app.goo.gl/vv6z9fa33kjwDMVx6

    Information

    The Eleventh Annual Western Championship
    ​for Novice & Second Year Debaters
    March 8-9, 2025


    Coaches and Debaters:

    The Bay Area Urban Debate League is excited to invite you to The Tenth Annual Western Championship for Novice & Second Year Debaters. The tournament will be held IN PERSON at City College in San Francisco. 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.
    ​
    We are also providing lunch for competitors and judges on Saturday and Sunday. We'll also have snacks and drinks for sale.
    ​
    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 San Francisco this spring.


    ​TOPICS
    We will use the NSDA February topic in PF.
    We will use the NSDA Jan/Feb topic in LD.

    ​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.
    ​
    ​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. All judges are expected to comport themselves so as to provide a positive and educational experience for the debaters. All 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

    IN-PERSON debate event and parent is judging $120
    IN-PERSON debate event and parent is OPTING OUT OF JUDGING $270

    Each person in a PF/Duo team would be responsible of providing their own judge, so one PF/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

    Rounds will be expedited as possible on Sunday.

    Saturday, March 8

    7:45 AM Arrival
    8:00 AM First Round Published
    8:30 AM Rd. 1
    10:30 AM Rd. 2
    1:15 PM Rd.3
    4:00 PM Rd. 4

    Sunday, March 9

    7:30 AM First Round Published
    8:00 AM Rd. 5
    11:00 AM All Debate Elim 1
    1:00 PM PF/LD Elim 2
    3:00 PM PF/LD Elim 3
    5:00 PM PF/LD Elim 4
    Remaining elims will be completed online if needed.

    ​​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
    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?
    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
no longer accepting registrations

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​​
  • 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
    • Elementary Fall 2025
    • MS/HS Fall 2025
    • Private Coaching >
      • Speech Private Coaching
      • Debate Private Coaching
    • Elementary Summer 2025
    • MS/HS Summer 2025
    • GSA Tournaments
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  • Career Opportunities
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