Friends,

Please plan on joining us in October for the 12th Annual Blue Devil Debates. We plan to continue the tradition started 10 years ago in honoring our judges and competitors with awards voted on by the debaters. Additionally we will again present the Coaching Award and the Dr. Amy Fugate Leadership Award. Last year's recipients were Chris Salinas of Southern Methodist University receiving the Coaching Award and Jon Bruschke of CSU Fullerton receiving the Leadership Award. I look forward to presenting this year's awards as well

There will be entertainment options for coaches in the evening if there is interest. Likewise just 3 miles to the West of campus is Village West. It has become the entertainment, dining, and shopping mecca of Kansas and the Mid-West. It has moved Kansas up 15 spots in tourism in the past among all states nationwide. The new Hollywood Casino at the Legends is now fully functional and is a gorgeous Las Vegas style casino right here in Kansas. Anything you could want to eat or buy is now available just minutes from the Campus. I encourage everyone to check it out--especially BBQ fans!

Thanks,
Chief

Dear Colleagues:

On behalf of Kansas City Kansas Community College, Blue Devil Debate, and the Humanities and Fine Arts Division, it is my pleasure to invite you and your students to the 12th annual KCKCC Debate Tournament. The debate tournament will be held Friday October 11th through Sunday October 13th on the KCKCC campus in Kansas City, Kansas. Registration for the tournament will be on Friday at the college. In this invitation you will find the necessary information, schedule, and entry parameters.

We will be offering three divisions of policy debate on the current CEDA/NDT topic for 2013-14. You may submit teams in Open, JV, and Novice divisions. We will break to an appropriate number of elims in each division and will do everything within reason to not have to collapse divisions. As per the CEDA rule governing sweeps, we will break ½ the teams in all divisions. Speaker awards will also be given in each division.

If you have any questions regarding the tournament, please do not hesitate to call or email. We look forward to hosting you on our campus in October.

Sincerely,

Darren Elliott--Director of Debate and Forensics      Scott Elliott—Asst. Dir. Of Debate
(913)288-7295 – office                                           Mike Krueger—Asst. Coach
(316)214-9502 – cell                                              Clay Crockett—Asst. Coach
delliott@kckcc.edu                                                  John Bretthauer—Asst. Coach

Tentative KCKCC Schedule of events:

Friday, October 11th

2:00pm Registration Upper Level Lounge Jewell Student Center
3:00pm Pairings/Opening Gathering Upper Level Lounge Jewell Student Center
3:45pm Round I Preset
6:00pm Round II Preset
All ballots must be in before leaving the building

Saturday, October 12th
8:00am Release Pairings
8:30am Breakfast Upper Jewell Lounge
9:00am Round III
11:45am Round IV
1:30pm Lunch Upper Jewell Lounge
3:30pm Round V
6:30pm Round VI
A list of teams participating in elimination rounds and the judges and standby judges will be posted on CEDA Forums as soon as possible after the conclusion of Round 6.

Sunday, October 13th
7:00am Release Pairings/Breakfast
8:00am Elim Round 1 (Decision Time 10:45am)
11:00am Awards in Upper Level Jewell Lounge
Elims Continue…..

KCKCC Tournament Information 

DIVISIONS: We will be offering Open, Junior Varsity, and Novice Divisions. Please follow the CEDA guidelines for entering your team in the correct division. We will only collapse divisions if ABSOLUTELY necessary. We will break to the appropriate number of elims based on CEDA sweeps points regulations and number of entries in a division. We will break ½ the teams in each division. If a division does collapse we will still give awards based on how a team finishes in comparison to other teams who would have been eligible for the less experienced division.

ENTRIES: Please have your entries to me as soon as possible. I would like adds no later than Oct. 9^th. The number of Saturday classes on our campus has increased dramatically. Classroom space is limited. As such tournament entries will be secured on a first entered basis. If a wait list is necessary, teams will be notified once the cap is reached. If you are flying to KC, enter early and your spots will be guaranteed. Fees will be locked in on the 9th at 5pm. Drops after this time will still be assessed entry fees due to food, trophy, and judging commitment costs.

