DCI and Sophomore Invitationals

Dear Debate Coach,

You and your debaters who have qualified are invited to participate in the annual Debate Coaches Invitational Debate Tournament. This tournament was conceived in the early 1980’s as an opportunity for the top debate teams in the state —regardless of their KSHSAA size classification—to compete before some of our best debate judges. Those who have attended the tournament for the last three decades have generally considered it an honor and an excellent educational opportunity, as well as a certain amount of fun.

In order to qualify, teams received bids, based on their elimination round performances at designated DCI bid tournaments. To be invited, each person on a team has to receive 4 bid points. Remember, for the tournament itself you may configure your teams however you choose, however all competitors must be fully bidded in order to participate. The formula has changed this year for determining the number of bid points earned, you’ll recall. As a reminder, the new formula awards: 5 bid points for a tournament championship, 4 for a finals appearance, 3 for semifinal appearances, 2 for quarters, and 1 for octofinal/top 16 finishes. Each national qualifier who qualifies through a tournament also receives 2 bid points. In addition, this year we will host a DCI-Sophomore division, details explained below.

Registration for both divisions will open on Monday, December 3 rd at 5:00PM. All entries will be initially waitlisted. Upon receipt of your application via email, and the conclusion of the bid season, we will begin admitting teams on Monday, December 10th . Your school can only enter students who are fully bidded to DCI. If you school has qualified an odd number of students, unfortunately one of your students will not be able to compete at DCI.

However, you many enter fully bidded students in whatever team combination you deem fit. You can double check our math and date on the DCI bidtracker:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SS_HMNLdBUTMFvY5725189dgwYIEWdYRBgEoYb7fIUQ/edit#gid=0

IF THIS LINK DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU, COPY AND PAST IT INTO YOUR BROWSER.

If you and your team(s) wish to enter DCI, you must do so no later than 3:00 pm, Wednesday, December 12, 2018.  If you do not enter by that time, we will assume that your team will not be participating at DCI. As such, no late entries will be accepted.  Due to the nature of the calendar and the planning that needs to be done, we cannot accept entries past December 12 th . We would like to have a response from you whether you are or are not attending. The application will is attached here, and will also be emailed to all head coaches of qualified teams at the conclusion of the bid season on December 10 th . You may send in the application early, if your teams are already qualified and you know that they will attend the DCI.

Please electronically process and send the application to Kelly.Thompson@usd497.org on or before the December 12 th deadline. Despite online registration, the application is still necessary to confirm your entry, and for the purpose of pre-tournament seeding.

In addition to sending the completed entry form, please also submit your team(s)/judge(s) on Tabroom.com – you’ll find us under the “2019 Kansas Championship Series” tournament. Remember, DCI counts as one of your teams’ 8 invitational tournaments for the season (7 if you do not host a tournament).  If your team/debater has already been to 8 tournaments, you would be in violation of KSHSAA rules to enter DCI.  

Format of the DCI tournament: There will be 7 rounds of competition. The first round will be power-matched based on submitted entry forms with that round being matched high-low based on number of bids a team has, its total win-loss record, its number of elims debated, and as a final tie breaker, its record at only DCI bid tournaments. All subsequent rounds will be straight/directly power-matched, high-low within division. Awards will be presented after round 7.

All DCI rounds will be open to observers, but ONLY to observers from those schools with teams debating at DCI.

NEW THIS YEAR - Our new Sophomore division will welcome up to one team from each school. Schools who have one or more entries in the DCI will be admitted first, and then remaining entries will be accepted in the order of registration until we reach the capacity dictated by our host. Both debaters on each partnership must be current sophomores in high school, but please note that this division is not intended for novice debaters. NOTE: students need NOT have earned DCI bids during the season in order to be eligible to compete in this division. Each school may enter any two sophomores on their team whom they wish to compete, with no qualifications. The tournament is intended to be contemporary in nature, and will be judged as such, by a pool similar to the DCI pool itself. You must cover your sophomore entry with one qualified judge (same as the DCI, below). The registration information, date, time, and deadline will all be the same as the DCI, minus the emailed application, which is not required for the sophomore division. We will accommodate waitlisted entries as soon as possible (when we have a room count) so that you may plan your travel and costs.

