Tournament Annoucnment Doc Now Available: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1msy-MDRu0U_MbiEk6edRnpH6jeOnOZmej-0jAQFknYA/edit?usp=sharing

Rio Hondo - Communication 105

SDSU - Communication 205

El Camino - Communication 206

CUI - Communication 207

GCU - Hepner Hall 122

Grossmont - Hepner Hall 128

Mercer - Hepner Hall 146

NAU - Hepner Hall 150

Tulane - Hepner Hall 210

PLNU - Hepner Hall 214

UT Tyler - Hepner Hall 216

Utah - Hepner Hall 218

2023 SDSU’s Gaske Memorial Tournament

Feb 4-5, 2023

Dear Friends and Community Members,

It is with great pleasure that San Diego State University and the SDSU School of Communication invite you to the second annual Gaske Memorial Tournament IN PERSON on the SDSU campus.  

Our hope is that this format advances your students towards their local and national-circuit goals over the span of one weekend. We have also altered our schedule of offered events in order to keep costs down, decrease the strain on judges, and maintain our ability to offer our standard of student wellness.

This year the tournaments feature:

●        1 IE Tournament (Sunday Only)

●        4 prelim rounds of NPDA debate (Saturday).  Bronze/ Gold round with Option to go to Finals in Open division if participants request and judges are available.

●        4 prelim rounds of NFA-LD and IPDA (Sunday Only) Bronze/ Gold round with Option to go to Finals in Open division if participants request and judges are available.

 Open, Junior, and Novice divisions will be offered in all respective events, where warranted.

General Guidelines

Tournament Rules –

1. SDSU Forensics prioritizes the creation and maintenance of safe spaces for all participants at our tournaments which is why we require the Title IX training of judges, participants, and Tab Staff. Those individuals who do not uphold these guidelines will be asked to leave the tournament.

2. AFA, NFA, IPDA, and NPDA regulations will govern their respective divisions, unless specified elsewhere in this invitation.
    In NPDA debate hybrid teams and three-person teams may compete.

a.  PLEASE NOTE:  In NPDA, no person who has competed for ten (10) or more semesters or has competed at NPDA or NPTE in four (4) different years may compete.

Electronic Flowing and Prep will be allowed as per NPDA bylaw changes. 

b. Coach Prep will be allowed in IPDA

c.  In IEs, no person who has competed for eight (8) or more semesters or has competed at a collegiate national tournament in four (4) different years may compete.

Parking

All parking for the Aztec Invitational will occur in Parking 12 (formerly PS-4), parking passes may be purchased at designated Pay Machines or via the Pay By Phone app (recommended).  Please refer to the campus map for specific location and directions. Pay station permits may park in any student "S" parking stalls. Pay station permits are not valid to park in spaces marked as Faculty/Staff (F/S).

Food Options

There are several food options open on campus including:

Subway Sandwiches at West Commons 
Chipotle at the Student Union
Oggis at the Student Union
Starbucks at the Student Union

 

Divisions

 

The SDSU Aztec/Mills Invitational will offer novice and open divisions of all reasonably populated IEs and debate events (see policy BELOW on collapsing divisions with less than 6 competitors).

Students are considered to be novices in individual events when:

1. They are in their first year (defined as first two semesters of collegiate or high school individual event competition), and

2. They have not placed third or higher in a similar event (Public Address, Interpretation or Limited Preparation) two or more times in any division including high school. For example, a student may be novice in interpretation, but be open in public address events.

 3.“Open” will be reserved for competitors of any year or level (assuming THEY ARE still eligible by national standards), and does not require unique qualification.

 

Entry Procedure--

1. Registration must be completed by 11:00 pm on Wednesday Feb 1, 2023.

2. Entries for ALL events will be accepted electronically at http://www.forensicstournament.net.

3. Any changes to be made after the deadline should be emailed to anuckelscuevas@sdsu.edu no later than Thursday Feb 2, 2023, by 11:59pm.

4. Students and judges who are participating in NPDA debate must complete, and provide documentation of, Title IX training before the beginning of the first round of competition. Training can be completed through the affiliated school’s institutional training or through the free NPDA training which can be found below. Please email a copy of the completion of training to anuckelscuevas@sdsu.edu with the subject line “Gaske Memorial Title IX Verification”.

