Invitation

Sacramento NCFL

1142 Fremont Way

Sacramento, CA 95818

Dear Speech and Debate Coach:

            This letter invites you to the 2018 Sacramento area National Catholic Forensics League qualifier tournament.  The tournament will be held at Rosemont High School in Sacramento on Saturday January 20 and Sunday January 21, 2018.  The tournament will serve as the qualifier tournament for the 2018 National Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament to be held Memorial Day weekend in Washington D.C.  If there are sufficient entries, the tournament will also offer a novice division in every event except Congress and Declamation (known in California as Oratorical Interpretation) because only 9^th and 10^th graders are eligible to complete in Declamation. 

            Students may double enter in IE’s and compete in one debate event.  Congress is considered a debate event and will be held in the same time blocks as the other debate events.  Entries will be limited if the space limit is reached.  Please note that a student can compete in only one event (debate, one IE or Congress) at the national championship tournament.  If a student qualifies in more than one event, that student will need to choose which event to go in and the next highest finisher in the event not chosen will qualify.  In addition, students may drop any time before the entries to the national championship are submitted in early April.  Therefore, even if a student is unsure whether he or she can attend nationals, there is no harm in competing at the qualifier and deciding at a later time whether to attend nationals.  Please note however that schools will be charged for drops after entries for nationals have been submitted.

            Although rules for the NCFL Grand National tournament differ somewhat from NSDA and California State rules, those differences will generally not be enforced at the qualifier.  The purpose of these rules is to allow people to compete in the qualifier without preparing new programs or speeches just for the qualifier tournament.  People who qualify can makes changes to comply with NCFL Nationals rules.  However, the same person cannot compete with the same interpretation program in two different interpretation events.  Below is a description of how each event will work at the qualifier tournament.  Other than what is listed below, the NCFL by-laws will govern.  For example, NCFL by-laws will govern items such as the number of quoted words, the length of introductions, what materials must be at the tournament in the event of a protest and the appropriate time to file protests. 

            Dramatic Performance: This event combines dramatic interpretation and humorous interpretation in one event.  Programs prepared for competition in either dramatic interpretation or humorous interpretation should compete in this event.

            Duo Interpretation: For purposes of the qualifier tournament, this event is the same as the CHSSA duo interpretation event.  Please note that for NCFL nationals, the program must be a single selection of literature, although each person may present multiple characters.

            Oral Interpretation: At NCFL nationals, this event requires two programs – one prose and one poetry.  Rounds 1 and 3 will be poetry, round 2 and the final round will be prose. ***Failure to follow this rule can be a basis for a protest***.

            Declamation: This event is the same as the CHSSA Oratorical Interpretation event except that it is only open to 9^th and 10^th graders.

            Original Oratory: This event is similar to the CHSSA original oratory event except that speeches that would qualify as persuasive or informative under CHSSA rules can also compete in this event with the limitation that visual aids are NOT permitted in this event at either the qualifier or at NCFL nationals.

            Extemporaneous: This event is essentially the same as the CHSSA extemporaneous speaking event except that it includes both national and international topics.

            Congress:  Each competitor will be guaranteed one speech in each round should the competitor want to speak.  Scoring will be done using a point scale for the entire round, with the tie breaker being rank in round.  Judges will be instructed to score based on overall performance in the round, not based on the number speeches a competitor gives.  This means giving a second speech in a round may or may not be helpful depending on whether the judge believes the second speech is better or worse than the first speech.  Plan your strategy accordingly.  Congress will not use the scoring system in the NCFL rules.  Students will not act as presiding officers in congress.  This is to ensure an equal opportunity for all competitors to qualify for nationals.

            The tournament will use the January/February NSDA Lincoln Douglas topic.

            The tournament will use the January NSDA Public Forum topic.  Public Forum will be double flighted to save space.

             In order to avoid a very late night on Saturday, all debate elimination rounds have been moved to Sunday.  Also, in order to avoid a scheduling glich that occurred last year, debate is now first in the morning at 8:00 and individual events begin at 9:30.  Based on the size of the debate entry last year, I believe we will have enough teams to break to quarter finals in debate.   If the amount of fees are a problem for any school, please let me know and we can try to work something out.  If you pay the fees by check, please have the check made out to Sacramento NCFL. 

Entry Fees:                                         

Policy Debate $40 per team

Public Forum: $35 per team

LD: $25 per entry

IE’s: $10 per entry ($20 for Duo)

Congress: $10 per entry

School Fee: $40 for 5 entries or more

Judging Commitment:

1 judge per two policy teams or portion thereof

1 judge per four LD entries or portion thereof

1 judge per 5 IE entries or portion thereof

1 judge per 10 Congress entries or portion thereof.

Judging penalty:

$40 per uncovered policy team

$30 per uncovered LD entry

$10 per uncovered IE entry

$5 per uncovered Congress entry

Protests

Any protests must be submitted to the tournament director Stephen Goldberg in writing.  No particular form is required.  However, the protest must state the competitor(s) involved by code or name, the event and round involved and the basis for the protest.  After the protest is received, Stephen will convene a 3 person committee of coaches from schools not involved in the protest to investigate and adjudicate the protest.  There is no appeal from committee’s decision.  No judge’s decision is subject to protest.

Protests will be adjudicated first using the rules in this invitation, and then using the NCFL bylaws.  Protests need to be filed timely in order to allow resolution without interruption of the functioning of the tournament.  Please note NCFL Bylaws Section D ¶7 regarding disqualification of competitors.

Lodging

At this time, there is not a designated tournament hotel.  If I receive requests for a group rate, I will try set that up.  Potential places to stay which are somewhat near Rosemont include the Marriott Rancho Cordova 11211 Point E Dr, Rancho Cordova, the Courtyard Rancho Cordova, 10683 White Rock Rd, Rancho Cordova, the Fairfield Inn Rancho Cordova, 10745 Gold Center Dr, Rancho Cordova, and the Hyatt Place Sacramento Rancho Cordova,  10744 Gold Center Dr, Rancho Cordova.

Entries

Entries are due no later than Wednesdary, January 10, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. Entries are to be done using Tabroom.  Changes can be made and the website will close on Wednesday January 17, 2017 at 5:00.  Fees will be assessed at that time.  If you have changes after that date, please e-mail Stephen Goldberg at gberg542@gmail.com or sgoldberg@lsnc.net, or call Stephen at (916) 712-0782.

Saturday 1/20/2018

Debate registration 7:30-8:00

Debate Round 1: 8:00-9:45

IE Registration 9:15-9:45

IE Round 1: 9:45-11:15

Debate Round 2/Congress Round 1: 11:15-1:00

IE Round 2: 1:00-2:30

Debate Round 3/Congress Round 2: 2:30-4:15

IE Round 3: 4:15-5:45

Debate Round 4/Congress Finals: 5:45-7:30

IE Finals: 7:30-9:00

Awards thereafter

Sunday 1/21/2018

DEBATE ELIMINATION ROUNDS IF NECESSARY

Quarter Finals: 9:30-11:30

Semi Finals: 11:30-1:30

Finals/third qualifier round (if necessary) 1:30-3:30

If you have any questions, feel free to call me during the day at (916) 551-2181 or by cell phone at (916) 712-0782 or e-mail me at gberg542@gmail.com or sgoldberg@lsnc.net.

Sincerely,

Stephen Goldberg

League Moderator

Sacramento NCFL