YG

YG SPONTANEOUS SPEECH TOURNAMENT

Saturday, 20 December 2025

DEADLINE

12 Dec 2025
NO REFUNDS AFTER THIS DATE

ELIGIBILITY

Open to 6th-8th graders ONLY

LOCATION

YG National Speech and Debate Academy
20900 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014

Information

Young Genius Association is excited to host its biannual Congressional Debate and Spontaneous Speech tournament for elementary and middle school students. We are one of few organizations that coordinate tournaments for younger competitors, and we invite all 4-5th graders and 6-8th grades to compete in Congressional Debate and Spontaneous Speech, and 2-3rd grade students to compete in prepared speech.

All YG in-person tournaments serve a complimentary pizza lunch, small bites before the start, and snacks throughout the day for all in-person competitors, chaperones, judges, and their guests.

Division

6-8th grade
Middle School Spontaneous Speech: SPAR and Impromptu

Event Description
Students will be given topics to choose from and may take 2 minutes to prepare a 3-5 minute long speech. No research may be done on the topic during prep time. Students may not speak from notes.

Topic Areas Will Be As Follows
Round 1: Concrete Nouns
Round 2: Abstract Nouns
Round 3: Quotes
Final Round: Aphorisms

Entry Price

IMP and parent is judging $150
IMP and parent is OPTING OUT of judging $250

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

Elementary (4th/5th grade) and Middle (6th-8th grade) School Competitors
All times listed in Pacific Standard Time

8:00 AM • Tournament Welcome
9:45 - 10:45 AM • Spontaneous Speech Round 1
12:15 - 12:45 PM • Pizza Lunch
12:45 - 1:45 PM • Spontaneous Round 2
3:30 - 4:30 PM • Spontaneous Speech Round 3
5:00 - 6:00 PM • Spontaneous Speech Finals
6:30 PM • Awards Ceremony - trophies and medals will be handed out

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

* 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

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.

Parent Name *

First

Last

Parent Email *

Parent Phone Number *

EVENT SELECTION
Got any questions? Please email [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

What grade is your child in at school? *

Choose your event *

6th-8th Grade IMP

JUDGE PROVISION

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

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 Not judging

Does your judge understand that he/she is responsible for the entire tournament schedule and that missing a round incurs fines from the tournament? *

Yes, understood Not judging but understood as well

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

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: [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