5. Judge Constraints can be submitted directly to the tournament host or a member of the Tab Staff. Those emails will be provided once those positions have been finalized.

6. ADA Accommodations will be made for all competitors in need of them, please make sure to note those requests when registering online AND send a copy of that request to the tournament host.  

 

Entry Limits- Participants in open and junior individual events will be limited to a maximum of 3 events per pattern and participants in novice will be limited to a maximum of 2 events per pattern in both tournaments. Unfortunately, due to time constraints triple entry will not be allowed for Extemp. It is the sole responsibility of the participants to check in to rooms on time, write names and school codes on the board, communicate with judges, and make it to rounds within the time allotted.  Late arrivals who have not “checked-in” will be subject to an automatic drop.

 

IE Patterns/Scheduling –

●   Pattern A = EXT, INFO, ADS, PRO, POE

●   Pattern B = IMP, PER, CA, DI, POI, DUO

●   Pattern C = NPDA

●   Pattern D = IPDA/ NFA-LD

 

 

Lower Entry Fees/Financial Information

 

Fees will be assessed at noon on Wednesday, Feb 1, 2023. In addition to a $20.00 school fee, the following fees will be assessed for students competing in the tournament:

1. $10.00 per IE slot.

2. $15.00 per Individual Debate Slot (NFA-LD/ IPDA)

2. $25.00 per Team Debate slot (NPDA).

 

Special accommodations can be made for teams and competitors who are unable to afford fees. Inquiries about this can be sent to Ashley Nuckels Cuevas (anuckelscuevas@sdsu.edu).

 

Payment will be accepted online.

 

Judge/Critic/Adjudicator Information

 

Judging Commitment

●        One judge covers 5 IE’s (Speech Events)

●        One judge covers 2 Individual Debate Entries

●        One judge can cover up to two NPDA debate teams.

Please note:

●        Debate judges are needed through the second elimination round, and one round beyond the squad’s elimination.

●        IE judges are committed through finals.

●        Debate Critics are encouraged to give feedback and disclosure to the competitors AFTER the submission of their ballot for the sake of keeping the tournament running on schedule.

 

Judging Requirements

1. Judges are expected to uphold the highest level of professionalism and help to create a safe space for respectful discourse and collegiate competition. Judges will be expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the standards outlined in Title IX training. Those who do not uphold these standards will be asked to leave the tournament.  

2. All judges must complete, and provide documentation of, Title IX training before judging of the first round of competition. Training can be completed through the affiliated school’s institutional training or through the free NPDA training which can be found below. Please email a copy of the completion of training to anuckelscuevas@sdsu.edu with the subject line “Aztec 2021 Judge Title IX Verification”.

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLZ75Z6Wb_LqAHH0F9Jw2MZHYyIrcbLUiPZHWvyr_tDYz4ug/viewform?fbclid=IwAR0iGuenMhHJ9T5l6NXkGsyLm3SZNcFiEOSfTewSsjGfVKvtW3YLdzFVKA0

 

Available Judges

We REALLY want you to bring your judges and will pay any of your judges HOLDING a bachelor’s degree $15.00 per round for judging beyond their commitment.  Hired judges must complete the Judge Requirements listed above. Please alert us to judges who are willing to judge beyond their commitment.

 

Uncovered judge fees will be assessed on the following basis:

$25.00 per IE slot

$100 per Team Debate Slot

Please bring judges!!!

 

Tournament Specifics

 

Policy on Collapsing Divisions

If there are fewer than six (6) entries in an event, it may be collapsed into the next highest division. If this occurs, top novices will be recognized at the Awards Ceremony.  

Impromptu will be AFA Style

Following AFA proceedure, competitors in impromptu will all receive the same 2 topics per round. Speakers will be asked to wait outside the room until their turn to speak. Competitors may not write on the prompt or remove the prompt from the room. Judges may allow competitors to watch the rest of the round after speaking. Final round topics will be non-traditional. :)

 

ELIMINATION ROUNDS/IE’s

 

Criteria for Elimination Round – IN NOVICE, any event with less than seven (7) contestants may not have a final round. For events with 7 or more competitors competing in all preliminary rounds, a final round will be held.

