WSCA/WFA Tournament February 12-14, 2010

[Dbuescher]

Dear Friends,

Please find pasted below the invitation for the 2010 Western States Communication Association/Western Forensics Association tournament to be hosted at the University of Puget Sound February 12-14, 2010.

We look forward to hosting you in February.

Sincerely,
Derek Buescher
WSCA Speech Activities Coordinator/WFA President

________________________________
Western States Communication Association,
The University of Puget Sound and WFA Forensics Tournament
Tacoma, Washington
February 12-14, 2010

The Western Forensics Association and the University of Puget Sound are pleased to invite you to the Western States Communication Association Annual Forensic Tournament to be held in Tacoma, Washington February, 12-14, 2010. Although the 2010 tournament is not concurrent with conference we promise to provide an excellent competitive and educational experience for those who attend. We hope you will be able to take advantage of this excellent opportunity.

This year’s WSCA forensic tournament will be on the Puget Sound campus and will offer 12 individual events (all 11 AFA-NIET plus Forensics Criticism), NPDA debate, and BP style debate.


Tournament Hotel
The tournament hotel is the La Quinta Tacoma Dome Hotel. We have negotiated a block of rooms at a very reasonable rate. Unlike past years, competition will not take place in the hotel. Thus you are not required to reserve rooms to cover your competition numbers. Each school is responsible to make their own reservations at the hotel. The reservation deadline is January 12, 2010. Our block of room will be released after this date and the rates will become more expensive. Individual reservations must be made by 5:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on the cut off date. To make reservations, contact the La Quinta directly at 253-383-0146. When making your reservations indicate you are with the “UPS Debate.” A valid major credit card or other satisfactory deposit must secure reservations.


Entries
The entry deadline is 5:00 p.m. Monday, February 8, 2010. Entries will be at www.forensicstournament.net under the WSCA Tournament. If you have difficulty making reservations please contact Derek Buescher at dbuescher@pugetsound.edu. Any changes after Wednesday, February 10 should be e-mailed.

Eligibility and Divisions
Any regularly enrolled undergraduate college student may represent the school at which they are pursuing a degree. In individual events, students may participate in open division, but only those students with less than four semesters of collegiate competition in individual events may participate in junior division. Similarly, all debaters may compete in open division. Only those students with less than four full semesters of college debate experience may participate in junior division.




Individual Events:
The WSCA tournament follows the rules of the AFA NIET. Students may enter a maximum of three individual events per pattern, and only two if one of the events is extemp. Students with multiple entries in a pattern are responsible for getting to their competition rooms on time. The tabulation staff will make every effort to localize competition rooms, but this may be out of our control. It is the student’s responsibility to make it within the allotted time to their events.

Pattern A: Extemp, Informative, CA, DI, POI, Poetry
Pattern B: Impromptu, Persuasive, ADS, Prose, Duo, Forensics Criticism


Debate
We will offer the standard NPDA debate along with 4-team debate (also called World Universities Debate or British Parliamentary Debate). Only four total teams, designated at registration, may earn sweepstakes points. NPDA Debate will follow the rules of the National Parliamentary Debate Association. Four-team debate is contingent upon sufficient entries.


Judges
Finding qualified judges is always challenging. We will gladly hire you if you can judge beyond your commitment. If you know of qualified individuals who would like to be hired, please have them contact the Speech Activities Coordinator, Derek Buescher at dbuescher@pugetsound.edu.

Each institution must provide at least one qualified judge. Judges must possess a BA or equivalent degree, or obtain Speech Activities Coordinator’s prior approval. One judge covers two debate teams and six IE slots. In the event the tournament is unable to provide judging to cover a school’s entries, the school may be required to withdraw students from competition. If you have a particular problem meeting your institution’s judging requirements contact the Speech Activities Coordinator.

Fees
The fee schedule is as follows:

School fee $50.00 per school
Debate (NPDA/BP) entry fee $75.00 per team
Individual event entry fee $ 7.00 per contestant per event
Hired debate judges $125.00 per uncovered debate team (one judge covers two teams)
Hired events judges $15.00 per uncovered IE slot (one judge covers 6 slots)

Fees will be assessed as of 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Please make checks payable to “University of Puget Sound.”


Awards
Awards will be presented to first, second, and third place in all I.E. events and quarterfinalists through first in debate. The top five speakers in each division of debate will receive speaker awards. Sweepstakes awards will be presented for debate, individual events, and overall excellence. Sweepstakes awards will be based on the following point system:

1st place IE 9 points
2nd place IE 7 points
3rd place IE 4 points
Finalists IE 2 points
4-team First Place 12 points
4-team Second Place 10 points
4-team Third Place 8 points
4-team Fourth Place 6 points
Policy, or Parli debate First Place 20 points
Policy, or Parli debate Second Place 16 points
Policy, or Parli debate semi-finalist 10 points
Policy, or Parli debate quarter-finalist 6 points
Policy, or Parli debate octa-finalist 2 points


Tentative Tournament Schedule

Friday, February 12, 2010
2:30-3:15 Registration, location TBD
3:15 Round 1 announce, NPDA (PMC at 3:35) and BP PMC at 3:30
4: 45 Round 2 announce, NPDA and BP
6:30 Round 3, NPDA and BP

Saturday, February 13, 2010
8:00 Pattern A Round 1
9:45 Pattern B Round 1
11:30 Pattern A Round 2
1:15 NPDA and BP Round 4
3:00 NPDA and BP Round 5
4:45 Pattern B Round 2
6:15 NPDA and BP Round 6

Sunday, February 15, 2009
8:00 IE Semifinals, if necessary
9:30 NPDA and BP, elim 1
11:00 IE Finals, all events
12:45 Debate elim 2
2:00 Awards
2:30 Debate elim 3
4:15 Debate elim 4, continue elims as needed

[Dbuescher]

bumping this thread, please join us in the nw this year

[Dbuescher]

Dear Coaches and Students,

I have long felt that awards are a solid waste of finances for something that many find temporary satisfaction with but not long term pleasure. There are, of course, notable exceptions for large tournaments and for students new to the activity where they have a motivational or administrative purpose.

That said, my current plan is not to distribute awards for the upcoming WSCA/WFA tournament. Rather than spend the money on awards we will donate the cost of the awards, up to $1000, to a organization working in relief of the Haiti earthquake disaster. The likely organization is World-Vision. This organization is often one of the first to respond with disaster relief because they are already in location assisting on the ground prior to the catastrophic event. This was the case in 2005 Tsunami and is again the case in Haiti.

If you have any qualms about this, please let me know immediately.

Sincerely,
Derek Buescher
WFA President

[TheDifferend]

Excellent idea Derek. We would follow a similar path if we had decided to collect fees.

We hope everyone attending enjoys the WFA!



CG

[Dbuescher]

Hello, All

First, i will post shortly about a fee structure change as we are reducing fees and then asking for donations to haiti relief efforts. Of course, the schools likely can't donate, but...

i am also hearing rumors of lots of people coming and i would like to get a grip on numbers. If you know numbers, please email me or post here or both and/or register at forensicstournament.net

Thanks
Derek

[hunt]

Lewis & Clark 6-7 students 2 coaches