Dragon's Backbone

Registration	General information	Schematics	Files for download	Tournament schedule	Fees	Final results

General information

This is a High School tournament in Colorado.

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 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 11. 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.

NOTE: This year we are sharing the building with a musical that begins at 2 P.M. Therefore, the cafeteria space and auditorium will be off-limits to Speech and Debate competitors. 

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

Note: We will be using eballots, so be sure that your judges have Speechwire accounts and that they bring their laptops. Here is a video to help judges understand eballots on Speechwire: Judging Speech and Debate on Speechwire

Doubling:

Maroon Wave: USX, IX, OO, Drama, Humor, Novice PF, Varsity LD, Congress A

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

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

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: The United States ought to prohibit the extraction of fossil fuels from federal public lands and waters.

PF (Nov/Dec topic): Resolved: The United States federal government should forgive all federal student loan debt.

Registration:

Please register your team at www.speechwire.com no later than Wednesday, November 8, 2022.  Early registration is encouraged.  We will charge $10.00 per single entry of Drama, Humor, Poetry, POI, Extemp (NX & IX), Info, and Oratory and $15.00 for all Debate and Duo entered in the tournament and $7 per Congress entry. 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 except Congress).  Tournament entry fees will be based on your pre-registration numbers; any drops made after the November 8th 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:

Bring judges. The more judges you bring, the more smoothly the tournament will run.  Each school must provide judges based on competitors: 1-5 Speech/Interp entries will require one judge, 6-10 will require 2 judges, etc.; 1-2 Debate entries will require one judge, 3-4 will require 2 judges, etc. Congress judges will be categorized under the Speech requirement. Any school not meeting their quota of judges will be fined a $50 fee. 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/Congress:

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. Cell phones may be used as timers, provided they are in airplane mode. We will use CHSAA rules for internet usage. Students will have access to the internet through D12Guest. Warning: it is filtered.

BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS: We must have any submissions by October 25 to Liz Koop (lizkoop@cmsd12.org) . Your legislation will only be considered if it has been thoroughly proofread and is in standard NSDA format; please submit legislation as Word documents. I will plan to get your bill packets out on Monday, October 30, by email to everyone who has pre-registered.

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. 

• 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

Manager contact information

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

Mailing address

1200 Cresta Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80906