Club Parli will celebrate its official launch with what will hopefully evolve into an annual tradition: The Totally Free Tournament. The tournament is hosted by Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California and will take place on Saturday, October 1, 2016.

The tournament is free. There is no entry fee and lunch will be provided to debaters and judges at no cost.

The tournament is proudly lay and will be limited to judges with little to no experience.

Prior to round #1, Club Parli will be providing a one-hour judging seminar that will cover everything from online ballots to basic flowing. The morning judging seminar will be followed-up with a lunchtime roundtable to check-in on how well theory is put into practice.

During the judging seminar novice debaters will be provided with a parliamentary debate tutorial led by an esteemed member of the Club Parli coaching staff. Concurrently, the open debaters will be provided the four topic fields for their rounds and will have the hour to prep. At lunch, debaters will gather for the year's first General Assembly to talk about hopes, fears, and concerns relating to the upcoming season.

The tournament will feature 4 double-flighted rounds with a break to semifinals. 

Each division will be capped at 32 teams and there will be a school cap of three teams per division. Each school will need to supply one lay judge for every three teams (or fraction thereof) entered. We will not admit experienced judges into the pool.

Registration for the Club Parli Free Tournament will open on August 29, 2016. To register, go visit Tabroom by clicking here. 

The Totally Free Tournament Rules

1. After topic announce, teams will have 20 minutes to prep their arguments. Internet prep is allowed. The open division will be provided with topic fields one hour prior to the first round.

2. There is no coach prep or team prep. Debaters may only prep with their partners. Debaters may only utilize handwritten notes drafted during prep time in round.

3. The speech times for the tournament will be as follows: 7-7-7-7-5-5

4. The first and last minute of each speech will be protected time. No POIs will be allowed during protected time.

5. No POIs may be asked in the two rebuttal speeches. POOs are allowed in the two rebuttal speeches. Time will stop when a POO is made.

6. Speaker points will be made utilizing a 30-point scale.

7. Breaks to the final round will be based on records. Tiebreakers will be determined in the following order: (1) wins, (2) total speaker points dropping high/low, (3) total speaker points, (4) ranks.

8. Rounds 1 and 2 will be blind draw. Rounds 3 and 4 will be power matched.

9. Schools are required to bring 1 lay judge for every three division entries or fraction thereof.

10. Novice debaters are middle schoolers or high school debaters starting their first year of competitive high school debate (regardless of format).

11. Open debaters are high school debaters who are not starting their first year of competitive debate (regardless of format).

12. DRESS CODE: There is no formal dress code. Dress comfortably but within reason!

The Totally Free Tournament Schedule

8:00-8:30AM Registration

8:30-9:30AM Judging Seminar, Novice Debater Workshop, Topic Field Announce/Prep for Open Debaters

9:30-11:30AM Round 1

11:30AM-1:30PM Round 2

1:30-2:30PM Lunch, Debater General Assembly, Judge Discussion

2:30-4:30PM Round 3

4:30-6:30PM Round 4

6:30-8PM Semis

8-8:30PM Break

8:30-10PM Finals

Location: Bishop O'Dowd High School, 9500 Stearns Avenue, Oakland, CA 94605.