Western Cat Claw Classic

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General information

This is a High School tournament in Florida.

View manager contact information

ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT BREAKS:

Congress: Congress will break to two “semi” final round sections consisting of the top 24 competitors from prelims (12 in each chamber). Top 18 students cumulatively will receive an award.

Speech Events: Similar to Congress breaks, OO, Impromptu, and Extemp will also break to two “semi” final round sections. The size of each section will be based on the cleanest possible breaks. Top 6 cumulatively will receive awards.

Debate Events: In LD and PF all winning records will advance to a 5^th round, paring will be based on seeds and top 3 will receive trophies based on break round results.

Banner Drops: The advancing finalists will be announced via a banner drop ceremony in the courtyard near the 100’s building.

Dear Esteemed Coaches and Colleagues,

Western High Speech and Debate cordially invites you to the inaugural Cat Claw Classic.

The tournament will be held in person at our wonderful sunny campus in Davie, Florida on October 25, 2025. We offer competition in four debate events: Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, Big Questions, World Schools Debate, and Congressional debate in which only one varsity division of each will compete, with novices welcome to compete in that division to encourage high quality competition and learning. We also offer 8 individual events: Mixed Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, and Program Oral Interpretation. All events are subject to change given limited entries. We look forward to you joining us for a great weekend of hospitality, competition, and learning from each other!

Sincerely, Brian Lynn, Director of Speech & Debate

Erica Hansinger, Assistant Director of Speech & Debate

Western Speech and Debate Team

Day of Tournament: October 25th

TOPICS

Public Forum- The October Varsity topic: "PF: Resolved: The United Kingdom should rejoin the European Union."

Lincoln Douglas- October Varsity Topic: "Resolved: In the United States criminal justice system, plea bargaining is just."

World Schools- Round 1: Prepared- This house would ban political campaign advertisements on social media platforms.

                              Round 2:  Impromptu: This house regrets the popularization of true crime in the media.

                              Round 3: Prepared - This house supports the use of civil disobedience by social movements in democratic society.

                              Round 4: Impromptu: This house regrets the use of faith in the shaping of modern government.

PLEASE READ THE FULL DETAILED INVITE FOR ALL INFORMATION REGARDING THE TOUNRNAMENT LINKED IN "FILES FOR DOWNLOAD" 

Lunch:

Lunch will be provided at no additional cost, with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Although they are free, please indicate how many of each type you will need within speechwire upon registration.

Lunch tickets will be distributed at check in on the day of the tournament.

Tournament Day

To facilitate a fair and quick tournament, please follow directions as promptly and exactly as possible:

Coaches:

Tournament registration will open at 7:00am in the Media Center (second floor). There, coaches can register their teams for the day, pay any fees BY CHECK ONLY, and collect meal tickets. On-Site registration is NOT the time to report last minute drops; report drops to the tournament director via email ASAP, being clear on which student and which event is being dropped to avoid disruption.

Judges: Judges are REQUIRED to check-in on Saturday morning to confirm their attendance in the media center. Judge call will begin at 7:30, at which point a short meeting will commence to outline the schedule and any updates. Judges MUST NOT arrive later than 7:30, as the meeting is important to staying current. To start the tournament promptly, proceedings will begin at 8:00am.

Competitors: Students will be directed to the cafeteria upon arrival and between rounds. Please coordinate an adult to chaperone students from each team in the cafeteria at all times before and after rounds. Arrival: All judges, coaches, and competitors should arrive, enter, and park through the student parking lot, where there is a large lot as well as a drop off loop system available. This is the lot along SW 14th St, on the southernmost side of the school.

Food: The cost of registration covers a lunch meal for all competitors, for which teams will receive meal tickets upon registration and will be distributed in the cafeteria at the designated lunch time. Meals for judges and coaches will be distributed in the judge lounge (media center) and coordinated by our generous booster club. 

Drops: All drops reported after October 20th will forfeit their entry fee. All drops reported after October 22nd will forfeit their entry fee as well as incur an additional $15 drop fee. Drops which occur on the day of the tournament, or no-show competitors will forfeit their entry fee, and incur a $45 late drop fee, but will not be subject to the initial $15 drop fee.

Entry Fees: Cost of entry is ($35) per entry in individual speech events and congress; ($70) per Duo team; ($35) per entry in Lincoln-Douglas Debate; ($70) per Public Forum team. These fees INCLUDE lunch for competitors. Please make all checks payable to (“Western Highschool”) Competitor

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

TAB ROOM :

JUDGES PLEASE USE THESE RESOURCES TO ENSURE QUALITY ADJUDICATION OF OUR COMPETITORS AND TO PROVIDE HELPFUL FEEDBACK (this is a learning experience)

This is a link to a video produced by the illustrious coach of Ransom Everglades and judge liaison extraordinaire, Kate Hamm. The video is an hour long but please review the training. It can be sped up to 2x speed and is still very much understandable. https://zoom.us/rec/share/Q4RzV4Au0XGtKoZYa9m_ToJtRJwAn5r-PTJ2h6ionMOKzhV_WLAlBl2XSeSu73yq.Bjfh5oBDdj3iaZcC

The passcode is H#pa16L9

 

If judges are totally unable to review the training, they may also use the following powerpoint as a reference. It is not as robust as the video but still extremely informative and useful:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MTcPZ5PPsDdHOcdRBEzmsiARFvfNydCS/edit?slide=id.p1#slide=id.p1

 

Of course, we will have some resources available on the day of the tournament including judges "cheat sheets" and a crash course on each event before ballots are blasted, but a little bit of prework would definitely benefit not just the judges, but the quality of the tournament overall.

Manager contact information

Brian Lynn
Email address: blynn@antioch.edu
Phone number:

Mailing address

1200 SW 136th Ave
Davie, FL 33325