Welcome to the Orange County Speech League's 2018 Spring Tournament, to be hosted by Northwood High School in Irvine, on Saturday, February 3rd.

Location

Northwood High School

4515 Portola Pkwy

Irvine, CA 92620

JR. High Experiment

As voted on by our coaches at the 2017 Fall meeting we will be experimenting with allowing Jr. High entries into the tournament. We welcome all Orange County Jr High School programs to attend our Spring Tournament.

Here are the following rules for how this will work:

1. All schools must be within the Orange County

2. All schools must be accredited institutions either public or private. No academies or after school programs.

3. Schools must have on file with the League President the Principal's designation letter either sent ahead of time by email, a physical copy mailed or handed in the day of the tournament (please contact Sarah Sherwood for address).

4. All Jr. High Students will be entered in the Novice Division. 

5. If there is not enough students to run an event it may be combined with another or collapsed into the Open division. Coaches will be notified of this before the tournament. 

6. Novice entry cap will be set at 5 and all others will be waitlisted to be let in as space permits. 

7. Coaches and only coaches will enter students on tabroom (if you need assistance please reach out DO NOT use your students as a resource or give them access to your team's tabroom account).

8. Correct adult contact information with a cell phone number that can be reached at all times during the tournament and accurate email must be entered. 

Please email Sarah Sherwood will all questions. Please understand that this is an experiment.

High School Entry in Novice

High School students will be allowed to enter in the Novice division if and ONLY IF they meet the definition of a Novice by the OCSL Constitution. Our constitution defines Novice under these rules:

1. Any student who has competed for a year in an event is no longer considered a Novice in the event

2. Novice Individual Event/Student Congress competitor is defined as someone who has not received a first, second, or third place award at an OCSL tournament.

3. A Novice Policy/Lincoln/Douglas/Parliamentary/Public Forum debate competitor is defined as someone who has not accumulated five total debate wins at OCSL tournaments.

4. Students who have competed at any Orange County Championship Tournament (State Quals) may no longer compete at the novice level in the applicable group of events.

The events are divided into all IEs and all Debates plus Student Congress. If they are Novice in one form they are Novice in the rest. Please contact Sarah Sherwood for clarifications. 

Principal's Designation Letter

Before any school is permitted to compete in any OCSL tournament, they must have a signed copy of the Principal's Designation Letter on file with the League.  This document confirms who is offically designated to represent each school as the official sponsor with the League, and who is authorized to represent the school as an official chaperone at League tournaments.  Please have your principal fill out and sign the letter, which can be downloaded from the front page of each OCSL tournament website, and return it to the league no later than registration of first League tournament your school participates in this year.

Schedule

Debate will be first, beginning at 8:00, with Speech & Congress to follow at 10:00. Rounds will alternate.

7:15am-7:45 am - Registration

8:00am - Round 1 - Debate

10:00am - Round 1 - Speech & Congress

11:30am - Round 2 - Debate

1:30pm - Round 2 - Speech & Congress

3:00pm - Round 3 - Debate

5:00pm - Round 3 - Speech & Congress

6:45pm - Awards

Double Entry

Students may enter 1 Debate event (Pattern A), & up to 2 Individual Events (Pattern B).  

Exceptions:

1. Students may not enter both IX & USX.

2. Students entering Student Congress or PO may NOT enter another IE. 

Pattern A: Debate Events All Levels

Lincoln-Douglas - Jan/Feb Topic

Parliamentary Debate

Policy Debate

Public Forum - Feb Topic

Pattern B: Individual Events & Congress All Levels

Dramatic Interp

Duo Interp

Expository

Humorous Interp

Impromptu

International Extemp

Oratorical Interp

Original Advocacy

Original Oratory

Original Prose & Poetry

Student Congress

Presiding Officer - Student Congress

Thematic Interp

United States Extemp

Judging

One judge can NOT fill both a debate and an IE obligation.  Attempting to double enter a judge will result in an uncovered judge obligation fee.

Judges will be in the active pool for all 3 rounds of their event type, and for 1 round of the other pattern.  For example, debate judges will be in the pool for all 3 debate rounds, and 1 IE round. Judges will be on standby for the other two rounds of their other pattern type. 

We will provide training for any judges who need it. Failure to bring judges will result in a judge buy out fee of $100 for each judge. If this is fee is something your school cannot afford and you cannot find enough judges on your own please reach out to OCSL leadership and we will try to find volunteers to cover your obligation. This offer is only open to low income schools. All others will be charged and judges will be hired.

Entry Limits

All Open events will be initially capped at 10 entries per school in order to provide all schools with an opportunity to enter. Open entries beyond 10 will be waitlisted and granted entry based upon available space. Novice will be capped at 5 entries per school and all others will be waitlisted and granted entry based upon available space.

League Dues Invoice

The time to pay CHSSA dues via the OCSL has passed. If you still wish to join CHSSA please contact Sarah Sherwood to discuss. (Only open to High Schools) League Dues are $30.00 per school per year. These are expected to be paid at or before a school's first OCSL tournament of the year.  An invoice specifically for league dues is located on the front page of each OCSL tournament website.  These dues only need to be paid once per year, not for each tournament. In Invoice for each amount is provided to the right, please clarify with Sarah Sherwood as to which you owe.