The Girl's Invitational

How many tournaments have you been to where you're the only girl in the round? One of the few at the tournament? How many times have you been to a tournament and fewer than a third of the breaking teams comprise any person of your gender at all? How many times have you received a ballot that criticized your clothes instead of your arguments? Do you have women or other girls you can look up to in debate? Do you feel like you are knocked down in speaker points for the same style of debate that wins extra points for boys?

Well, this tournament is for you.

We're here to connect women, girls and other marginalized gender individuals in debate to create a space where we can share and problem solve about issues that affect them at all levels of debate and beyond. We begin with a moderated forum where we can delve into issues that face us in Forensics and the greater community.

Then we move to a round-robin style tournament where we pair competitors into mixed school pairs if they lack a female* partner to experience a tournament that is completely female centered-all competitors, judges and volunteers will be women. The winners? Women. The top speakers? Women. Really.

We'll also include a lunch with a networking event and ice breakers to get to know other women in debate at all levels. We're looking to help foster mentorship relationships especially for girls who don't have adult women mentors to look to for advice. We want to connect high school and middle school girls with college student and adult mentors who can help them navigate the debate world.

It's more than a tournament, The Girls' Invitational is part of a movement.

Join us as we take back debate, one tournament at a time.

Please find all the relevant information at our website here: http://girlsinvitational.strikingly.com/