General Tournament Information

General TFA State Information

WIFI:

Network Name: TFASTATE

Password: tfastate2024

Registration will take place at the host hotel on Wednesday, March 6th from 6 pm-9 pm.

Please notify Nathaniel Council at nathaniel.council@pampaisd.net if you have an emergency that will not allow you to make late registration.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

• Friday, February 2, 2023 – Schools may begin entering TFA State-qualified students on tabroom.com. Please register all qualifiers AND any students who may qualify before the end of the TFA competitive season. Please send your check as soon as possible. Refunds for any overpayments immediately will be made following the conclusion of the state tournament. It is better to pay for students who don’t end up qualifying than it is to send your check with insufficient funds.

• February 16, at 5:00 PM CST – Last day to check TFA website for accuracy of the IQT reports for all TFA State qualifying entries and submit any necessary corrections to the IQT Coordinator (Nicole Cornish at ncornish@athensisd.net).

• February 20, at 11:55 PM CST – LAST DAY – All schools and entries must be entered on the tabroom.com website. Entry fees are also locked at this time - drops after 11:55 PM CST on this date will be charged the original entry fee.

• February 21, All t-shirt orders must be finalized by NOON CST. Based on your order, Brian Alford will update your tabroom.com invoices. You will see your updated invoice on your tabroom.com fees sheet by March 1st. Please be aware that if you order late you will have a balance to be paid in full at registration.

• March 1, at 5:00 PM CST – LAST DAY – All schools may DROP entries without an additional Drop Fee (schools will lose entry fee as of Friday, Feb. 25th). After March 1st at 5:00 PM CST, schools will be charged twice the entry fee for dropped entries.

• March 1, Judge paradigms due on tabroom.com.

• March 3, Total payment for tournament entries, fees, and shirts must be received by Brian Alford at:
  Texas Forensic Association
  Attn: Brian Alford
  253 Navarro Dr.
  College Station, TX 77845

• Fees can also be paid on CheddarUp at https://tfa-finance-portal.cheddarup.com

• If full payment is not received at or prior to registration schools that have not paid will not be able to compete at TFA State and dropped entries will be assessed a day of drop fee.

• All Original Oratory, Informative Speaking and main event oral interpretation manuscript(s) titles and/or ISBNs must be submitted ONLINE on the tabroom.com website by Friday, March 3rd, 5:00 PM CST.

CROSS-ENTRY INFORMATION

· On 2/6 the TFA EC voted to allow open cross-entry pending room availability at the discretion of coaches.

The choice to compete in multiple events is a choice and that decision cannot impact the other students, judges, or tournament writ large in a negative way (for example: delay rounds over 15 minutes due to cross entries.) The responsibility to arrive on time to compete is solely on the student and rounds which delay the start in other rounds due to cross-entries will result in those who have opted to cross-enter, potentially missing an opportunity to compete in that round. Ranks or decisions should not be adjusted to accommodate students who are late/miss rounds (once ballots are submitted.) All coaches and students with cross-entered students have an affirmative obligation to look at the published schedule to decide if it is logistically possible to compete in rounds where they have conflicting events during the same time block. If a student is in an elimination round of debate that would be delayed by competing in an individual event elimination round, those students would need to choose which event they would continue in so as not to disrupt the entire elimination round schedule.

· A student may enter only one debate event (LD, CX, PF, Congress, or WS). A student may enter only one division of Extemp.

PROTEST INFORMATION/PROCEDURES
All coaches have a responsibility to check pairings and/or give students MJP/strike information to ensure students are not being judged by individuals who have been struck. Concerns must be raised before the round in question begins. Protests associated with struck judges will not be heard after the round begins. If the need to file a protest arises, the coach of the protesting school must put the protest in writing on the official protest form that will be available online. Our Ombudsperson room will be located in the library throughout the tournament. Still, the official protest form must be filled out completely and submitted either online or in-person to the Ombudsperson to discuss the protest. Procedures for filing protests shall be followed as found in the TFA Constitution.

DISSEMINATION OF BALLOTS
TFA State Tournament will be utilizing tabroom.com this year. All ballots will be made available for viewing online for COACHES OF RECORD ONLY after each round of tabulation has been completed. Please DO NOT come to the Tabroom asking for ballots – they will be made available after each ballot is submitted and tabulated for that round.