Dear NYSDCA Friends and Members

Dear NYSDCA Friends and Members

Dear Coaches:

It is with great pleasure that the Byram Hills High School Debate Team invites you to attend the Byram Hills High School Bobcat Classic V Invitational Debate Tournament, January 11th and 12th, 2013. Registration for the tournament will be on Tabroom.com beginning November 20, 2012.

All divisions will run Friday and Saturday. We hope to provide high quality competition and efficient administration, plus a whole new way of doing things, described below. There will be five preliminary rounds (two on Friday and three Saturday morning). Elimination rounds and breakout levels will be based on entry numbers. Tab director will be Jim Menick.

This tournament will introduce the concept called Academy Debate. Academy Debate is, primarily, a level of competition intended for sophomores and juniors, and is open to anyone except seniors and students past their third year of debate (i.e., juniors who debated in middle school now in their fourth year would not be eligible to participate at the Academy Debate level). Secondly, Academy Debate can be judged by seniors in their fourth year of debate. In fact, seniors in their fourth year are urged to judge, and will be considered not only judges but instructors. The NYSDCA is working with the tournament to develop a program of debate education that will be interwoven into the tournament beyond the rounds. Beyond-the-rounds activities might include lectures and brainstorms on new resolutions, demo rounds by TOC-level seniors with commentary, stop rounds (coaches judging a round can break in at any time with advice and questions), background lectures by coaches and student instructors (e.g., a unit on sovereignty or due process or whatever). We will publish the nature of the beyond-the-rounds activities as soon as they are set, and we will work with the schools who are bringing top seniors as judges to get them involved.

Lincoln Douglas Format:LD will be debating the NFL January-February resolution. There will be an Academy division and a Novice division in Lincoln Douglas debate with an initial cap of 10 teams per school.

Public Forum Debate Format: Public Forum will debate the January 2013 resolution in two divisions, Academy and Novice, with an initial cap of 8 teams per school.

Policy Debate Format: The Policy division will debate the 2012—2013 NFL resolution. We will have two divisions of Policy, Academy and Novice, with an initial cap of 10 teams per school.

Debaters will only be allowed to compete under their school name and if accompanied by a responsible adult. Those home schooled may be entered under their town name if accompanied by a parent/guardian.

Judges: For all divisions of LD and PFD, one judge must be provided for every three entries or fraction thereof. For CX entries, the ratio is one to two. The Academy divisions of all events must be covered separately from the novice divisions; juniors can judge the novice divisions. And, as we said, we hope you will bring top seniors to judge the Academy division; in LD and PF, this is a good opportunity for them to try out their ideas on the new topics, as well as spread their ideas to others. A limited number of hired judges will be available via tabroom.com.

Housing: Housing is available for competing students. We will accept the first 80 requests. On Tabroom indicate total number of students, genders and names on the entry website. Students should bring sleeping bags, towels and other necessities for an overnight stay. Coaches and other adults may secure housing at our local hotel. The La Quinta Inn, 94 Business Park Drive, Armonk, NY 10504 is about a 5 minute drive from the high school. Call 914-273-9090 for reservations. It is not within walking distance from the high school.

Food: For debaters meals are provided Friday dinner and Saturday lunch.For coaches and judges, complimentary food is available throughout the tournament in the Judge’s Lounge.

Schedule:

Please register in advance via Tabroom. Registration will be between 3:00-3:45 on Friday, followed by the first Academy event. The first round is scheduled to start at 5:00. Saturday rounds will begin at 8:00 a.m., with a second Academy event planned for the day.

Fees:

$30 school fee

$80 per Policy team

$40 per Lincoln-Douglas debater

$80 per Public Forum team

$175 per hired judge for Lincoln-Douglas & Public Forum

$200 per hired judge for Policy

How to Register: Registration is open on tabroom.com on Nov 20. Registration will close on 1/6/12 at 7:00 pm. All fees are set at that time. All changes after this time will incur a $25 per change nuisance fee (this includes name changes).

Questions: Email is preferred -- send them to Dottie Dougherty at .

We look forward to welcoming you to Armonk and Byram Hills High School.

Sincerely,

Dottie Dougherty and Ari Parker - Coaches

Josh Altman & Jon Bohrer and Ava Kingsley - Captain &Co-Captains

Byram Hills High School