Dear Colleagues:

After a short hiatus, we are thrilled to invite you back to sunny, bustling Muncie, Indiana on October 15^th to celebrate our 51^st Annual Age of Aquarius Tournament. We are looking forward to an exciting, fun, and celebratory day of competition. This year, we will be offering an IE tournament on Saturday only. All NFA and AFA events are offered. Awards will be presented to the top six speakers in each event, top three speakers in quadrathon, and top three schools in team sweeps. Please register at Speechwire. Additionally, please bring electronic devices, as we will be utilizing Speechwire’s electronic balloting feature.

On-campus registration will be held in the lobby of the David Letterman Communication and Media Building on Saturday morning. We look forward to seeing you and if you have any questions regarding the tournament, directions, or hotels please let me know. See you in October! 

Safe travels,

Spencer Coile, Annie Ashbrook, Cade Heaton & Brooke Morenz

Ball State University

 

Entries                                                                                                 

1.     For the purpose of this tournament, NOVICE is defined as a student for whom 2022-2023 is their first year of collegiate competition.

2.    A novice division will be offered in any IE event that has 1) more than 30 entries AND 2) at least 12 novice students. We will make every effort to offer a novice division and maintain quals for the national tournaments.

3.    A student may enter only 3 events per pattern. However, they should be made aware that rounds are one hour and 15 minutes and will not be extended if a student is unable to complete all three events in time allotted. 

4.    Semi-Finals will be held for events containing over 50 entries.

5.    The deadline for receiving entries is 6:00 pm (EST) on Tuesday, October 11^th. Entries should be submitted via Speechwire.

 

Fees for Age of Aquarius

1.     Each IE entry is $10.00. 

2.    One judge is required for every 6 IE entries. 

3.    There is a $10 fee per uncovered IE entry (plus the entry base fee)

4.    DROP FEES will be assessed after 5 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 12^th.  The drop fee for IE is $15.00. The drop fee for a judge is $50.

5.    Please make checks out to Ball State University.  

 

Quadrathlon: We will give awards to the top 3 students competing in four or more OPEN events. If a student is entered in five or six events, their BEST FOUR will count toward quadrathon. Novice final rounds do NOT count toward quadrathon tabulation.

Sweepstakes: Team sweepstakes for Age of Aquarius will be awarded to the top three schools based on open final round points.  

Parking: It is suggested that you park north of the Robert Bell building (RED R2 lot) and gain access to the Letterman building through the Robert Bell building.  Be sure to look for signs. Meters and “Reserved” (handicapped, business, and numbered) spaces are enforced 24/7. You will be ticketed! If you are having trouble with parking, finding Muncie, Ball State University, or the Letterman building please contact Spencer Coile at (309) 838-2354.  

COVID Policy: To ensure the health and wellness of everyone attending, we ask for everyone to take a rapid test or PCR prior to traveling. If a student tests positive and/or is displaying symptoms, we will be happy to drop them without penalty. We will be following CDC guidelines pertaining to our county:  Get tested if you have symptoms. Wear a mask if you have symptoms, have a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID. You may choose to wear a mask any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others (we will provide masks on the tournament site). If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public. We will be updating these policies closer to the actual tournament date.

Open Door Policy: Ball State University is committed to providing safe performance spaces for all competitors and judges. We acknowledge the art of performance may be a healing process and/or opportunity to speak on important topics. As a performer, it is impossible to know all the ways in which content or a performance may unintentionally harm or trigger members of our audience. To better serve our competitors, we will be honoring the NFA’s open door practice during rounds this weekend. An “open door policy” means competitors and other audience members may choose to leave or stay in a room when a performance negatively impacts their wellbeing. Competitors may discreetly leave the room (e.g., before, during, or after someone’s performance) even when not double-entered, without question or penalty. Competitors may disengage from a performance (e.g., actively dissociate, put their head down on a desk, cover their ears). If competitors need to leave a round due to physical (e.g., uncontrollable coughing, vomiting) or spiritual (e.g., Salat times) needs, they may also excuse themselves without question or penalty. Judges may also take steps to protect their well-being and will be asked to read the open door policy at the beginning of every round to reinforce the norm-change emphasizing mental and physical well-being over community norms.

Ethical Treatment of Others: Ball State University is fully committed to a safe and healthy educational, work and competition environment that is free from unlawful discrimination and harassment. As such, we prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, race, disability, religion and other lawfully protected categories. This prohibition includes sexual assault and misconduct, and stalking. Should you experience a Title IX violation while attending our Tournament, please report the violation to your coach or someone you trust, and the tournament host. The tournament host will ensure that the Title IX officers from the host institution, your home university/college, and from the institution of the perpetrator are notified so that investigative procedures can begin. Please report behavior that is not in line with our stated anti-harassment policy. If, at any point in time, behavior is reported that is antithetical to a positive learning environment for any tournament participants, it will be handled accordingly. Directors, please remember, you are responsible for the people that you bring to our campus. 

Judge Strikes: We ask that if your students have any conflicts with judges for non-competitive reasons that you let us know so we can block the judge from judging the student. Examples of when this could happen might include: the student is a family member/close friend of the judge, a student was harassed/assaulted by a judge, a student was a teammate of the judge, a student was coached by the judge. We respect the privacy of these decisions. We hope that if a judge has participated in improper behavior that the tournament director will be notified so that, if necessary, the judge can be removed from the judging pool before interacting with students. Students can inform us through their coach or inform the tournament director (Spencer) directly at 309-838-2354. The tournament director will not ask for details and do not expect any; we trust in the decision of the student. We will provide a full list of judges to all coaches the week of the tournament. 

Gender/gender-neutral restrooms on campus: https://www.bsu.edu/about/diversity-and-inclusion/-/media/88ee3edd9f884f29ad6b495eb53c6f58.ashx

Local emergency information: https://www.bsu.edu/about/administrativeoffices/emergency-preparedness/guidelines

(vr)