The Totally Free Tournament is hosted by Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California and will take place on Saturday, October 7, 2017.

The entire cost of the Totally Free Tournament is being underwritten by Club Parli.

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, David Saulet, Club Parli's Club Program Director, 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 debaters will be provided with the preliminary round topic fields.

The tournament will feature 5 single-flighted rounds with a break to semis.

The tournament will be capped at a total of 70 teams total with a cap of four teams per division. The tournament will have an open and JV division.

JV Division Qualifications: Debaters are middle schoolers or are in their first or second year of competitive debate.

Each school will need to supply one lay judge for every two teams (or fraction thereof) entered. We will not admit experienced judges into the pool.

Registration for the Club Parli Free Tournament will open September 8, 2017.

Nuisance Fees

While Club Parli enjoys sponsoring free tournaments, there are serious issues when it comes to teams committing to the date of competition. Last year saw teams dropping out the evening and day of both the Totally Free Tournament and the Six by Four Red Edition.

This year, the following penalties will apply for late drops:

Drops made on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th: $25 per dropped team.

Drops made on October 5th: $50 per dropped team.

Drops made on October 6th: $100 per dropped team.

Drops made on October 7th: $200 per dropped team.

The Totally Free Tournament Rules

1. After topic announce, teams will have 20 minutes to prep their arguments. Internet prep is allowed.

2. Team prep is allowed in the JV division. Open debaters may only prep with their partner. 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. Judges are encouraged to used tenths of a point in awarding speaker points.

7. Breaks 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.

The Totally Free Tournament Schedule

8:30-9AM Registration

9-10AM Judging Seminar/Topic Fields Released

10-11:30AM Round 1

11:30AM-1PM Round 2

1-2PM Lunch

2-3:30PM Round 3

3:30-5PM Round 4

5-6:30PM Round 5

7-8:30PM Semis

8:30-10PM Finals