Arkansas District Qualifier

for the 2019 National Tournament

The Arkansas NSDA Committee is proud to invite you to the 2019 Arkansas District Tournament, hosted by Arkansas State University at Beebe Friday, February 22—24, 2019!

REGISTRATION –

Registration will open on January 7, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. on Tabroom.com at http://arkansas.tabroom.com. Fees should be paid to LRCH Troubadours. Please note that all schools are assessed a school fee. If this is an issue, please contact the district chair.

IMPORTANT 2019 UPDATES –

·      We are excited to participate in the NSDA’s pilot district tournament qualification system. the NSDA will pilot an alternative district qualification system featuring streamlined rules that, among other changes, eliminate the traditional up/down system.

·      A student may not compete on a World Schools team unless they are entered in another district tournament event.

·      A “hired” judge is a judge who is NOT FULFILLING AN ATTENDING SCHOOL’S JUDGING COMMITMENT. Please explain this carefully to your judges. Only individuals hired by the tournament committee will be paid for rounds.

·      Please familiarize yourself with the updated electronic devices policies in the Unified High School Manual. Attendees are responsible for knowing and complying with all NSDA event rules. Penalties and disqualification procedures will be strictly followed.

·      The district committee will assess a $25 fee for missed rounds. You will be notified immediately upon fee assessment.

·      The physical tabroom will be off limits to coaches and students. All tournament issues should be communicated immediately to the ombudsman.

COMMITTEE CONTACTS –  

Rosie Valdez – District Chair, Tabulations                                          rosalia.n.valdez@gmail.com  

Jennifer Akers – Interpretation Events                                              Jennifer.akers@cps.k12.ar.us

Joel Brown – Scheduling, Extemp, Informative, OO                            jbrown8@sdale.org

Chris Flowers – Ombudsman                                                            christopher.flowers@lrsd.org

Eric Gamble – World Schools, Big Questions Debate                           mrgambledhs@gmail.com

Martene Campbell – Congress                                                          martene@gmail.com

School Eligibility and Entry Limits –

The number of entries a school is permitted to enter is based on the number of active members and degrees on record with the national office as of 4 p.m. (CST) a minimum of seven days (168 hours) prior to the start of the district competition. Current school strengths can be found on the school profile page on your NSDA account. Each school may enter up to four entries in each event. Congress uses a separate formula for entry limits. Please consult the Congress section for more information.

The completed tournament must be submitted seven days prior to the beginning of the tournament. Entries after this date must be approved by the NSDA District Chair, and will incur a late fee. Entry to the tournament is prohibited within 48 hours of the start of the tournament. Only drops or substitutions within the same event will be permitted within this time period.

The Arkansas NSDA District Tournament is a LEVEL II QUALIFIER. The top two entries in each event will receive the requisite bid to the National Tournament. Congress qualifiers use a different qualification standard listed below.

Student Eligibility and Requirements –

In order to be eligible to participate in the district tournament, students must be members of the NSDA (merit degree; 25 points) seven days prior to the official start time of the tournament. All necessary points and fees must be submitted to the national office by this deadline. A student may not have attended a secondary school more than nine semesters and must meet the age/eligibility requirements of his or her state activities association. 

While double entry will be allowed at the district tournament, triply entry is strictly prohibited. No student may double enter at the national tournament, therefore a Single Entry Letter of Intent must be filed with the district chair indicating which event the student competes in the second event. Students that double enter within the speech and debate district tournament are still eligible to compete in the district congressional debate contest only.

Students may only enter one partnership debate event (Policy Debate or Public Forum). Students may enter in one partnership debate event as partners and in Duo Interpretation as the same partnership. A student may not enter a partnership debate event and a Duo Interpretation with different partners. If a student qualifies in a partnership event (Public Forum Debate, Policy Debate, or Duo Interpretation) and an individual event, the student must attend the national tournament in the partnership event. If two students qualify for the national tournament in a partnership event and both individuals also qualify for the national tournament in their respective individual events, the students may choose to enter the national tournament in their individual events if indicated on their Single Entry Letter of Intent. IF two students enter the district tournament in a partnership debate event and in Duo Interpretation, the students must choose one of the team events and both indicate the same preference on their respective Single Entry Letter of Intent prior to the beginning of the tournament in which the partnership would double qualify.

Oratory and Informative scripts must be uploaded to your tabroom.com entry before registration can be completed. Please follow all NSDA guidelines regarding script requirements. 

Complete rules on entry are available in the Unified High School Manual. 

World Schools Debate & Big Questions –

In order to accommodate all schools interested in these events we will be implementing an entry cap on both of these events.

•          Big Questions Debate: 4 entries per school

•          World Schools Debate: 3 entries per school (Multiple school hybrids count as one entry for each school involved in the hybrid)

The winners of these events will represent their school, our district, and Arkansas at the NSDA National Tournament in Dallas. We ask that all entries understand that their participation should be as thoughtful and as well-prepared as participation in main events. Only ONE Big Questions debater will qualify to Nationals. Only TWO World School Debate entries will qualify to the National Tournament.

Big Questions Topic – Resolved: Humans are primarily driven by self-interest.

World School and Big Questions entries will not count against your total allotment of entries to the district tournament and are not subject to double and triple entry limits.

 World Schools entries will NOT BE MADE ON TABROOM. You must email your team(s) names, rosters, and any hybrid information to mrericgambledhs@gmail.com AND rosalia.n.valdez@gmail.com by the tournament entry deadline. Reminder: World Schools teams must be comprised of 3-5 members. 

Congress Legislation –  

FOUR pieces of legislation PER SCHOOL [TWO FOR HOUSE AND TWO FOR SENATE]  may be submitted no later than January 21, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. All submissions must use the NSDA legislation template. Legislation will be posted to Tabroom.com on January 22, 2019. Legislation that does not use the template will not be accepted. Legislation should be emailed to Martene Campbell at martene@gmail.com.

Tournament Accessibility –

The tournament will make every effort to attempt to honor any reasonable accommodation request made to ensure an equitable and quality educational competition environment. Requests for accommodation prior to the tournament should be made by the coach to the district chair directly. Issues during the tournament should be brought to the attention of the ombudsman as soon as possible.

ADA Accessibility – Each building used during the tournament has accessible entries designated on a map provided by the tournament. Accessible rooms have been identified in each building and will be used prioritizing competitors registered for need of ADA room.

Gender-Neutral Restrooms – Gender-neutral restrooms have been identified in each building, including the second floor restroom in the Student Center, the third floor restroom in the Science Building, the restroom in the University Center, and the north restrooms in the Owen Center.