In OPEN, a final round of less than seven (7) contestants will STILL be held in each event.

 

Advancement to Elimination Rounds – No more than half of the field will be advanced to finals. Students will be rank ordered first by lowest cumulative rankings, and then by the highest cumulative ratings.  

 

Advancement in Elimination Rounds - Students will be rank ordered first by lowest cumulative rankings in the final round, then by judge’s preference and finally by the highest cumulative ratings in the final round and preliminary rounds.

 

PROCEDURAL ISSUES/NPDA

 

Speech Times

  We using Flex Time at this tournament to better help prepare students for the national tournaments at the end of the competitive season. The Speech Times will be as follows:

 

First Proposition Constructive Speaker: 7 minutes

Opposition Flex Time: 2 Minute

First Opposition Constructive Speaker: 8 minutes

Proposition Flex Time: 2 Minutes

Second Proposition Constructive Speaker: 8 minutes

Opposition Flex Time: 1 Minute

Second Opposition Constructive Speaker: 8 minutes

Opposition Rebuttal by First Speaker: 4 minutes

Proposition Flex Time: 1 Minute  

Proposition Rebuttal by First Speaker: 5 minutes

 

Novice- To be classified as a novice:

●     The student should have no high school debate experience.

●     The student should be in the first two semesters of

collegiate debate.

●     Once the student has advanced to elimination rounds more

than 3 times, the student should be advanced to the junior

or open division.

Disclosure – Disclosure is encouraged but at the judge’s discretion and should be given only AFTER the submission of their ballot in order to keep the tournament on schedule.

Preliminary Rounds –

●        Power-matching for all preliminary rounds will be high-low in win-loss brackets.

●        When brackets are uneven, teams from the middle of the lower bracket will be pulled up to the next bracket.

●        Rounds One and Two will be random-matched.

●        Rounds Three and Four will be power-matched based upon the results of all previous rounds.

Elimination Rounds - Advancement to and seeding in elimination rounds will be first based upon record, followed by total speaker points, then adjusted speaker points, next by opposition record, and finally by Z-Score.

Per NPDA rules, brackets WILL be broken in elimination rounds.

 

AWARDS

 

●        All finalists for IEs and all advancing debaters will receive award certificates for each respective tournament. Speaker awards will be given to the top 10 speakers for each division of NPDA.

●        Additionally, sweepstakes awards will be issued to the top 3 institutions for debate and the top 3 institutions for IEs. These awards will be given separately for 2-year and 4-year divisions.  SDSU will not be considered for any of these awards.

 

Sweepstakes Awards

Sweepstakes Points – Points will be assigned by this formula:

Event: 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd/SF, 4th/QF, Finalist/OF

●        NPDA*: 20, 16, 12, 8, 4

●        IE’s: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2

●        Duo: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2

SPECIAL AWARDS

 

Dr. Paul Gaske Award (SDSU): This monetary award is given in memory of a former SDSU Director of Forensics, who sought to blur the lines between debate and individual event competition.  This award is given to the single top-performer competing in any version of team debate and also in individual events in the Aztec Invitational.

 

NPDA Debate Information

 

NPDA Central Topic Announcement –

NPDA topics will be announced in the TOPIC Announce Room and be posted online as soon as possible. Before announcement, a roll call will be made to make sure that a majority, if not all teams, are represented in addition to the announcement of any judge or room changes. Debaters will be given 25 minutes from the time the topic is announced, to make it to their room.

 

I hope you consider attending the first annual Gaske Memorial Tournament taking place IN Person on the SDSU Campus.

  

Sincerely,

 

Ashley Nuckels Cuevas                                 Tim Seavey

Aztec Invitational Tournament Director                       Aztec Invitational IE Tab Staff

Director of Forensics SDSU                                              Assistant Director of Forensics SDSU

School of Communication                                                 Email: tseavey@sdsu.edu                                 

Email: anuckelscuevas@sdsu.edu

 

 

 

Schedule

 

NPDA

 

IPDA/NFALD

 

Individual Events