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Welcome to the 2026 Tamar Kaplan Invitational. Friday is online, and Saturday is in person. Only Varsity entries must register for both days. As of 9/19 we are tentatively planning to be at Central High School in St Paul once again, but are awaiting district permit confirmation.

Drop-off/Pick up location: Buses should drop off on the north side of Marshall Avenue or in the parking lot (street is better and easier though). When you arrive, you should see a big concrete staircase that leads up to the front of the building - take this staircase up and once inside immediately turn right and you'll be at the cafeteria. Cafeteria is where you should hang out before, after, and between debates. If you have any students who need ADA accommodations please let the tournament know asap! It is MUCH easier to get to Central if you take the Lexington exit off 94 - I highly recommend this over the Dale or Snelling exits.

FORMAT: There will be 5 rounds of policy debate this weekend. Friday will be ONLINE and Saturday will be IN PERSON. Varsity must enter for both days, but JV and Novice (A, B, C) may enter for both or either day of competition. Policy prep time limit will be 8 minutes. Novice packet information is here.

Resolutions: JV and Varsity Policy debate will debate the 2026-2027 national resolution:

Resolved: The United States federal government should establish national health insurance in the United States.

Novice A and B will be using the following plan text:

Plan: The United States federal government should establish national single payer health insurance in the United States.

Schedule:

Friday(online)

Check in: 2:45-3:30

Round 1 3:45-5:45

Dinner 5:45-6:15

Round 2 6:15-8:00

Saturday (in person) (when you arrive go to the cafeteria)

Online Check In 8:30am-9:15

Buses arrive 9:15

First Pairing: 9:30

Round 1: 10:00-11:45am

Lunch: 11:45am-12:30pm

Round 2: 12:30-2:15pm

Round 3: 2:45-4:30pm

Awards: 5:00-5:30pm

Buses Plan to Leave 5:45pm

Key locations:
Tabroom:3118
Judge Lounge: 3115
Decompression Room: 3108
Teams (kids always and judges/coaches if they're not in the judges' lounge) should go to the cafeteria before/between/after rounds

PAYMENT
Please make checks payable to:

Friends of the St. Paul Central High School Debate Team

C/O Kate Baxter Kauf

1739 Palace Ave, St. Paul MN 55105

Food & Drink: Lunch is included as part of the tournament fees. Between rounds 1 and 2 debaters will be fed two slices of pizza, one snack (chips, granola bar, etc.), and a drink. Water will be available at all times for free. Before round 1 and after round 3 snacks will be available in the cafeteria for debaters (chips, granola bars, etc.). The Central Booster Club will also be running a cash concessions stand with The Good Stuff (candy, soda, etc.) during the tournament.

Best Practices Notes:

There should ALWAYS be an adult with your team at the tournament. You cannot drop off students unsupervised or leave them unsupervised at a tournament.

At least one of your team's coaches should have your students' emergency contact information with them in a physical file for ease of access in case of any emergency.

You should have one judge for every two partnerships you have entered in the tournament (MNUDL schools you are excluded from this). If you have an odd number of partnerships, round your judge obligation up to the nearest whole. If you are missing a judge, the tournament reserves the right to charge you for the standard cost of hiring plus a judge finding fee ($145 per judge). If you are low on judges the day of the tournament, the tournament will do its best to provide a judge to cover you, but if a sufficient number of judges are not available, the first partnerships dropped will be novices from schools that did not meet their judge obligation.

We will be serving pizza, snacks, and water for lunch - there will also be snacks available before round 3 and before awards. Please know your students' dietary restrictions so that we can provide them with food as necessary. Ideally, communicate any restrictions at least a week in advance to the tournament.

Thanks and see you at St Paul Central High School!