TIME LIMITS: Time limits will be 9-3-6 with 10 minutes of prep time per team.

JUDGING: Each school is expected to provide qualified judges to accompany their teams. You are responsible for three rounds of judging for every one team entered. All judges are committed through the first FULL elim debate or one round past their teams' elimination, whichever occurs last. Please do your best to hire judges if you need to as opposed to trying to hire them through us. If you do need to hire a judge, the fee will be $150.00 per uncovered team. Please give me plenty of notice if you need to hire someone. If you are bringing extra judges, let me know how many rounds they would like to be hired for. Judges MUST render a decision by marking a loser and a winner of each debate. Only one team can win and only one can lose. Judges not following this will have their ballot changed with a coin toss and have their best team's record altered by forfeiting a win at the conclusion of prelims. We plan on using some sort of judge preference system depending on entries and availability. If a preference system is used, one will be used in ALL divisions as per CEDA rules. If you are bringing more teams than you can cover, and are splitting your judge commitments among your coaches, it is vital that you have enough judges on elim day to cover at a minimum the number of teams you clear.

FEES: The registration fee will be $80.00 per team entered. We will provide Breakfast on Saturday as well as lunch. We will provide breakfast on Sunday morning as well. We will provide drinks and snacks throughout the weekend. Cash is the preferred method of payment so we can pay our vendors over the weekend. A check is the second best option--made out to "Darren Elliott". Unfortunately we cannot take Visa, Mastercard, or Discover at this time.

ROUNDS: Round will be open to tournament participants and their guests. Videotaping may occur for educational purposes. No videos should be publicly displayed without the permission of all participants.

SMOKING: Please do not smoke inside buildings on the KCKCC campus. Smoking areas and containers for cigarette butts are located outside throughout the campus. You CANNOT smoke near the entrance as per State Law. Move to designated areas.

TEAMS: Teams should be comprised of two debaters from the same school or two debaters, each from a different school. All teams, including hybrids will be allowed to advance to elims and win speaker awards. Please notify me early of any 3-person teams you may enter. KCKCC debaters may participate in the tournament and advance to elim rounds. Three-Person teams will be allowed although if multiple three-person teams (2 from different schools) become a reality I will try and get coaches together to make two-person hybrids out of their extra debaters.

TAB ROOM: The tab room will be administered by the Tournament Director and hopefully run by Dr. Jeff Jarman of Wichita State University. No decision regarding any team participating in the tournament will be made in the tab room solely by coaches associated with that team.

AWARDS: Teams reaching the elimination debates will receive awards. An appropriate number of speaker awards will be given in each division as well. Collapsed divisions if it has to happen will still be awarded based on finish in comparison to other teams from the less experienced division that was collapsed.

We will once again present the Dr. Amy Fugate Leadership Award to a member of CEDA who has distinguished service and leadership in the organization. Previous recipients were ML Sandoz, Jeff Jarman, Eric Morris, Neil Berch, Gordon Stables, Kathryn Rubino, Gary Larson, Skip Eno, Vik Keenan and Jon Bruschke.

We will once again present the Coaches Award, typically designated for an assistant coach, to show appreciation for those who work so hard to keep our programs going. Previous recipients were Heather Walters, James Taylor, Matt Moore, Jason Russell, Louie Petit, Carolyn Cusick, Cade Hamilton, Natalie Pennington, Mick Souders, Jason Regnier, and Chris Salinas.

We will present the Newcomer Award to any program coming to our tournament for the first time, and the Long Distance Award to the program traveling the farthest to be with us.

We will award the Top 3 Critics as voted on by the competitors.

We will award 1 team in each Division as “representing the best there is in competition” as voted on by the competitors.

BRACKETS: Brackets will not be broken in elimination debates.

