Tournament Information

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

Tournament Information

Location: Athens High School is located at 708 E. College Street, Athens Texas 75751.  You may get personalized directions by visiting clicking here.

Hotels: There are a handful of options options for hotels central to Athens. The Best Western Athens is offering a discounted rate of $99: 1814 State Highway 31 E Athens, Texas 75751.  For the negotiated rate contact them directly at the hotel direct number (903) 292-1750

Entries:  Entries will be accepted until our spaces are filled.  We have a limited number of rooms, so plan on entering early!  We would appreciate completed entries by Thursday, November 3rd.  Drops for speech & debate events made after Tuesday, November 8th at 5:00 pm will result in the loss of your entry fee.  Drops made the day of the tournament will result in a $100.00 drop fee. You will have the ability to make changes on this site up until the day before the tournament.  Please email any changes after that point.

Communication: We endeavor to provide you and your kids with the best experience possible.  Please help us in this endeavor by checking the emails from us through tabroom.  We also encourage all sponsors to text day-of drops ahead of time to Walter Willis (713-819-2082) so that it does not delay the beginning of the tournament.  This includes any judge changes as well.

Events Offered:

TFA Tournament: Policy debate, Lincoln Douglass Debate, Public Forum Debate, Congressional Debate, Novice CX, Novice LD, Novice PF, Novice CD. Domestic Extemp (DX), International Extemp, (IX), Novice Extemp (NX), Impromptu Speaking (Im), Original Oratory, (OO), Informative Speaking, (inf), Humorous Interpretation (HI), Dramatic Interpretation (DI), Program of Oral Interpretation (PoI), Duo Interpretation (Duo), and Duet Acting (DA). 

UIL Prep Tournament: Policy debate, Lincoln Douglass Debate, Congressional Debate, Persuasive Extemp (PerX), Informative Extemp, (InfX), Novice Extemp (NX), Impromptu Speaking, Prose Reading (Pr), and Poetry Reading (Po). Note that we are willing to add non-UIL events if attending coaches express an interest.

Entry Limits: The only entry limit is our building capacity.  Please utilize our waitlist and we will update it as frequently as we can!

Cross-Entering: In debate, students may enter one debate event.  Students may enter as many speech events as they like, but if they enter more than two, we will not hold rounds for them and they compete at their own risk. 

Judges:

• Cross-Examination Debate – One judge for every two entries, or portion thereof.

• Lincoln-Douglas – One judge for every four entries, or portion thereof. 

• Public Forum Debate – One judge for every four entries, or portion thereof.
• Congressional Debate  – One judge for every six entries, or portion thereof.
• Individual Events – One judge for every six entries, or portion thereof.
• Big Questions Debate--One judge for every four entries or portion thereof.

*All judges must be entered on the website by Monday, November 7th  at 6:00 pm or you will be assessed missing judge fees.  After this time your judge fees will be assessed even if you bring an extra judge with you.  We need to get an accurate idea of how many judges to hire.  Provided judges are always preferred to fees.  Schools of judges who are scheduled to judge rounds and do not pick up ballots will be assessed a fee of $25 for every missed round.  We would prefer you bring judges as opposed to paying fees, but if you are paying fees we just need to get an accurate idea of how many outside judges to hire.  Committing to a judge and then not providing that judge will result in a missing judge fee assessed on the day of the tournament.

Topics: 

• Cross-Examination Debate – 2021-2022 NFHS Topic

• Lincoln-Douglas Debate (TFA) – Nov/Dec NSDA Topic

• Lincoln-Douglas Debate (UIL) – Fall UIL Topic

• Public Forum Debate – November/December NSDA Topic

• Student Congress (TFA) – The current TFA docket will be used. Items 11-20. Prelims are odd numbered items and finals will be the evens.

• Student Congress (UIL)-- We are using the current UIL docket from region 7 located Here Prelims will be items number 1,3,8,9, 11, and 13. Finals will be items number 4,5,6,7,12,and 14.

TFA Tournament Fees:

• Missing Judge - $150 ($125 for Novice Debate)

• Individual Event, Duo Entry - $15

• LD, Congress Entry - $25

• PFD, CX Entry - $50

UIL Tournament Fees

• Missing Judge - $125 ($100 for Novice Debate)

• Individual Event, Duo Entry - $10

• LD, Congress Entry - $15

• PFD, CX Entry - $30

Payment of Fees: Schools should bring a check payable to Athens  High School Speech and Debate to cover all fees.  If you are not able to have a check prepared in time, please have proof of payment leave a copy with the registration table.  All accounts must be paid in full within 30 days.  All delinquent accounts are subject to a $100 fee.

Student Behavior: All competitors and visitors are held to the rules and regulations of the Athens Independent School District.  A coach (or another teacher) from every school, or a parent must be on campus at all times while students from the said school are present.  Parents/Guardians may attend the tournament with (and be responsible for) their child(ren) if a school representative is unavailable.  Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in forfeiting the school from competition.

Other Notes:

• We will make every effort as a tournament to run on schedule and will attempt to accelerate when possible.  We ask for your patience and cooperation in the event that this is not possible.

• We believe that oral critiques and disclosure are valuable teaching tools in debate.  However, due to the incredibly tight schedule, we are asking that all judges turn in ballots within five minutes of the last speech.  Critiques can be given after the ballot has been turned in.  An oral critique does not replace a well-written ballot, as that is helpful communication at this time of the year between the judge and coach.

• During the tournament, we will provide a hospitality room for coaches and judges and a concession stand for competitors.  Schools are free to bring their own food or (if time permits) leave campus for lunch and are asked to clean up all trash in tournament common areas.

• Questions should be directed to Walter Willis.