Tournament Forfeit Policy

Many tournaments struggle to run on time for a variety of reasons. In order to ensure that we are mindful of everyone's time, our tournament uses the following rules and guidelines for assigning forfeits/no-shows.

Please be advised that Tabroom no longer sends text messages. It is the competitor's sole responsibility to check Tabroom and their email for pairings in their event(s). "I didn't get the blast" is not a valid excuse for being late to or missing from a round. As soon as you get an email or web blast from Tabroom, we strongly recommend you head that way to check in.

For competitors in Debate events, there is a 15 minute forfeit rule in effect. If you are not in your round ready to debate by 15 minutes after the posted round start time, you will be forfeited by tournament staff. To enforce this rule, Seven Lakes students will be posted throughout the school. Judges should step out of the room and ask one of them to contact Tab about a forfeit. Only Tab may forfeit a team - a judge may not enforce this rule themselves.

For competitors in Speech events, competitors must have checked in and begun to perform in all rounds they are registered in 75 minutes after the posted round start time. For example, students competing in Pattern B Round 1, which begins at 8 am, have until 9:15 am to arrive at their room and begin performing. All performances should end and ballots should be submitted 10 minutes after this forfeit time – at 9:25 am in this instance.Judges will be instructed to rank last any competitor that does not arrive and begin performing within this timeframe.

Judges – you must arrive at the room 5 minutes prior to the posted round start time and begin the round as soon as possible. Submit your ballot immediately once the round ends. Do not wait for all speech competitors to begin the round: start with who you have. We will be fining and replacing judges who are late to a round and reserve the right to terminate the contracts of hired judges who do not report to round and facilitate competition in a timely manner.

Coaches – relay these rules to your students.Once a forfeit is entered, it is a final decision. Forfeits will not be reversed, even if your student shows up immediately after a forfeit is declared.