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STERLING HIGH SCHOOL DEBATE
308 E Washington Ave, Sterling, KS 67579

(enter on east/4th St. side)

August 2026

Dear Coach,

(First things first: we will offer competition in all three divisions: open, JV, and novice.)

You and your squad are cordially invited to attend Sterling High School’s “Betsy Fest” Debate tournament—Saturday, September 19, 2026.

1. We will operate on tabroom.com. See http://betsyfestdebate.tabroom.com/.

2. All entries will be waitlisted upon registration and if I see the need for squads to split or limit entries I will reach out to coaches no later than 9 pm September 8.

3. Entering judges certainly helps me accept more of your entries, all other things being equal.

4. Naming your teams also helps me accept more of your entries, compared to TBA entries.

5. We will accept entries for up to 66 teams total--wish we had more rooms. We will start dropping TBA entries to add waitlisters at 6 pm on Thursday 9/10.

6. Novice competition will be limited to case-list material.

7. OPENING WEEKEND ITEM: Rounds 1-2 are padded with an additional 15 minutes. In novice round 1 only, we encourage coaches to circulate among their own novice rounds acting as angels to assist *all* teams and judges (including opponents).

8. ANOTHER OPENING WEEKEND ITEM: Round 2 will be an “inverted judge” round to the extent the judge pool permits and I am aware of judge qualifications, with experienced judges working with novices and lay judges working with open/JV.

9. PLEASE SUPPLY AT LEAST ONE JUDGE IF YOU WILL ENTER ANY TEAMS IN THE OPEN DIVISION. Bringing at least one judge is necessary if you are competing in open. (Our community judges are probably better aligned with novice and JV.) Also let us know if your 3rd/4th year debaters wish to judge novice. We welcome their expertise and will use them.

10. Sweepstakes awards will be given to the top two squads based on a school’s best three entries. To qualify for sweeps, a school must have at least one entry in the open/varsity division. Individual medals will be awarded through 6th place in each division.

11. KSHSAA rules will be followed. Debaters in their 3rd or 4th year of competition must debate in the open/varsity division.

12. The cost per team will be $8. Concessions (with lunch options) and a meal deal are in the works, with details pending.

13. The first two rounds will be preset, followed by two power-matched rounds.

Schedule:

Registration 7:30

Round One 8:00 (I am padding rounds 1-2 an extra 15 minutes each . . . first rounds of the year = pandemonium)

Round Two 9:45

Lunch 11:30 - 12:15

Round Three 12:15 (rounds 3-4 are 90 minutes not 105 minutes!)

Round Four 1:45

Awards ASAP 3:15

Looking forward to seeing many of you on September 19!

Dave Wilson, Head Debate Coach, 620.278.6080