Hello fellow coaches,

After hearing your comments, feedback, and after many discussions with you via email, I am proud to announce the rollout of a new project geared at the increasing novice experience in the state of Iowa. The Iowa Distance Debate Initiative will be hosting several novices after school tournaments from October to February. The goal of these tournaments is to give new first year debaters a chance to compete in a safe and educational environment. Coaches can use this as a place to get their novice team members some speaking time before a tournament, and teachers can use this to give their class kids some real-world debate lessons. This will be especially useful in the spring as there are few novice-only tournaments for students who are starting 2nd semester or 3rd trimester debate classes.

The format of the after-school tournaments will be a three-round tournament with rounds starting at 4:30 PM, 6:15 PM, and 7:30 PM on the day of the tournament. We will accelerate the tournament when possible. We will use the NSDA Campus system for the online platform.

Paper certificates suitable for framing will be sent to all students who place 2-1 or higher at these tournaments.

The best part… THE ENTRY FEE IS FREE. That’s right, your eyes did not deceive you. There is no charge for these tournaments. Bring as many students as you want. Three free debate rounds per student or team. As long as we hit four NSDA schools, you can also use these for NSDA points! The only thing I ask is that you please bring judges. Since I am not charging entry fees, I have no extra funds to pay hired judges. Varsity students can judge, so bring your varsity kids.

The November event will be on November 9th. With the seasons picking up speed, this is a great chance for new debate teams to get practice in before the late November and December rush.Registration is due on November 7th at 7 PM.

Importation information and requirements

-Novice is defined as any student in their first year of high school debate. Previous high school debate prior to this year will disqualify a student from the novice division. 

-Students will be allowed to enter novice if they have one or fewer years of high school speech experience. Any more speech experience will disqualify a student from novice. 

-This tournament is open only to students from schools in Iowa. 

-A school's judging obligation must be meet. If you are under in terms of your obligation, I will ask you to drop entries until you are within your obligation.

-We will be using the NSDA Campus System. This means you will need to use Google Chrome.

-Please, please, please, make sure your students and judges are linked. This is the only way the tournament can work.

Judging and Fees

NO ENTRY FEES!!!!

1 judge for every 2 pf teams or every 2 ld debaters or fractions thereof.

Schedule

Round 1: 4:30 PM

Round 2: 6:15 PM

Round 3: 7:30 PM

We will accelerate the schedule when possible.

Resolutions

LD: Resolved: Unconditional right to strike

PF: Resolved: Cryptocurrency regulations