The sophomore division will feature 6 rounds of debate. Round 1 will be power-matched randomly, all subsequent rounds will be direct power-matched, high-low within brackets. It will run concurrent with the DCI schedule, and the 6 round format will allow sophomores to watch students in the DCI division compete in round 7, which we believe is educational and valuable. Awards will be presented with the DCI awards after the conclusion of DCI Round 7.

Tournament Location and Dates: Wichita East High School, will host our tournament on January 4-5, 2018.

Selection and Awards: Each team that participates in the tournament will receive medals. (Teams qualifying but not participating will not receive medals.) Teams finishing first and second will take home traveling team trophies. We will also give medals to the top ten speakers in the tournament.

Judging: Every attempt will be made to provide top quality judging. The tournament hosts provide a portion of the judging, but each school is to also provide at least one judge for each 2 teams (or portion thereof) it has participating in the tournament. When procuring judges for the DCI Division, please bring judges who have debate backgrounds, the ability to take a conventional flow, are at least chronological juniors in college, and have judging experience on this topic. (Please note that it is inappropriate to bring well-meaning parents or fellow staff members who do not meet these qualifications.) When procuring judges for the Sophomore Division, please bring judges who have debate backgrounds, the ability to take a conventional flow, who have judging experience on this topic, and who are high school graduates. (Please note that it is inappropriate to bring well-meaning parents or fellow staff members who do not meet these qualifications.) (NOTE: There is no AGE restriction for the sophomore division (eg College Freshman CAN judge. HOWEVER – please bring judges who are quality, contemporary style judges, who will write good, informative, instructional ballots, and who will honor the DCI’s history of a closed tab room (no oral decisions). In other words – please bring judges the sophomores can and will learn from.)

If you qualify a team make arrangements for yourself AS THE COACH OF THE TEAM to be available to judge at least three rounds. You may be one of your required judges, in which case you will probably judge more.

Instructions for Team Entry:

1. Fill out the enclosed entry form as completely as possible (for the DCI divison).

2. Please complete entry on Tabroom.com.

3. Please electronically process and send the application to Kelly.Thompson@usd497.org

4. If the submitting team has debated with individuals other than each other during the season, report those tournaments ONLY in the section on the first page that is titled: Records of individual debaters with other colleagues.

5. Example entry of a record of individual debater with other colleague:

Jane Smith with John Adams: Qtrs Sems

Great Scott High School Sept. 31 Open 4-1 WWL WLL 3 rd place

6. A team MUST record EVERY tournament that it has attended together.

For the purpose of statistics on the application, close-outs can be figured as a win if the team is designated as “advancing” or placing higher, or as a loss if the team is designated as not advancing or placing lower. In the instance that no designation is made by the school, then the round should NOT be figured in the statistical analysis in any way by either team.

7. Submit your entry NO LATER THAN 3:00 pm on Wednesday December 12, 2018. This deadline must be met in order to guarantee that your team will be entered in the tournament Please enter on Tabroom AND email your entry to Kelly Thompson, at Kelly.thompson@usd497.org. DCI entries should be received from the coach’s email address OR be signed in the box on the first page of the application if not received from the coach’s email address. It is NOT necessary to sign the form if sent from the coach’s email address. If you have not received a confirmation that your entry has been received by noon on December 13 th , you should call to see if that application has been received. Late entries (through no fault of the DCI committee) will not be guaranteed consideration.

If you have questions, we encourage you to call a steering committee member. Please consider entering so that we can continue to honor and recognize the best in Kansas high school debate.

Sincerely,

Cindy Burgett, Washburn Rural High School

Eric Skoglund, Olathe Northwest High School

Kelly Thompson, Lawrence Free State High School