Sunflower Novice Invitational

The Sunflower Invitational

Wichita East High School

January 4-5, 2019

Dear Coaches and Debaters,

            It is that time of the year once again. In the spirit of a novice statewide invitational tournament, we cordially invite you and up to three (3) of your finest novice teams to attend the 2019 Sunflower Invitational Tournament, to be held at Wichita East High School on January 4-5, 2019.

            This tournament is in no way affiliated with the Kansas State High School Activities Association, so it is NOT an “official” state championship.  It counts as one of the eight tournaments a debater is allowed to attend during the season, so those novices who have used up their eight tournaments (or 7, if your school does not host an invitational tournament) are not eligible to attend this one.  Additionally, novice teams that you wish to enter should have a minimum of a 50% win-loss record.

            As in the past, there will be two divisions in the tournament: a 9^th-grade Novice division, and a Novice Open (9th-12^th-grade) division.  Only novices may participate in either division of the tournament.  No upper-class (10^th-12^thgrade) novices can participate in the 9^th-grade division, although 9^th-graders CAN participate in the Novice Open division. 

Please note you will be limitedto THREE ENTRIES INITIALLY, regardless of which divisions you enter your teams, so long as you enter within the time period provided.  All teams will be “wait listed” and you will receive a follow up communication regarding how to guarantee the three teams you want to ensure entry into the tournament.  You may request a fourth team which will also be “wait listed.”  Once we know this year’s DCI tournament plans and the number of rooms needed, we will allocate fourth teams to schools if space is available, first come, first served, as originally requesting a fourth team.  

PLEASE REALIZE that history has shown that many schools are quick to enter four teams, then “drop” one or more teams after Winter Break, which is too late for other schools to add teams.  Our goal is to accommodate all entries, but like most schools, we are limited by the total number of rooms we have available for debates.  Thus, please make reasonable choices when you enter and maximize the number of schools/teams that can participate in this year’s Sunflower Invitational.

            The tournament will consist of 6 preliminary rounds, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals in each division.  Round 1 will be randomly scheduled and rounds 2-6 will be powered (High vs High).  Medals will be awarded to all Quarter finalist teams in each division AND any teams not clearing up to a total of 16 teams to be recognized in each division.  Speaker awards will be given to the top 10 speakers in each division as well.  Once again, a Sweepstakes Award will be presented at the Awards Assembly to the school that accumulates the most wins in the six preliminary rounds.  The three best teams entered by the school will count towards this award, regardless of the division(s) entered.

            Each school will be REQUIRED to bring one ADULT judge for every 2 teams (or portion thereof) that they enter.  There can be NO exceptions.  Your current high school juniors and seniors are NOT appropriate judges, but your recent high school graduateswould be great, as would coaches, assistant coaches, parents, or other adult sponsors.  Please do bring judges who are sensitive to the fact that these are novices, generally young debaters, who need educational and fair (but firm) comments on ballots.  If you bring 1 or 2 teams, you need one adult judge; if you bring 3 (or are given a 4th team), you are required to bring 2 adult judges.  There are sometimes coaches who ignore the requirement for ADULT judges at this tournament.  Please understand that we will pull your teams from the tournament if you bring high school debaters to be your judges.  If you can’t provide adult judges, please do not enter the teams.

This year all schools will once again register online through Tabroom.com.  If you have an active account, you will be able to use that account to register.  If you do NOT have an active Tabroom.com account, you will need to set up an account before you can register. 

ADDITIONALLY, all judges registered to judge during The Sunflower Invitational MUST HAVE ACTIVE TABROOM.COM ACCOUNTS. We anticipate using electronic balloting this year, AND minimally need ALL judges to have accounts to facilitate communication throughout the tournament.  

[If you have difficulty setting up your account, or need additional assistance, PLEASE contact Steven Davis, Washburn Rural Assistant for specific assistance:  davisste@usd437.net  .  If you seek assistance, PLEASE do not wait to ask.  This tournament traditionally fills very quickly, thus it is imperative that you be ready to register online when the registration window opens.  An inability to register online without very timely notification, will NOT guarantee your school slots in this year’s tournament.]

Tabroom.com registration will OPEN at 5:00 pm, Monday, December 3, 2018. Entries will not be accepted by any other means.  The registration window will close at 5:00 pm, Wednesday, December 12, 2018.

Entry fees are $12.50 per team, which will cover the cost of awards.  Checks should be made payable to “Wichita East High School” and should EITHER be mailed to be received at Wichita East High School prior to the start of the tournament OR be presented at Registration at the start of the tournament. Schools dropping teams after December 12th, 5:00 pm, will remain obligated for entries assessed. 

Entries will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis, but when the tournament is full we will take no additional teams.  The tournament is limited to the first 140 teams (or so) that enter.  No school will initially be allotted more than 3 entries, although a fourth team will be “wait listed”.  Remember, the entry deadline is 5:00 pm Wednesday, December 12th. You will receive additional information regarding final deadlines for registering specific teams by name, AND registering judges to meet your obligation.  This mailing will be sent out by Wednesday, December 19^th.

                                                                                                Sincerely,

                                                                                                Michael Harris

                                                                                                Director of Debate, Wichita East High School

Steven Davis

Washburn Rural Assistant

Sunflower Invitational Tournament Manager

THE SUNFLOWER INVITATIONAL

Tournament Guidelines and Regulations

1.  The resolution to be debated is Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce its restrictions on legal immigration to the United States.

2.  The tournament will be cross-examination style with 8-3-5 time limits.  Prep time is 5 minutes.

3.  Round I will be pre-set.  Subsequent rounds will be power-matched “high” vs “high”.  Schools will not be paired to debate each other in preliminary rounds. Each team will debate 3 rounds affirmative and 3 rounds negative by the end of the 6^th preliminary round.  Brackets will be broken in quarters to avoid a school hitting itself, but will not be broken in semis as is the custom during the KSHSAA State Tournament..

4.   ALL JUDGES MUST HAVE A TABROOM.COM ACCOUNT. Judges should anticipate that we will be using electronic balloting during this year’s tournament.

5.  Any team more than 10 minutes late to a round through no fault of the tournament will be forfeited with a 3-4 loss.

6.  Determination of sides in Elims: The higher seeded team will “call the coin toss.”  The winner of the coin toss will determine sides.

7.  ALL JUDGES ARE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO JUDGE DURING QUARTER-FINALS. JUDGES ASSOCIATED WITH LOSING QUARTER-FINALIST TEAMS ARE TO BE ELIGIBLE TO JUDGE DURING SEMI-FINAL ROUNDS. To the extent possible, no more than 1 judge from each school will be asked to judge during quarter-finals rounds.

8.  Judges will be considered “clean” at the beginning of elimination rounds and may see a team a second time in elimination rounds.

9.  The tab room itself will be closed.  Schedules will be posted online in a timely manner. Results and ballots will be available electronically to coaches and sponsors after each round is completed, but the tabulation area will be off limits during the tabulation process.  This will help us to run the tournament more smoothly. FINAL preliminary results will NOT be made available to the public until after the Assembly following the Quarter Final Rounds.

10.  Tournament management reserves the right to handle difficulties in a way that seems fair to us.  A tournament Conflict Resolution Committee will be in place to adjudicate all conflicts.