Dear Bluegrass Region Speech Coaches,

The Kentucky High School Speech League (KHSSL) Bluegrass Regional Tournament is quickly approaching. The tournament will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2020 at SCAPA at Bluegrass. Tournament registration will begin at noon.

REGIONAL ENTRIES AND FEES Remember that regional entries are limited to three per category, but students may be single, double, or triple entered. All entries should be entered at www.tabroom.com by Saturday, January 25, 2020 (Registration deadline). All drops or changes must be made by Thursday, January 30th by 5:00 PM (Final deadline). Each school’s entries will be frozen at that time on Thursday, January 30th after 5:00 PM. Entry fees for the regional tournament are $6.00 per individual entry and $12.00 per duo entry (i.e. Duo Acting (middle school category only), Duo Interpretation (high school category only), and Improvisational Duo (both middle and high school category)). Each school must provide a judge for each six entries or fraction thereof that are entered in the tournament. Schools failing to fill judging obligations will be charged $65 per judge required. Judges must be listed by name on the regional entry form. Please get commitments from judges before listing names on the form to minimize replacement hassles. Schools may only pay for ONE hired judge at the regional tournament. Please bring all fees to the regional tournament. Make checks for fees payable to KHSSL. Checks for drops or penalties should be made to SCAPA at Bluegrass.

Additionally, please bring a copy of all original oratory and informative speaking pieces with a signature page attached showing both the student and coach signatures reflecting it is the student’s own work.

REGIONAL RULES AND MORE FEE INFORMATION The regional tournament has some important rules and fees to note (see also the KHSSL Handbook for further clarification, https://khssl.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/20192020-khsslhandbook-final-as-of-5-november.pdf )

• Substitutions between the registration deadline and the final deadline are free.

• Drops and adds between the registration deadline and the final deadline carry the entry fee as a cost.

• Substitutions after the final deadline but before the arrival on-site for the regional tournament carry a $5 fee.

• Substitutions on arrival at the regional tournament carry a $25 fee.

• Drops after the final deadline, but before arrival on-site for the regional tournament are $10 plus the entry fee.

• Drops on arrival for the regional tournament are $50 plus the entry fee.

• Judge name changes after the final deadline, but before arrival on-site for the regional tournament are free.

• Judge name changes on arrival are $10.

• Judge drops after the registration deadline are $100, plus hired judge fees for the shortage. In addition, if a judge drop leads to a school not covering its judging obligation, the school’s entries may be reduced, but the school will still owe all entry fees.

Please remember that we have a new regional structure in place. The highlights of this new structure include the following:

• Speech schools MUST compete at regionals in order to compete at the state tournament.

• No school may enter MORE entries at the state tournament than they did at their regional tournament, but the distribution of entries at both tournaments are up to the coaches.

• A few students may need exemptions from the regional tournament per the new state tournament Rule 3. Coaches, you will be applying directly to Steve Meadows, the KHSSL Executive Director at KHSSLBoard@gmail.com , for those exemptions. Mr. Meadows will notify you and the regional manager of exemptions that have been granted.

• Exempt students are to be entered in the regional tournament as the coach sees fit, so the entries for exempt students count toward the school entry fee, but after producing the invoice, those entries will be dropped for regional tournament scheduling purposes. Only the entry fee is charged, no drop fee.

BLUEGRASS REGIONAL TOURNAMENT SPECIFICS AND SCHEDULE

We are having three preliminary rounds, with each event competing twice during those three rounds. If a final round is needed to determine a regional champion and runner-up, then a round to make that determination will also be held. This staggered schedule will allow us to maximize judges and the number of rooms available. We will release a final schedule by email shortly before the tournament date.

The schedule for the KHSSL Bluegrass Regional Tournament will be as follows:

Registration 12:00 – 1:00 PM

Round A 1:00 to 2:15 PM Extemp Draw 1:45 PM

Round B 2:15 PM to 3:30 PM Extemp Draw 3:00 PM

Round C 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM

Finals 5:15 PM

Awards 6:00 PM

The KHSSL Bluegrass Regional Tournament will be a combined tournament with both the junior and senior tournaments being held concurrently. It is important that your judges be familiar with the rules for the categories at both levels as senior judges may be judging junior categories and junior judges may be judging senior level events. To make it easier on everyone, the rules will be in the judging packets, but a preview of the different events at both levels would be helpful for all judges. Because the tournament cuts through lunch, food and drinks will be available for purchase. There will also be a hospitality room for all judges and coaches.

COACH OF THE YEAR Before closing, each region is tasked with submitting a name for the “Coach of the Year” Award. If you wish to submit a name, please send the nomination along with a brief description or profile of the coach to my email address. We will then vote for one person to represent our region from the submissions during the tournament.

If you have any other questions, please send me an email at beth.randolph@fayette.kyschools.us or a text to my cell phone. My cell phone number is (859)421-8538. Hold on to this number in case you need to reach me with changes before the tournament. Best of luck as the regular season winds down and the tournament season approaches.

Sincerely, Beth Randolph SCAPA at Bluegrass Principal and KHSSL Bluegrass Regional Tournament Manager

400 Lafayette Parkway Lexington, KY 40503 School: (859)381-3332