US Nationals Debate Prep Tournament

RESULTS

Varsity PF

Co-Champions -- Bergen County Tech  Samuel Grinberg & Akhil Kasubhai and Dalton Rebecca Solomon & JJ Yu Co-Champions

Speakers

1. JJ Yu (Dalton)
2. Samuel Grinberg (Bergen County Tech)
3. Rebecca Solomon (Dalton)
4. Ethan Donovan (Bergen County)
5. Akhil Kasubhai (Bergen County Tech)

Novice PF

Champion-- Aiden Kim (Maverick, Ivy Bridge)

Speakers

1. Eli Zislis (Bergen County)

2. Christina Yi (Ivy Bridge)
3. Lawrence We (BL Education)
4. Edi Quvus (Bergen County0
5. Noah Yoon (Ivy Bridge)

Middle School PF

Champions -- Andrew Chun & Neil Kreibirch

Speakers

1. Preanaya Balaji (Ivy Bridge)
2. Madhav Dua (Bergen County)
3. Hamming Sun (Ivy Bridge)
4. Kiran Gurunathan (Kugnus ACTS)
5. Owen Wu (Ivy Bridge)

Lincoln Douglas

Champion -- Bergen County Nathan Fallin)

Speakers

1. Griffin Hehmeyer (Overland)
2. Matthew Adelstein (Valley International)

3. Nathan Fallin (Bergen County)
4. Giselle Concepcion (Bergen County)
5. Ria Jani (Bergen County)

May 15-17, 2020

INDEPENDENT ENTRIES ARE ACCEPTED

Topics: NSDA Nationals LD Resolution, 19-20 (Arms sales) Policy

PF: The United States military should adopt a policy of offshore balancing

This topic is similar to the Gulf presence topic. "Offshore balancing" is an idea that calls for the US to withdraw most of its military presence from around the world, keeping it at home to deploy in a crisis abroad. 

Key Articles

Key Pro Book:  The Hell of Good Intentions:  America's Foreign Policy Elite and the Decline of Good Intentions

Pro Website: Quincy Institute for International Relations

Free Offshore balancing evidence 

Topic Videos 

Topic slide show 

WHERE?  The same only platform that hosted Georgetown and will host the TOC & NSDA.

Divisions -- PF (Two Person, Standard Format)

VARSITY
JUNIOR VARSITY
NOVICE
MIDDLE SCHOOL

Divisions -- PF (One on One)

VARSITY
NOVICE
MIDDLE SCHOOL

Format

Pro Constructive (5)
Con Constructive (5)

Crossfire (3)
Pro Rebuttal (5)
Con Rebuttal (5)

Crossfire (3)

Pro Summary (5)
Con Summary (5)

Divisions -- Policy & LD

VARSITY
NOVICE
MIDDLE SCHOOL

*Entries

Independent entries are accepted, but students cannot register for this tournament.  If an adult we do not know registers for the tournament, we will have a video call with the adult to insure that the adult is willing to take responsibility for you during the weekend of the tournament.

*Judging

-High School students CANNOT judge varsity debate divisions under any circumstances
-Middle School students can NEVER judge in any division
-9th graders can only judge only MS.
-10th graders and above who have debated at least one full year prior to this year can judge high school novice and MS and only those two divisions.
-11th & 12th graders and above who have debated at least two full years can judge JV, novice, and MS.

Programs that enter judges into divisions they cannot judge will be disqualified from the tournament.

Programs whose judges do not show MUST either pay a fine of $100/missed round or withdraw their teams from the tournament

Program directors (and adults who agree to take responsibility for independent entries) must agree to be in a text group where missing judges will be reported and must agree to help get those judges into debates.

If programs and responsible adults cannot agree to these judge responsibilities, they are encouraged to hire judging. We have unlimited hired judges available at $150/entry.

*Internet Connections

In last week's practice debates there are a few students in each of the debates whose internet lagged. We really encourage everyone to do the best they can to strengthen their internet connections over the next few days. Suggestions - 

(1) Sit near your wireless router. This is the fastest way to improve the strength of your connection.
(2) Purchase a new router and a wireless boost. A new router can help boost your connection and in-room wireless boost devices can help strengthen the signal.
(3) Purchase an ethernet cable and connect the cable directly to your computer. 

