Hello middle school speech and debate coaches!

First, I want to say thank you for sacrificing your time to coach students in speech and debate events. You are providing them the opportunity to grow their communication skills - a competency coveted by the majority of employers in America today. 

You can register a student(s) to compete in any one of the debate events (Big Questions, Lincoln Douglas, or Public Forum), OR you can register a student(s) to compete in any one or two of the speech events (Dramatic Performance, Oratory, Impromptu, or Extemporaneous Speaking). Yes, this means that debate students may only enter one debate event while speech students may enter more than one speech event (this is referenced as double entering).

To learn more about these events, I have included on this site short event descriptors you can view when you click on the event a student may be interested in. Also, the ballots that will be used by judges to adjudicate events are included on this site (look to the right of this web page).  Lastly, you will find more information about each event (including videos) if you visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/competition-events/ Sign up for an account, and you will have access to a multitude of free resources to help you coach your students.

Public Forum Debate and Lincoln Douglas Debate will both use the NSDA Nov/Dec topics. Big Questions Debate will use this year's resolution: Resloved: Objective morality exists.

If you are interested in judging at this event, we are looking for volunteers. Please use this link https://tinyurl.com/yyflarqy to sign up and donate your time to fostering middle school speech and debate. You can help out the entire day (lunch provided) or in the morning or afternoon.

Each event entry is $20.00. There are no other fees required for participation in this tournament. Students and their parents will want to bring money to purchase concessions/lunch, but there will be a complimentary coaches and judges hospitality lounge with a variety of snacks and lunch provided.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

Coaches' Schools Check-in:  8:00am - 8:30am

Round 1 - 9:00am - 10:00am

Round 2 - 10:15am - 11:15am

Lunch 11:30am -  12:30pm

Round 3 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm

Round 4 - 1:45pm - 2:45pm

Awards: 3:30pm

I hope you will consider joining us at the first middle school only speech and debate tournament in Cherokee County and the state of Georgia! Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

Jamie Wills

jamie.wills@cherokeek12.net or 678-446-6508

Head Coach - Cherokee High School Speech and Debate Team