Hello GBCFL Coaches!  

The NCFL Congress qualifying tournament will be held on Friday, Feb. 15th at Xavier High School. You may submit Congress entries and judge information through Speechwire: however, Mariah Ervin will be the contact for questions and support or Congress as she has graciously offered to host that event (mervin@xaviercatholicschools.org or 920-540-6464). All proposed Congress legislation should be sent to Mariah by Feb. 7, 2019.  She will compile and send to all participating schools a week in advance of the tournament.  Speech events qualifier will be held at Winneconne High School on Feb. 17 with round one beginning at 9:00 am.

 

ENTRIES: Each member school is allowed up to four entries in each of the six speech categories. Students may double enter but can only attend nationals in one event.

 

JUDGES: You will be responsible for one judge for every three entries. If you are bringing more than three judges, additional judges must be "clean" judges (a.k.a. judges who do not know and have not coached your students) or judges hired by the tournament and your team will be charged for their judging fee. If you are able to bring clean judges above and beyond those required by your team entries, please do. I would like to have a qualified and diverse judging pool. If you know a qualified judge that can be hired by the tournament, please send his/her name and contact information to Ron Steinhorst at rstein2@charter.net or text it to 920-810-3348.

 

Prelim rounds will have two judges; finals will have three judges. In this tournament, one-half of the total prelim scores are carried across to the final rankings.

 

FEES: Due at registration is the $65 base entry fee and $10.00 per event entry fee. Checks should be made payable to GBCFL. Additional costs will be prorated and billed at a later time. If at all possible, we would appreciate base and entry fee payment at tournament time since the hired judges will want to be paid.

 

SCRIPTS: Please remember to bring all original copies of all Dramatic Performance, Oral Interpretation, and Duo Interp selections with you in case there is a question of what is acceptable. Rules for NCFL differ from WHSFA and WFCA in what is acceptable, especially in prose and poetry. Read carefully the rules on the website (ncfl.org) for clarification. Extempers are not permitted a power source or internet connectivity. Be particularly careful with any TED talks; there must be reference to a complete script which is accessible and given to a live audience.

 

PREFERENCE SHEETS: For all students who are double-entered, preference sheets must be handed in prior to the start of competition on February 17, initialed by both student and coach. At nationals, students may only compete in one event.

 

REGISTRATION: Complete registration using SpeechWire by Wednesday, February 13. You will be able to make adds/drops until Friday noon. No adds will be accepted after Friday. Drops after Friday will be assessed a $5.00 nuisance fee. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR STUDENTS THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO ATTEND NATIONALS MAY 24-26, 2019. IT IS NOT FAIR TO BUMP ANOTHER STUDENT IN COMPETITION AND THEN NOT ATTEND NATIONALS.

 

If you qualify students to nationals, be prepared to immediately register your students and judges who will be attending nationals. We will need one judge to cover congress and one judge for every two entries or fraction thereof in individual events. If you must amend this, it must be done by April 8, 2019.

 

For additional information on the national tournament, I encourage you to go to www.ncfl.org.  

Speech Events at nationals will be held at Marquette University.  MATC will host debate events on Saturday.  Hyatt Regency will host Congress on Saturday and Sunday. 

 

HOUSING INFO: Milwaukee Hilton Downtown City Center is tournament headquarters. Below are hotel options within the NCFL block: 

Aloft $149

Marriott $179

Courtyard $159

Residence Inn $179

Double Tree $179

Fairfield Inn $169

Hampton inn $159

Hilton $179

Hyatt $129

MU Residence Halls $121

** Tax rate is 15.1% (except residence halls = 0%)

 

If you have students qualify you are expected to book your room through an official NCFL hotel block. Each school that does not book through the official hotel block will be assessed a $100 fee per student by the NCFL.  Since Milwaukee is close and travel plans/budgets may differ greatly by school, I did not reserve a block of rooms at a particular hotel.  Hopefully, there will be ample choices available that fit individual schools' needs once qualifiers have been determined.

 

COACHES: During the final round of competition on February 17, we will have our coaches' meeting.  This is an election year, so we will have the chance to choose officers. Please take some time to consider if you would like to serve the GBCFL in this way. Let me know if you have any questions.  This is my first go around as moderator, so thanks for your patience and let me know if there is something I am forgetting.  See you soon!

 

Dave

 

davidharper7496@gmail.com

920-664-5278

(vr)