FCDI Online Qualifier C

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General information

This is a High School tournament in Florida.

View manager contact information

FCDI Online C

This is a Synchronous Middle/High School tournament via Zoom.

EXTEMP DEBATE ROUND 4 TOPIC: Women should be included in the Selective Service System.

Zoom Link: https://floridadebate-org.zoom.us/j/88104042748?pwd=hpPPjCeuEQDYsub1ojnThRrfVJJbrg.1

You are cordially invited to the Florida Civics & Debate Initiative Online Tournament C, to be held February 28th via Zoom. This tournament will be an online synchronous tournament.

This tournament offers middle school (5^th – 8^th grade), high school novice (first year competing ever), and high school varsity (has competed for more than one year) competition. All schools are welcome to compete.

All competitors will compete in 4 rounds of a prearranged schedule, except Legislative Debate where there are 3 rounds.

Coach check-in begins at 7:30am Eastern Time. The tournament will begin at 8:00am Eastern time.  We value your time, please be assured that we are always striving to stick to the schedule.

The full schedule can be found in the Schedule tab on the Speechwire registration page for the tournament.

REGISTRATION WILL CLOSE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2026, 11:59PM EST.

EVENTS and DIVISIONS: We offer middle school (M), novice (N), and varsity (V) divisions. If numbers allow, we will offer separate middle school and novice divisions. We reserve the right to combine divisions. If we combine divisions, there will be a Middle and Novice winner also chosen. 

No Double Entry.  If a coach submits the same student for two events, that student will be automatically disqualified for both events.

EVENTS INCLUDE:

• LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE (LD)
• RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE (RPD)
• PUBLIC FORUM DEBATE (PF)
• EXTEMPORANEOUS DEBATE (EXTD)
• LEGISLATIVE DEBATE (LEG)
• DECLAMATION SPEAKING (DEC)
• IMPROMPTU SPEAKING (IMP)
• EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING (EXT)
• INFORMATIVE SPEAKING (INF)
• ORIGINAL ORATORY (OO)

Observers are allowed.

TOPICS: Topics for some events may be pre-announced (see below). Participants should familiarize themselves with potential topics/resolutions and prepare accordingly.

Public Forum Topic: The United States should increase protectionist tariffs to incentivize increased American production.

Lincoln-Douglas Topic: Citizenship in the United States ought to be determined primarily as a result of public contribution (i.e., public service, military service, tax contribution, or land development).

Ronald Reagan Presidential Topic: Freedom of speech should be limited when it threatens the functioning of a representative government.

NOTE: Students who compete in debate events must be ready to argue both sides of an issue. Academic debate is an intellectual activity and is not about personal advocacy.

Impromptu Topics: Topic Areas: TOPIC AREAS

Iconic Cartoon Characters

Extemporaneous Debate Topic Areas: TOPIC AREAS

Legislative Debate Topics: Legislation will be found in the "Files for Download" tab when released.

Extemporaneous Speaking Topic Areas: TOPIC AREAS

Environment: Global Sustainability

JUDGES: FCDI JUDGING REQUIREMENTS

Because tournaments rely on volunteer judges, recruiting and training judges is vital.  Judges must be trained via the Canvas courses provided by FDI to fulfill your judge obligations.  If you bring judges that are not trained, the missing judge fee will apply. The FCDI requires teams provide judges proportional to the number of students they have registered for a given tournament.

The FCDI divides judges into four types:

• Speech (Can judge OO, INF, IMP, DEC, EXT.  LEG if needed.)
• Debate (Can judge EXD, PF, LD, RPD)
• Legislative (Can judge all speech events, but preference will be given to LEG)    

Experienced varsity competitors (juniors or seniors with 3 or more years of FCDI experience) may be entered as "student" judges and may judge middle school events if they are not themselves competing in this tournament.  If divisions are collapsed and include high school students, student judges cannot judge the event.

Should the tournament need judges of a specific type, judges may have to take a ballot in an event type for which they were not registered.

For every two debate entries (individuals or teams), one debate judge must be registered.

For every five speech entries or five legislative debate entries, one speech judge must be registered.

Teams who do not have the required number of judges will incur a fee of $10.00 per judge short and/or may have their competitors dropped from the tournament. New teams will not incur this fee during their first year (but still must bring judges, if no other judges exist, the coach will be expected to judge at a minimum)

Additional speech, debate, and judging resources can be found here: HANDBOOK LINK

Adults and coaches may judge any division. Judges must be trained. It is the affirmative duty of the coach to ensure that all judges (except students) must be approved as vetted volunteers through their district’s volunteer system.

At every FCDI tournament, a team member will present a judge orientation, event overview, and answer any final questions judges may have. On-site judge training will always be available to any judge that needs assistance one hour before the tournament begins. Please encourage new judges to arrive early to take advantage of this training.

If a judge misses a round, other than in the case of an emergency, the team they are representing will be charged a $100.00 missed round fee.

COACHES: All teams must have either a coach or assistant coach present at every event the team participates in for the duration of the tournament. If an FCDI registered coach cannot attend the tournament, coaches may designate a proxy coach on a per tournament basis. This change must be asked for in writing and approved by the FCDI. Proxy coach requests must be submitted in writing.

FEES: FCDI member schools pay no general registration fees. Non-FCDI schools pay $5.00/student. All schools may incur a late drop fee after the registration deadline.

Please make checks payable to and mail to:

Florida Debate Initiative, Inc.

87 Geneva Drive

Oviedo, FL 32765

TOURNAMENT CONTACTS:

Daniel Klemm
Gulf Coast Regional Ambassador
Email: dklemm@floridadebate.org
Phone: 386-316-5623

David Fechtel
FDI Program Manager
Email: dfechtel@floridadebate.org
Phone: 813-295-4079

FLORIDA CIVICS AND DEBATE INITIATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION:

Kendall Lindsay
Program Manager, Florida Civics and Debate Initiative 

Email address: Kendall.lindsay@fldoe.org
Phone number: 407-702-9172

The Florida Civics and Debate Initiative is proud to partner with the Florida Debate Initiative, which oversees our tournament operations and manages the Regional Ambassadors who help bring our mission to life.

FLORIDA DEBATE INITIATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION:

Abraham López
President, Florida Debate Initiative

Email address: alopez@floridadebate.org
Phone number: 201-892-6371

Manager contact information

David Fechtel
Email address: dfechtel@floridadebate.org
Phone number: 813-295-4079

Mailing address

325 W.Gaines St., Suite 1524
Tallahassee, FL 32399