2020 Womxn’s Invitational

Hosted by The Quarry Lane School

(February 22nd and 23rd, 2020)

Dearest Speech and Debate Enthusiasts,

You are cordially invited to take part in the Third Annual Quarry Lane School Womxn’s Invitational at The Quarry Lane School in Dublin, CA. This event will take place on Saturday, February 22nd 2020, through Sunday, February 23rd 2020, and includes Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum debate as well as specific Speech Events (HI, IMP, and OO).

We will be using the January/February NSDA topic for LD and the February NSDA topic for PF. We welcome all competitors who identify as being a womxn to combat marginalization in the speech and debate space.

If you would like to donate to our cause, please use the following link. Thank you to any and all of you for any donations -- we sincerely and greatly appreciate your support that makes this possible!!:

https://www.gofundme.com/womxns-debate-rr-and-invitational

What is it?

Have you ever felt small? Powerless? Like the majority of people are against you?  Do you ever feel marginalized by the boys in the room who at times seek to “put you in your place?” Speech & Debate is for everyone, but it doesn’t always feel that way. The ability to attend speech and debate rounds and practices as well as succeed all depend on your support group, and too many times, these support groups don’t include people who identify as anything other than boys. We want to help change that. By developing a womxn’s tournament, our goal is to get more womxn involved in all aspects of speech and debate: prep groups, practices, speaking, debating, judging, coaching, and running Tabroom. If you can relate to being under-represented in debate, you can show the debate world what it’s missing out on. We, a small school, hope to overcome the challenges womxn face on a regular basis one step at a time by creating an empowering environment in which womxn compete against each other in a productive and educational manner while being judged by womxn. Even the tournament will be run by womxn! *For our purposes, all femme/female identifying individuals, and those that experience marginalization because of their gender in speech and debate, are welcome. Elsewhere where you see "girls," we are referring to all those identities for simplicity sake.

NOTE: You MUST provide trigger warnings to students and judges before rounds. This is NON-NEGOTIABLE and we WILL NOT TOLERATE anyone who triggers a student or judge during a round without providing them a trigger warning prior to that round. Please do not hesitate to bring any issues to your judges or to tabroom directly because we are here to ensure that this is a safe and accessible space for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do I have to be a womxn or girl to attend? Are you policing this?

The short answer is if you identify with the statements above, and you navigate speech and debate and the world at large as a feminine-identifying or identified person, then this tournament is for you. If that is not your experience, it would not be. Male chaperones or adult presence will have a nice space during the tournament, but are not invited as part of the forum or other events. We will not be policing those that enter but trust registrants to know whether this is an appropriate space for them.

What is the purpose of an all womxn tournament? Why no men? 

Nearly the entire world is open to men. They have access to spaces and power that many womxn never can enjoy. The point is to carve out a safe place for discussion and networking and to provide a much needed place where womxn can be the dominant voice for once in speech and debate. Since the conversation and experience is entirely different with men in this space, and our goal to empower womxn, we hope that our male supporters will understand.  

Can I just come and observe? Can I just come and be a part of the networking and forum as an adult?

Absolutely, and absolutely! We would be honored to have you join us.

Tournament Schedule

 Friday, February 21st, 2020: Registration

Online check in (Tabroom.com)

Saturday, February 22nd, 2020: Day 1*

**Registration will take place the morning of the tournament in Tabroom, Room 211. Please check in during this time to confirm entries and drop off a check.

*We will speed up rounds if possible 

Sunday, February 23rd, 2020: Day 2 

Fees

School fee: $25

Invitational entry fee (independent and school-affiliated): $50

Low Income Waiver

To encourage participation from all debaters, we are offering the option of submitting a low-income waiver. Please email eshah@quarrylane.org if you wish to apply.

Fee Deadlines:

All times are in PST

You must add entries by Sat, March 31, 2018 5:00pm

Your registration fees/obligations are frozen on Tues, April 3, 2018 5:00pm

You can drop entries or change names online until Tues, April 3, 2018 5:00pm

Judge entries and changes are due by Tues, April 3, 2018 5:00pm

Nuisance fines in addition to reg fees for changes start at Tues, April 3, 2018 5:00pm

Judging Information

Requirements

Debate: 1 judge for every 2 teams that are entered (applies to both LD and PuFo)

Speech: 1 judge for every 3 speech competitors from a school that are entered (applies to all speech categories, but ratio is subject to change depending on number of entries.) 

All judges are obligated through the semi-final round in LD and PF, as well as one round past the school’s elimination. So for example, if your school’s last LD student is eliminated in R4, your LD judges must be available to judge the LD semi-final round. For speech categories with elimination rounds, judges are obligated through finals. It is not likely that all obligated judges will be assigned a round, but we don’t want to be short on judges towards the end of the tournament. We greatly appreciate any volunteers willing to stick around for the late elimination rounds.

Hired Judging

We will not be providing hired judging. Instead, we hope that volunteers as well will help to judge and provide feedback to young womxn. Please email eshah@quarrylane.org if you’re interested in being a part of a pool of women that can help judge.

Meal Information

We will be offering lunch for purchase on both Saturday and Sunday for all competitors. Snacks will be available for purchase in between rounds. Please let us know if you have any vegans in your group so that we order the appropriate amount of veggie-friendly food. Please also note any other special dietary restrictions such as food allergies so we can make sure that everyone is accommodated.

Accomodations

There is no hotel block specifically for our tournament, but we recommend the following hotels:

Extended Stay America (Dublin/Hacienda): 4500 Dublin Blvd., Dublin, CA 94568

Hyatt Place Dublin/Pleasanton: 4950 Hacienda Dr., Dublin, CA 94568

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