Tournament Invitation

Dear Colleague:

Damien High School takes pride inviting your team for the annual Damien Middle School Winter Invitational. This is an in-person tournament taking place on Saturday, December 9, 2023. We intend to offer middle school divisions of policy, LD, Congress, and PF. Our goal is to provide capable judging, competent tournament administration, and an enjoyable experience for those involved.

Independent/Club Entries: Given the current trends in participation by students who are not representing their school, we need to make it clear that, while we will accept independent entries, all students MUST have an adult chaperone, who is present at all times with the students. This chaperone will be responsible for any issues related to the debate tournament. A chaperone form MUST be filled out by any and all students who are not accompanied by an authorized chaperone from the school the students attend. This form will be posted on tabroom.com. This form will be due as part of your team’s registration packet. We will not allow any student without a chaperone to compete in the tournament.

Additionally, we expect all entries to complete preliminary rounds unless extreme conditions occur in order to maintain respect for the integrity of the tournament. The details and tournament rules follow. If we can be of any help or answer any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at tjlewis1919@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Tim Lewis

Director of Debate

Food

We will be providing a snack bar with items available for purchase. At this time, we will only be able to accept cash.

Entry Information Divisions and Eligibility

Middle School debaters only (Grades 6-8)

We will have one division of novice policy for high school students who need rounds.

Please contact tjlewis1919@gmail.com to discuss an exception.

If a participant is found to be in violation of this rule, they will be removed from the tournament.

Event Rules

Policy teams will debate the national resolution for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Public Forum teams will debate the NOV/DEC resolution

Lincoln-Douglas debaters will debate the NOV/DEC resolution

Congress will debate the legislation that can be found on the tournament's tabroom page.

Entry Limits

All entries are waitlisted due to room needs.

Adult supervision and judges

Each school must be accompanied by a qualified adult supervisor. No unaffiliated or unaccompanied entries will be permitted. 1 judge must be provided for every 2 debate entries or fraction thereof for policy debate. Lincoln-Douglas/Public Forum will require 1 judge per 2 entries. Congress will require 1 judge per 10 entries. All judges must be qualified to judge the division which they are covering. Subject to our prior approval, high school debaters may be allowed to judge.

A limited number of hired judges will be available at $250 per uncovered team or $250 per uncovered Lincoln-Douglas/PF entry. NO judges will be available for hire after the entry deadline date. Schools making a commitment to hire judges as of the entry deadline will be committed to paying for those judges regardless of changes in their entry before the tournament. Particularly in Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum, we much prefer to have your judges rather than your cash! Please bring judges to cover your entry.

Each judge is committed to judge one round beyond the elimination of the teams that the individual is covering. All judges are expected to be available for the first elimination round.

Fees

Entries are required to be paid before competition begins. Late payment on the morning of registration will only be allowed if approval is given by the tournament director. If this is necessary, then you should contact the tournament director no later than 12/01/21. Checks should be made out to Damien High School. Personal checks may be accepted under special circumstances. If you need to pay by personal check, please contact tjlewis1919@gmail.com as soon as possible. Purchase orders will not be accepted as payment.

Policy team $60

Public Forum team $60

Lincoln-Douglas entry $50

Congress entry $30

Missing Judges $250 per round missed

Entry fees on drops will be refunded fully as long as drops are made by 12/08/2023

Entry deadlines

All entries and requests for hired judges must be received by 12/08/2023. Entries or hired judge requests after that deadline will be admitted or approved only if feasible. Drops in hired judges after 12/08/2023 will not be refunded. Entry drops are due by 12/08/2023 at 7:00AM.

Entries should be made through the online entry system at www.tabroom.com.

Equity and Protests

Tim Lewis, the tournament director, will serve as the ombudsperson and equity officer. Tim has over five years of experience on Higher Educational Diversity & Equity committees and Title 9 committees, has served as a mandatory reporter for seven years, and holds a MA in Social Justice in Higher Education Administration.

All protests should be communicated to the tournament director as soon as possible. We will give all protests careful attention. Please use you best judgement on deciding whether to submit a protest.

Independent Entries

An independent entry is defined as any entry which is not authorized by the school the students attend. This definition includes students who debate under the name of afterschool programs or academies. To be accepted as an independent entry, the attending group must include an authorization letter from each set of parents or guardians. These letters be turned in BEFORE the day of the tournament, but they MUST be turned in at registration. Any student lacking such permission will NOT be allowed to compete and will forfeit their registration packet (i.e. all applicable fees will be assessed and due).

Double Entry Rules

There will be no double entries.

Mailing address
Tim Lewis

Damien High School

2280 Damien Avenue

La Verne, CA, 91750

Independent Entry Letter

(template--copy/paste the text and fill in the blanks as appropriate):

Date_________________________

Dear Damien High School:

This letter is to inform you that we would like our student, ___________________, to attend The Damien Winter Invitational from XXXX and that they do so with our full consent and permission. We have arranged for our child to be fully chaperoned and for transportation to our satisfaction, and accept full responsibility and liability for our child during the entire course of the event. We understand and agree that Damien High School, its employees, and its agents provide no chaperones for the event, and further agree that Damien High School, its employees, and its agents are hereby relieved of any responsibility or liability of any sort for the supervision of our child.

The following person will be chaperoning our child:

Name: _________________________________________________________

Cell phone: _____________________________________________________

Relationship to child: __________________________________________

By signing this we are certifying that we are in fact the legal guardians of the listed child, and have full legal authority to act on the listed child's behalf.

________________________ _________________________ ________________________

Parent/Guardian Name Parent/Guardian Signature Date

Parent/Guardian contact information:

________________________ _________________________

Cell phone Email