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Welcome:

We look forward to hosting you at the 7th annual Dripping Springs TFA/TOC/NIETOC Tiger Tussle. It is our goal to provide a pleasant tournament experience for all. If you have speech and debate experience and would like to be hired as a judge, please complete this form:https://forms.gle/aUfsQ8oPxdTasMxq8.

Schedule Info:

-We will offer 5 prelim rounds of Varsity World Schools, 4 prelim rounds of VCX, VLD, and VPF, 3 prelim rounds of NCX, NLD, NPF, and Novice World Schools, 3 prelim rounds of Varsity Speech events, and 1 prelim round of Varsity and Novice Congress and Novice Extemp.

-Varsity Debate events, including Congress, will break to the first elim that awards points based on the TFA chart. Varsity Speech events with 24 or less entries will break to finals. Varsity Speech events with 25 or more entries will break to semis. Novice Debate events with 20 or more entries will advance to quarters. Novice Extemp will break to semis if we have 20 or more entries; otherwise, we will have 2 prelims and finals.

-This year's tournament will once again follow a hybrid format. The first 2 rounds of VLD, VPF, VWS, USX, and IX will be hosted online via NSDA Campus on Friday, December 11. If anyone is coming from out of town and needs space to compete from on Friday, December 11, let me know ASAP.

-The rest of the tournament, including the remainder of VLD, VPF, VWS, USX, and IX will be hosted in person at Dripping Springs High School on Saturday, December 12.

Key Details:

-Our tournament is a TFA qualifier and will follow TFA rules.

-Our tournament will award TOC bids to finalists in Varsity World Schools. TOC bids will also be awarded in Varsity Speech events according to the 'Event Criteria' found at https://ci.uky.edu/debate/toc/bids/bid-tournaments. NIETOC bids will be awarded in relevant events based on the criteria detailed at https://nietoc.org/.

-An adult affiliated with your school must be present and available at all times throughout the tournament.

-Juniors or seniors with at least 250 NSDA points can be used to fulfill novice judging commitments. They must be clearly identified as high school students in your judge notes. Ninth and tenth graders cannot be used to fulfill novice judging commitments under any circumstances.

-We will use online balloting through Tabroom.com throughout the tournament. This means all judges will need Tabroom.com accounts.

-Novice Policy students are limited to the arguments in the NDCA Novice Packet.

-A novice is defined as a student in their first year of speech and debate competition. For example, a student who competed in PF as a freshman CANNOT compete in Novice Policy or Novice LD as a sophomore because that student is not a first-year competitor.

-Students from Dripping Springs High School will be permitted to enter and compete for TFA points and TOC and NIETOC bids. Should a conflict of interest arise with any DSHS students, we will defer to Cale McCrary to resolve the conflict.

Cross Entry Restrictions:

-Section A includes Duo, Duet, HI, POI, and Poetry. Students can enter up to 3 events in this section.

-Section B includes DX, IX, NX, DI, Prose, Info, and OO. Students can enter up to 3 events in this section, but they can only enter 1 Extemp.

-Students in Varsity and Novice Congress may cross-enter in Extemp and the Holiday Sweater Contest.

-Students in VCX, VLD, VPF, VWS, NCX, NLD, NPF, and NWS may not cross-enter in any other event, except for the Holiday Sweater Contest.

Elim Procedures:

-We will not break brackets in debate elims.

-Panels for TFA qualifying events will start in semis. If possible, we will panel debate quarters, but no guarantees.

-Except for novice events, we will not host debate elims that don't award TFA points, unless there is an unbreakable tie that justifies a partial elim.

-We will only collapse Novice and Varsity divisions if collapsing is necessary to award any TFA points. We will not collapse the divisions if it simply means offering better points.

Sweepstakes Formula:

-Debate: Win in finals - 15, Loss in finals - 12, Loss in Semis - 10, Loss in Quarters - 5, Loss in Octos - 2

-Speech: 1st - 15, 2nd - 12, 3rd - 10, 4th - 8, 5th - 6, 6th - 4

-Congress: 1st - 15, 2nd - 12, 3rd - 10, 4th - 8, 5th - 6, 6th - 4, 7th - 2, 8th - 1

Statement on Disclosure Norms:

-Under TFA rules adopted at the 2023 TSCA/TFA convention, judges in debate events will be instructed at this tournament to not decide rounds on the basis of whether or not pre-round disclosure took place. Disclosure of cases, while heavily encouraged, is at the discretion of individual competitors and coaches.

TFA/TSCA Membership Reminder:

Coaches, please make sure your TFA/TSCA membership is paid prior to participating in TFA activities. A current membership is required to:

-Host a TFA tournament

-Serve as a voting member at the annual TFA/TSCA Convention

Furthermore, failure to pay your TFA/TSCA membership in a timely manner will result in a fine being assessed to your school.

For IQT hosts:

-Deadline to become a TFA/TSCA member without a fine - October 31

-Membership paid between November 1 and November 30 - $100 fine

-Membership paid between December 1 and December 31 - $200 fine

-IQT hosts that pay their TFA/TSCA membership after December 31 will be sanctioned from hosting an IQT the following year.

For non-IQT hosts:

-Deadline to become a TFA/TSCA member without a fine - January 31

-Membership paid between February 1 and February 15 - $100 fine

-Membership paid between February 16 and TFA State Registration - $200 fine

-Failure to become a TFA/TSCA member by TFA State Registration will result in the school’s entry for TFA State being dropped.

Ideally, your membership will be completed when you register for the Convention. However, if you are not attending the Convention, please visit the “Join TSCA or Renew membership” button when navigating to the etsca.com website.

IMPORTANT: When completing your membership, you must select “TFA” under Interest Group in order for the membership to be generated on your invoice.

Please take a moment to verify that your membership is completed before hosting, earning points, or participating as a voting member.

Membership Link: https://etsca.com/join/login.asp.

Thanks,

DSHS Speech and Debate