The Dragon's Backbone Invitational

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General information

This information is from a tournament in a past season!

This is a High School tournament in Colorado.

View manager contact information

 Cheyenne Mountain High School

The Dragon’s Backbone

Speech and Debate Invitational

The Cheyenne Mountain High School team would like to invite you and your team to The Dragon’s Backbone Invitational on Saturday, November 13. We will be running a wave-style tournament, including powered debates, doubling and finals in all events. This tournament will follow CHSAA rules for all events.

If you have any questions, please call or text Liz Koop (719-227-1832) or email lizkoop@cmsd12.org.

Location:

Cheyenne Mountain High School

1200 Cresta Road

Colorado Springs, CO 80906

1. Masks are required for everyone while inside with the exception of those actively giving a speech. The students may remove their masks for their presentation only.

2. Students and judges will sit in the back of classrooms to provide for separation between the student presenting and the rest of the competitors/judges.

3. For now, we will ask that there are no observers in the rooms. 

4. Debate students will have their masks on except when speaking. During CX, students will stand at their desks so they are separated.

5. Food will be individually packaged or will be served so that only one person is touching a serving utensil.

6. Masks may be removed only while students/judges are actively eating or drinking; masks should be worn as much as possible, and we will encourage students and judges to socially distance while eating or sit outside when possible.

Parking: 

Buses will need to park in the lot behind the school. Please drive past the tennis courts on the southwest side of the building.

Students and judges will need to park in the teacher lots on the northwest side of the building. 

Note: We will be sharing the building with a theatrical production of Elf—the Musical in the auditorium, starting at 2 P.M. Thus, we need to leave room for parking. Also, we need to respect the quiet, no-entry zone that will be established and enforced in the south hallway, which includes the cafeteria and entrance to the auditorium. 

Doubling:

Maroon Wave: USX, FX, OO, Drama, Humor, Novice PF, Varsity LD

White Wave: Duo, POI, Poetry, INFO, Novice LD, Varsity PF

Students may enter in one Maroon Wave and one White Wave event (But they cannot double in two  debate events).

NOTE: Extempers who double are not guaranteed prep time.

Schedule:

Rounds will be run as soon as possible.  Please watch the postings.

 7:00 AM Registration Opens  

 7:20 AM Registration Closes 

 7:45 AM Judges Meeting 

7:50 AM Extemp Draw Begins 

 8:00 AM Maroon Wave Round 1 (Extemp will start at 8:20) 

 9:30 AM White Wave Round 1 

11:00 AM Maroon Wave Round 2 

12:30 PM White Wave Round 2 

 2:00 PM Maroon Wave Round 3 

 3:30 PM White Wave Round 3 

 4:30 PM Finals will begin (All Finals will start as soon as possible) 

 6:30 PM Awards 

 7:30 PM Head Home 

Competitors more than 10 minutes late to a round forfeit that round. Competitors will speak in the order they were assigned.  Please remind students not to enter a room until the judge is present.

Debate Topics:

LD (Nov/Dec topic): Resolved: A just government ought to recognize an unconditional right of workers to strike.

PF (Nov/Dec topic): Resolved: Increased United States federal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions and/or assets will produce more benefits than harms.

Registration:

Please register your team at www.speechwire.com no later than Wednesday, November 10, 2021.  Early registration is encouraged.  We will charge $10.00 per single entry of Drama, Humor, Poetry, POI, Extemp (USX & IX), Info, and Oratory and $15.00 for all Debate and Duo entered in the tournament. You may have up to 5 entries per  competition event and competitors may register for 1 event in each wave (No Doubling between debate events).  Tournament entry fees will be based on your pre-registration numbers; any drops made after the November 10th deadline will forfeit the entry fee.  

Please make checks payable to Cheyenne Mountain High School Speech and Debate.  

If you are running late the morning of the tournament, please call or text my cell phone (below) to let me know when you will be arriving.  Arrivals after 7:30 may be dropped from the first round.

Extemp Draw:

Draw will take place in the library 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the round. 

Judges:

Please help us out by bringing judges. The more judges you bring, the more smoothly the tournament will run.  Each school must provide judges based on competitors: 1-6 Speech/Interp entries will require one judge, 7-12 will require 2 judges, etc.; 1-2 Debate entries will require one judge, 3-4 will require 2 judges, etc. Any school not meeting their quota of judges will be fined a $50 fee.  This is unpleasant for everyone, so please spare us all.  Please remind your judges to turn in ballots within 10 minutes of a round’s completion.

We are going to use electronic ballots, so please ask your judges to bring their own devices (i.e. laptops, tablets). All judges must have a Speechwire account to log in.

Ben at Speechwire has provided video resources to explain judging online. Please check them out. https://www.speechwire.com/p-video-resources.php. 

Awards:

Ribbons will be awarded to 1st -6th place winners.  A sweepstakes trophy will be awarded.

Food:

Breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided for judges and coaches. Competitors will need to bring their own food or purchase food available at our concessions stand. 

Debate:

PF debaters will use the November-December NSDA Topic. LD debaters will use the November-December NSDA Topic.  Debate rounds will be power matched after round 1.  As per the NSDA and CHSAA debate rules, laptops will be allowed for flowing and file retrieval. The use of WiFi or any other form of electronic communication will NOT be allowed.  Cell phones may be used as timers, provided they are in airplane mode.  Cheating will result in disqualification from the tournament, and if the offending team won the ballot, it will be overturned.

School Rules:

• The tournament will be governed under the rules set forth by CHSAA and Cheyenne Mountain School District 12.

• The Cheyenne Mountain School District schools are tobacco-free campuses. 

• Anyone caught violating school or district rules while at the tournament will be disqualified. 

• Anyone caught defacing school property will be disqualified.

• Please respect the teachers who allow us to use their rooms by leaving the room in the same condition in which you found it.  

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Liz Koop and Natalie Crow

Speech and Debate Coaches, Cheyenne Mountain High School

Liz’s cell: 719-227-1832

lizkoop@cmsd12.org

Please write checks to Cheyenne Mountain High School Speech and Debate Team

Manager contact information

Liz Koop
Email address: lizkoop@cmsd12.org
Phone number: 7192271832

Mailing address

1200 Cresta Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80906