We realize these may cost a bit of money, but the costs are lower than traveling to tournaments and these measures will help students with their e-learning for the rest of the year. 

*Video

Although we are not going to *require that students turn on video, we are going to *strongly encourage it and *expect that judges keep video on.  After the practice tournament, many students expressed concern that they couldn't take advantage of visual cues that are normally provided by competitors and judges during the debate.  Debate clearly has strong verbal and visual components that are lost without cameras. Also, many expressed concern that there is no way at all to know if students are receiving outside prep assistance if they leave their cameras off.

The TOC is going to *require that competitors have cameras on at all time, so if you are doing this at least in part to practice for the TOC, we strongly encourage you to keep the cameras on.

If you are concerned about other people seeing parts of the room you are debating in, please simply do your best to position yourself against a wall.

*Evidence Exchange

 
The TOC is going to require all students to create email chains to exchange evidence in all events (this is normal in LD but rare to non-existent in PF).   Email chains are set-up before the debate and involve each debater putting their email address in an in-round email group (this often includes the judge, if the judge requests) to exchange evidence. If students are uncomfortable sharing personal email addresses, we encourage them to create a free temporary email address to share in the group.

Although the TOC is going to require this, the Georgetown tournament will not require it. We do, however, require students to exchange evidence when requested. So if you don't feel comfortable with the email exchange,  you will need to exchange evidence in the chat.  Students should have the direct quote they use readily available. If students paraphrase evidence (discouraged), they must be able to quickly show their opponents the part of the article they paraphrased from.

Critical Information for Judges

When you enter the room, please enter as Judge-Your Name

After you are in the room, please account for all debaters. Once the debaters are present, please click, “Start Round” on tabroom.com, just as you normally would.

After you are finished, please fill out the results on tabroom.com just as you normally would

Please avoid @ home distractions while judging

Please disclose if you wish, but please enter the results as soon as you have a decision. All of the debates are single flight, so there is plenty of time to talk.

PF debaters have 4 minutes of prep time. 

Basic steps that will also help the debate advance

Critical Information for Debaters

     -- Before you enter the room it will ask you your name. Please us the following naming convention (School Name, Initials).  Example: (Lakeland BM) Stefan

PF Sides

-Sides will be set in PF.

Other Useful Information

How to debate with a partner remotely (UK Debate)

Remote Coaching Guide (UK Debate)

TOC Online Best Practices and Procedures (UK Debate)  We will follow these as applicable.

YouTube Webinar -- Lincoln Garret & Priten Shah (System Developer)

How it works

Some additional details will be forthcoming once the TOC documentation is complete in the next week, but it's super simple to use.

Students will simply receive regular pairings on tabroom with regular classrooms, go to the Georgetown virtual tournament site, and enter the assigned classroom on their buildings (see, "Wings").

How much does it cost?

$100/team
$75/LDR

$150/judge/entry

*TOURNAMENT

May 15 -- ALL EVENTS -- ALL TIMES ARE ET

6:30 PM ET -- Round 1 -- PF, Policy, LD.  LD & PF are single flighted

8:30 PM ET -- Round 2 -- PF, LD   LD & PF are single flighted

9:00 PM ET -- Round 2 -- Policy

Saturday, May 16 -- PF & LD 

10 AM ET -- Round 3
12:00 PM ET -- Round 4

2:00 PM ET -- Round 5

4:00 PM ET -- Round 6

6:00 PM -- Octofinals (LD will start with quarterfinals)

7:30 PM-- Quarterfinals

9:00 PM Semifinals

Finals in the morning or co-champs

Saturday, May 17 Policy

10 am -- Round 3

12:30 PM Round 4

3pm pm -- Round 5

5:30 pm -- Round 6

8pm -- Quarterfinals

Sunday, May 10 Policy

10am -- semifinals

12:30pm -- finals