SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software

Dear coaches and competitors,

We are excited at the interest in the 2019 Ridge Invitational. As of January 9th, with 56 schools and 900 entries, we have reached capacity of the tournament. We currently have 105 entries on the waitlist as well. We are currently exploring other options including creative spacing or possibly moving our debate tournament to another school that is off-campus. If that happens, speech and congress will be at Ridge/Cedar Hill and debate would move to our middle-school (a five-minute drive from Ridge). I understand that this may provide issues for some schools; however, my goal is to try and provide as many schools the opportunity to compete. We will post a schedule once we confirm our plans.

For now, we need to make some modifications to the tournament.

1. All new entries will be waitlisted until more space becomes available. We anticipate space will become available as drops occur. We will release waitlisted entries based on a system of equalization and earliest-registered.

2. We will not be able to release waitlisted entries unless space becomes available. Thanks for your patience as we work to increase the amount of available space.

3. If you have any entries that are place holders, or you are meaning to drop, please do so as soon as possible so we can release teams from the waitlists. Any TBAs or blank entries will be removed as of Friday, January 11th at 3:00pm.

4. Because of the amount of entries on the waitlists, we are changing our deadlines as follows:

A. All new registrations will close on Friday, January 18th at 11:59pm. Fees will be frozen at that time.

B. A $5 drop fee will be added to the original entry fee starting on Monday at 11:59pm.

C. A $10 drop fee will be added to the original entry fee starting on Wednesday at 11:59pm.

5. Obviously, we understand it is early; however, we need to ascertain our judging needs. With a tournament this size, we need to ensure we plan ahead for our hospitality and hiring needs. Please have all judges entered by Friday, January 18th at 11:59pm.

6. Congress legislation is due this Friday, January 11th, at dyastremski@bernardsboe.com. Please ensure legislation is of quality and of a high standard before sending. We will return any legislation that the tournament director believes needs improvement due to content or form.

We've always allowed maximum entries in the past; however, we are honored that so many people are coming to Ridge this year. I am doing everything I can to try and get as many entries off the waitlists. Any help you can offer in managing your entries as soon as possible is greatly appreciated. If there are any specific questions, please email dyastremski@bernardsboe.com.

The Ridge High School Speech and Debate Team would like to invite you to the sixteenth annual “Ridge Invitational.” We welcomed fifty-one schools in 2018, and we look forward to making 2019 the best event yet! Registration will open on December 10^th at www.Speechwire.com. See http://tinyurl.com/ridge19 for more details.

We are offering all New Jersey speech events, Public Forum (3 divisions), Lincoln-Douglas Debate (3 divisions), and Congressional Debate. In addition, we will be featuring Radio Broadcasting. Details on events can be found at njsdl.org. Students in speech events may double-enter. We will preliminarily have caps at 6 entries per event; however, as we ascertain how many teams will be attending, students will be removed from waitlists as space remains available. We plan on making the first waitlist releases on January 5^th.

As last year, awards will be presented to the top six competitors in each event and the top non-advancing novice(s) in each speech category. In many events, we will feature a full 'novice' pull-out final round in several speech events pending entry numbers. We will also be featuring our Ridge tradition of creative FINAL ROUND POSTERS for our champions (see examples from last year throughout this invitation! The top schools will be receiving Sweepstakes awards along with a sweepstakes award for the highest achieving school with less than fifteen entries. Please feel free to contact us regarding any clarification of rules or procedure.

Congress bills may be sent to dyastremski@bernardsboe.com by 3:00pm on Friday, January 11th. We will have legislation posted by the end of day on Monday, January 14th.

Due to the size of this year’s event, we would like all registrations by Friday, January 18th at 11:59pm to ensure a smooth and well-run tournament. Please see the invitation for information on add/drop deadlines, nuisance fees, and other tournament logistics. Due to the Columbia cancelation, we want to ensure everyone has sufficient time to register for the tournament. If demand proves to be very high, we reserve the right to close registration early and move all new entries to waitlists, so please register as soon as you can.

Registration will take place between 8:00 and 8:45 in room 624 of the high school (near the cafeteria). Please ensure your team arrives by 8:45 so we may start the day's activities promptly. The first round will begin promptly at 9:30am, and awards are tentatively scheduled for 6:30pm. Breakfast and Lunch will be available a la carte for all students. Coaches and judges will receive a small breakfast and lunch.

Basking Ridge is located 30 miles west of New York City and 75 miles northeast of Philadelphia. We are located on two major NJ arteries: I-287 and I-78 with easy access to the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, and I-80.

Hope to see you in January!

David Yastremski

Director of Forensics - Ridge High School

David Yastremski
Email address: dyastremski@bernardsboe.com
Phone number: 973-981-0841