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The members of Mesa Ridge’s Speech & Debate team would like to invite you and your team to the Mesa Ridge Grizzly Roar Invitational Tournament on December 13th, with an added Friday night of Extemp Debate on December 12th!

Our team and our coaches are excited to host you and hope that your team will attend!

On Friday, December 12th, we will host an evening of Extemporaneous Debate (XDB) with three rounds, with the third round to be power matched. (Minimum of 20 entries to run).

On Saturday, December 13th, we will be running a wave style tournament, including powered PF/LD debates, doubling (no doubling in both PF and LD), and finals in all Saturday events (minimum 7 competitors for finals). Whole Pizza Pre-Order Form: https://forms.gle/U3UQCy5k3YURtpDe7

Saturday Waves:

Extemp Debate is offered at this tournament on Fri 12/12. Students compete in a one-on-one format with limited prep time to prepare for the topic they are to debate. Students present arguments and engage in rebuttals, however, unlike other common debate events, students debate a number of topics, as opposed to a single topic for the entire tournament. Each round students are presented a unique resolution. They are given a minimum of thirty minutes to prepare for the round. The use of evidence is permitted, but not a focal point due to the limited time available to prepare a case for the round.

Impromptu is offered at this tournament on Sat 12/13. Impromptu is a public speaking event where students have seven minutes TOTAL to select a topic, brainstorm their ideas, outline and deliver a speech. The speech is given without notes and uses an introduction, body, and conclusion. The speech can be light-hearted or serious. It can be based upon prompts that range from nursery rhymes, current events, celebrities, organizations, and more.

All competitors will be held to CHSAA rules for their event(s). If you have any questions please contact Carl Hein at 9208574753 (heincarl@wsd3.org) or Tiia Shea at 7194637746 (sheatiia@wsd3.org).

Location: 6070 Mesa Ridge Pkwy, Colorado Springs, CO 80911. Attendees should park on the south side of the building.

Registration: Please register on Speechwire.com. Registration will open on November 17th, 2025.

The space for our tournament is limited (a maximum of 40 entries in each event, additional entries may be waitlisted) so please register as soon as you can.

Each school may have up to 6 entries per Saturday event and competitors may register for 1 event in each Saturday wave and may also register for extemporaneous debate. (However, no doubling in both LD and PF). Additional entries may be waitlisted.

Registration will open on Monday November 17th, 2025. Registration will be handled through Speechwire.com. Your tournament entry fees will be based on your pre-registration numbers. Pre-Registration will be closed on Wednesday December 10th at 8PM. Your fees will be locked and all adds must be emailed to sheatiia@wsd3.org. No same day adds at this tournament.

Please make checks payable to Mesa Ridge HS ATTN Carl Hein. Any drops made after the December 10th 8PM deadline will be subject to the forfeiture of the entry fee. Your final invoice will be emailed to the head coach on Speechwire’s email address on Monday December 15th 2025 (we will credit any judge donation to your invoice).

If you are running late the morning of the tournament, please call Tiia’s cell phone (719-463-7746) to let one of us know when you will be arriving. Also, please text same-day drops as soon as you know to 719-463-7746 so we can get round one out ASAP. If you arrive after 7:30 AM, you may be dropped from round one.

Students may enter in one Wave A and one Wave B event plus Extemporaneous Debate (FRIDAY). Students may not double in both Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas (students competing in LD or PF may still double in another event). Extempers who double are not guaranteed full prep time.

This will take place 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of all rounds, with the exception of round one. For this round draw will start promptly at 7:45 AM, and speaking will begin at 8:15 AM. Extemp draw is in 134. Extemp topics will be emailed out to all teams that have pre-registered on Speechwire on Sunday 12/7/2025.

PF debaters will use the December 2025 NSDA Varsity Topic: Resolved: The United States federal government should require technology companies to provide lawful access to encrypted communications.

LD debaters will use the December 2025 NSDA Varsity Topic: Resolved: The United States ought to rewild substantial tracts of land.

XDB debaters will receive their topics and sides a minimum of 30 minutes before the start of each round.

Wifi: our WSD3 Guest Wifi network will be available for your students’ use. We encourage students to bring personal devices.

Please help us out by bringing judges. The more judges you bring, the more smoothly the tournament will run.

We are running electronic ballots so please have your judges bring a laptop to submit ballots on. All judges will need to check in via our raptor system. They will need to bring a valid ID. Judges will be paid $10 per round.

For Saturday, each school must provide judges based on their Saturday competitors: 1 trained judge for every 5 event entries (or portion thereof) and 1 trained judge for every 2 debate entries (or portion thereof). Any school not meeting their quota of judges will be fined a $50 fee. This is unpleasant for everyone, so please spare us all.. Judges must be available for the three preliminary rounds and the final round–if you are dividing a judging requirement across multiple judges, please ensure there is judge coverage for the duration of the tournament. Please remind your judges to turn in ballots within 10 minutes of a round’s completion.

For Friday, schools unable to provide 1 trained judge for every 4 (or portion thereof) XDB entries that is available on Friday Evening will be fined a $50 fee. If we do not have enough judges for Friday, we may have to triple-flight rounds, which is unpleasant for everyone, so please do your best to bring judges.

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

For Saturday, please have your students complete a Pizza Order Form to order a whole pizza (cheese or pepperoni) for $10 each. These are due Friday December 12th by 6pm. Students will be able to purchase pizza by the slice while supplies last and concessions on Saturday. We will not be able to accept bills over $20.

Fast food places are not readily available to competitors and Doordash etc usually just drop off wherever they find a door. If your kids choose to use a delivery service, they need to make sure of a delivery spot. Mesa Ridge staff will not be at the front to meet them.

The tournament will be governed under the rules set forth by CHSAA and Widefield School District 3. WSD3 schools are tobacco-free, marijuana-free, and alcohol-free campuses. Please respect the teachers who allow us to use their rooms by leaving the room in the same condition in which you find it. A responsible coach must be available on site and available via cell phone at all times during the tournament. Anyone caught violating school or district rules while at the tournament will be disqualified. Anyone caught defacing school property will be disqualified.

Carl Hein	Tiia Shea
Head Forensics Coach MR	Asst. Forensics Coach MR

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