Independent Entries

The Cypress Freeze is a TFA tournament and as such we must abide by TFA rules. The TFA Constitutions says on pg. 72 that "Texas students participating at TFA tournaments must be affiliated with and a representative of the schools they are attending." This means that if you are a Texas student, you must participate under your school's name and be affiliated with said team. This rule is non-negotiable, if we break this (or any) TFA rule, our tournament can be sanctioned in future years, regardless of what our personal opinions about the rule are.

1 – All competitors must have a school-approved adult representative present at all times during the tournament. As noted in the tournament best practices document, this means they must be either actively judging, in a judge pooling room, or assisting the tournament.

2 – If a school employee is not attending with the student, a school official must email Ian Etheridge (ian.etheridge@cfisd.net) giving permission for the responsible adult to act on behalf of and make all relevant decisions for the student/school.*

3 - All teams must register using their school name and their official school tabroom account so that TFA and NSDA points can be accurately attributed.

We require every team to be chaperoned by an individual who is either a school employee or has written authorization by the school to act and make decisions at the tournament on behalf of the school (this means, but is not limited to: carrying emergency medical information, to make decisions that can impact future attendance by the school - such as paying fines, etc. - anything a school employee would be expected to do). An acceptable alternative is an adult who has been background checked by the school and who has the approval of the school to assume full responsibility for the care of students of that school while at the tournament. Schools will be asked to list who that adult will be as a condition of final registration.

IT IS THE EXPECTATION OF THE TOURNAMENT THAT ALL COMPETITORS MUST HAVE THE ADULT DESCRIBED ABOVE WITH THEM AT REGISTRATION; STUDENTS MAY NOT REGISTER THEMSELVES.

If the responsible adult is not a school employee, a school official must email Ian Etheridge to give the authorization to act on the school’s behalf from their school email address.

Any student found to be in violation of such policy will be removed from the pairings.

*If you are an out of state student, you are welcome to attend with your parent as a chaperone as long as they are present at the tournament and you abide by #1 and #3 above. A privately hired assistant coach may fulfill your judging obligations, but they ARE NOT a substitute for your parent/legal guardian unless a principal from your school emails me authorizing them to make medical decisions on your behalf (see above).