Pacific Coast Debate League Tournament #1

Date: September 22-23, 2018

 Location: Bishop O’Dowd HS (Oakland)

What is the Pacific Coast Debate League?

The Pacific Coast Debate League is an independent debate league comprised of students from both the Club Parli and Urban Parli programs. Urban Parli is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to eliminating socioeconomic barriers to students accessing Parliamentary debate. Our first program is launching this year at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland.Through the Pacific Coast Debate League, we believe we can create a best-in-class league that excels in both competitiveness as well as socioeconomic diversity. All tournament proceeds will go towards expanding the Urban Parli program and facilitating a robust league of highly competitive tournaments. 

Divisions Offered:

Novice Division: 6^th graders, 7^th graders, and all students in their first year of debate.

Open Division: All debaters not falling into one of the above categories.

Disclosure: Following the conclusion of each round will be a constructive oral RFD of no more than 10 minutes in length and disclosure of the victor. Each Open division preliminary debate will be evaluated by 2 judges (one parent/community judge, and one experienced coach or former competitor with substantial debate experience). Novice rounds, outside of elimination rounds, will be judged by a single parent/community judge.

Free for All: As the PCDL increases in size, we’ll begin to be able to protect various clubs from debating one another. However, for this weekend, teams from the same club/school can still debate one another.

Judging Conflicts: The only judging conflict we will institute is that parents cannot judge their own children.

Open Elimination Judging Scheme:

Open Semifinals: 2 Flow Judges, 1 Lay Judge

Open Finals: 3 Lay Judges, 2 Flow Judges

Novice Elimination Judging Scheme:

Novice Quarterfinals/Semifinals/Finals: 3 Judges

Flex Time: Flex time will take place after the PMC and LOC. During these periods, debaters from the team speaking next will have the opportunity to engage in a sustained period of questioning the opposing speaker. For instance, after the PMC, the Opposition or Negative side would have 2 minutes to ask the PMC probing and/or clarification-based questions about their opponent’s case. After the LOC, the Government or Affirmative would have 2 minutes to ask the LOC probing and/or clarification-based questions about their opponent’s case. Flex time can also merely be used as in-round prep time (should the debaters choose to not question their opponent’s), or for simply getting a drink of water, getting papers organized, etc.

Attire: Casual attire is permitted and welcomed for students, although formal attire is equally just as welcomed.

Debate Round Times:

Prep Time: 20 minutes

PMC - 7 minutes

Flex Time - 2 minutes
LOC - 8 minutes

Flex Time- 2 minutes

MG - 8 minutes

MO - 8 minutes

LOR - 4 minutes

PMR - 5 minutes

Feedback and Disclosure: 10 minutes

Fees:

$110/Parli Entry

$200/Uncovered Judge Fee

Parking: You are free to park anywhere on campus!

Debate Rules:

1. Almost anything goes regarding prep materials. Printed materials, laptops, phones, internet, they are all allowed. However, only handwritten notes are allowed in round. Debaters may not utilize handwritten notes in round that were prepared prior to the round’s topic announcement. However, debaters may utilize any handwritten notes prepared prior to the round during the round’s 20 minutes of prep time. All handwritten notes written prior to a round’s topic announcement that are to be used in that round must be transposed, by hand, onto a new sheet of paper. Use of handwritten notes, in round, that were composed prior to the topic announcement of a round may lead to the forfeiture of the round.

2. Debaters may only prep with their partners. There is no team prep or coach prep.

3. Speech times for all rounds will be 7-8-8-8-4-5 with 2 minutes of Flex Time after both the PMC and LOC.

4. There is no protected time in any speech. Though debaters should defer to the use of Flex Time over Point of Information’s to ask questions of the first two speakers.

5. No new arguments may be made in the rebuttal speeches. New examples/warrants for pre-existing arguments are however permitted.

6. Point of Orders are allowed in rebuttals. Point of Orders will stop time.

Food: Lunch will be provided to all coaches/judges. Coffee and beverages will also be provided to coaches/judges.

Speaker Point Scale: We will use a 10-point scale for speaker points.  

A+ = 9.7-10

A = 9.3-9.6

A- = 9.0-9.2

B+ = 8.6-8.9

B = 8.3-8.5

B- = 8.0-8.2

C+ = 7.7-7.9

C = 7.3-7.6

C- = 7.0-7.2

D+ = 6.7-6.9

D = 6.3-6.6

D- = 6.0-6.2

F+ = 5.7-5.9

F = 5.3-5.6

F- = 5.0-5.2

LEAGUE STANDINGS:

Open

1 point per ballot in prelims/elims for Open

1 bonus point for winning finals in Open

Novice

2 points per win in prelims/elims for Novice

Both Divisions

1 bonus point for breaking to elimination rounds

Tournament Schedule

8-830AM - Registration

9-1030AM - Round 1

1030AM - 12PM - Round 2

1240 - 210PM Round 3

210 - 340PM - Round 4

340 - 510PM - Round 5

530 - 700PM - Partial Semis

700 - 830PM - Finals