Tournament Regulations

GENERAL REGULATIONS

DEBATE TOPIC:                                          The current KSHSAA-approved resolution.

KSHSAA RULES:                                      Ad Astra supports high school competition and will use all KSHSAA rules and regulations, including the Virtual Debate Addendum published this fall unless noted otherwise.  No schools from outside of Kansas will be allowed to compete in these competitions at this time.  Internet access is allowed

TOURNAMENT STYLE:                          All divisions will have four rounds.  All teams will debate two pre-set rounds.  Other rounds will be power-matched, based on tiebreaks using the SOP method (email with questions).  Novice division may be power-lag matched. Each team will debate both sides of the resolution with 8-3-5-time limits.  8 minutes of prep time in all divisions, per KSHSAA.

FEES:                                                            Fees are $5.00 per team.  Contact adastradebate@gmail.com if you have a financial need for entry expenses.

ENTRIES:                                                     Entries should be made on Tabroom.com by Monday Sept. 28 at 5:00 pm Entries will be prioritized by 1)Wichita Public Schools, 2) Sedgwick County Schools, 3) Sunflower District Schools, 4) West/South Kansas District Schools, 5) South Central & Western Kansas Schools writ larger 6) All other NSDA Districts & Kansas Schools

FORFEITS:                                                   Any team more than ten minutes late to a round will forfeit the decision, subject to the discretion of the tournament manager.  In any forfeit decision, the winning team will receive a 1-2 speaker point win and the losing team will receive a 3-4 speaker point loss.

SCHEDULE:                                   Afterschool Schedule

3:00 PM   Round I - Pairings Released on Tabroom – Students and judges meet in Zoom Pooling room.

                                                        3:30 PM               Round I

5:00 PM.   Round II – Pairings Released on Tabroom – Students and judges meet in Zoom Pooling room

5:30 PM  Round II

JUDGING:                                                    One judge will be required for every two entries.  Any coaches or sponsors will be asked to judge so please advise sponsors of this possibility.  Judges will be considered “clean” at the beginning of quarters.  May 2020 graduates may judge.  Third and fourth-year debaters are encouraged to enter to judge only in the novice division.  All judges will be required to have a Tabroom.com account

SCOUTING:                                                 Spectators (students and parents) are not allowed to watch teams in our virtual environment.  Please contact Ad Astra Debate if you have spectators who will need access to virtual rooms, at least one week in advance of the tournament. 

INVOICES:                                                   May be printed directly from your registration on Tabroom.com.  All school checks can be made payable to:

Ad Astra Debate

9426 W. Thurman CT.

Wichita, KS 67212

MAVERICKS                                             No maverick or 3 person teams will be allowed to compete.  The tournament may allow a maverick debate AT THE DIRECTOR’S DISCRETION if it will avoid a bye and allow for more experience.  However, the maverick team will be given a 3-4 loss regardless of the judge’s decision in the round.

CLIPPING                                                  Clipping will be considered a form of cheating that must be made as an argument during the debate round.  In no circumstance should a judge stop the round to address this issue, but may base their decision on the clipping claims if there is evidence to validate the concerns (speech docs)

CASELIST                                                 Affirmatives in the novice division should be built with harms/advantage areas that match the five case negs. The purpose of the negative caselist is to have predictable debates for novices, not for you to surprise people so that your students can win more debates. If the tournament hosts deem that a plan is intentionally outside of the caselist area, you will receive a loss in the debate. If you have questions about whether or not an affirmative is allowed, please reach out. Namely, the affirmative can read advantages that they can accurately predict the negative does not have answers to. For educational reasons, we have decided that affirmatives will be limited to the advantage areas covered in the negative packet. If you read an advantage that is outside of the negative packet areas, you can be given an automatic loss.