HOTEL INFO: We currently have no block set aside at any one hotel as we find most teams tend to stay at different hotels depending on budgetary needs. We do have some recommendations however (and this is NOT a Nascar weekend which is a good thing).

Comfort Suites at the Legends—A very nice hotel. Very nice rooms. Adjacent to the T-Bones minro league baseball team stadium. Served as the hotel for the summer debate co-op and were very accomdating. 3000 N. 103^rd Terrace. Kansas City, KS. 913-299-4466.

Days Inn--The hotel is located right off of I70 and 78th St exit in Kansas City (Exit #414). Their number is (913)334-3028. Their fax number is (913)334-5983.They are located at 7721 Elizabeth St. Kansas City, KS 66112.

Other hotels:
The Comfort Inn and Suites (on the other side of I70 from the Microtel) is about 5 minutes from campus. Their number is 913-299-5555.

The Holiday Inn Express (located in the Legends Shopping Center at Village West) is 10 minutes from the College. This hotel is relatively new, very nice, and right in the middle of shopping and dining mecca
Their number is 913-328-1024.

The Holiday Inn Express (On I70 in Bonner Springs) is about 10-15 minutes from the College. Their number is 913-721-5300.
The Hampton Inn (located in the Legends Shopping Center at Village West) is 10 minutes from the College. Also very new and very nice, it is located in the heart of shopping and dining. Their number is 913-328-1400.

TRANSPORTATION: If you are flying in to KCI and need a shuttle to the hotel, please let me know immediately:

DIRECTIONS: If you are driving from the East: Take I70 through Kansas City, MO and into Kansas City, KS. You will see signs for KCKCC just before the turn off for the campus. You want to take the Turner Diagonal/Highway 40 Exit. Stay to the right onto Highway 40. Stay on until State Avenue. Turn left onto State and at the first right, which is College Blvd., turn right into the college. Follow the road around (please don't hitour ducks) until you see the Humanities building on your right. Park anywhere you can find a space in front of the section of the building labeled “JEWELL”. Enter the Jewell building, proceed down the hallway past Admissions and Financial Aid. Once you reach the end of the hall, take a left to the Upper Level Lounge.

If you are driving from the West: Take I70 to Kansas City and take the Highway 40 exit. You will be driving under the Turner Diagonal then rounding back on to it heading North. When you come to State Avenue turn left. The entrance to KCKCC will be on your immediate right at College Blvd. Once turning on to College Blvd. follow the road around (please don't hit our ducks) until you see the Humanities building on your right. Park anywhere you can find a space in front of the section of the building labeled “JEWELL”. Enter the Jewell building, proceed down the hallway past Admissions and Financial Aid. Once you reach the end of the hall, take a left to the Upper Level Lounge. 

If you are coming from the North or South: Take I35 until you reach I70. Take I70 and follow the first set of directions listed above. 

PARKING: You will not be ticketed by parking in the lot in front of Humanities or Jewell Friday, Saturday, or Sunday unless you park in a Handicapped or Reserved stall. All unmarked and Visitor stalls are fine to park in. You also need to park head-in to avoid being ticketed. 

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT/ETHICS: The CEDA statement on Sexual Harassment will be upheld. A tournament harassment committee will be appointed to deal with any issues that arise. The tournament and its participants will also adhere to CEDA Bylaws regarding the Statement on Ethical Principles. 

STATE LAW: All tournament participants, coaches and judges are expected to adhere to the laws of the State of Kansas. Alcohol and illegal substance consumption on campus is strictly prohibited by these laws and will result in removal from the tournament. 

ENTERING THE TOURNAMENT: Entry on tabroom.com is the preferred method of entry. You can also email me your entry if you prefer.

 If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call or email me. We hope to see you in October in Kansas City.

Darren Elliott 
KCKCC 
7250 State Avenue 
Kansas City, KS 66112 
delliott@kckcc.edu 
(913)288-7295 office 
(913)288-7638 fax 
(316)214-9502 cell