INVITATION

FGCCFL GRAND FINALS 2010

University of South Florida - St. Pete Campus

140 7th Avenue South

St Petersburg, FL

Phone: (727) 873-4596

League Cell: (813) 839-6404

Dates: SATURDAY, 27 FEBRUARY and SUNDAY, 28 FEBRUARY

(See Schedule at the End of this Invitation)

Please review and complete the following steps to be considered for participation in the 2010 Grand Finals Tournament for the Florida Gulf Coast Catholic Forensics League. Pay close attention to deadlines, procedural mandates, and other detail-oriented requirements.

Once again, due to overall league membership, we will be determining SIX (6) Qualifiers in each of the following NCFL Competition Categories: Team Debate, Public Forum Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Congress, Extemporaneous Speaking (Mixed Foreign and Domestic), Original Oratory, Declamation, Dramatic Performance (Mixed Humorous and Dramatic Interp), Duo Interpretation, and Oral Interpretation (Prose/Poetry). These are the only categories recognized by NCFL and will be the only events offered (Varsity Competition Level Only).

STEP 1: Certify School Membership/Eligibility

Please use the following link - http://www.fgccfl.org/200910Members.html - to establish whether your school has met FGCCFL rules regarding Grand Finals Qualification and/or FGCCFL Membership. You can still join FGCCFL by following the guidelines available on the website (http://www.fgccfl.org). However, in order to attend Grand Finals, a school MUST ATTEND TWO (2) TOURNAMENTS - and as of 1/20, there are indeed only two remaining - 1/30 at Bayshore HS in Bradenton, and 2/13 at Northeast HS in St. Petersburg.

STEP 2: Certify Student Eligibility

Please use the following link - http://www.fgccfl.org/2010studenteligibility.pdf - to establish whether your potential registrants are able to attend Grand Finals. Per FGCCFL rules, a student must have ATTENDED ONE (1) TOURNAMENT AND COMPETED IN FOUR ROUNDS (for IE) AND/OR THREE ROUNDS (for Congress/Debate). Only those students who meet that requirement will be allowed to register for Grand Finals.

STEP 3: Registration

Please use the traditional FGCCFL Registration form found on the website. Remember to save it to your computer first, and then fill it out and resave before sending.

Some PRECAUTIONS:

1. Remember, there is NO NOVICE

2. Remember, there can only be FOUR ENTRIES IN EACH EVENT. Even if the form accommodates for six, we will only accept four. If you add more than four, we will only recognize the top four entries offered.

3. Judge Requirements are different for Grand Finals. You will need the following trained judges in the following numbers:

a. DEBATE - 1 per TD team, 1 per 2 PFD teams/LD competitors

b. IE - 1 per every 3 entries

c. Congress - 1 per any entry (1 thru 4)

4. Pay Close attention to all deadlines and DROP/ADD issues (including those involving judges and name changes

STEP 4: Dates

The following dates are MANDATORY and will be STRICTLY ENFORCED.

1. Congress Deadlines - all bill titles and full text of legislation, IN FGCCFL/NCFL format, must be turned in no later then 2/13. Failure to do so will result in said school not being able to introduce legislation at Grand Finals, period (specific Congress information is available below and in a packet on the FGCCFL website).

2. Initial Registration - Names, Events, Judges - due no later than 2/19. Failure to do so will result in said school not being able to participate in Grand Finals, period.

3. DROP/ADD/CHANGE - until 2/24 with standard FEE penalty (loss of basic registration fee)

4. DROP/ADD/CHANGE - until 2/25 with standard FEE penalty (loss of basic registration fee) plus an additional $10 NUISANCE FEE

5. DROP/ADD/CHANGE - until 2/26 with standard FEE penalty (loss of basic registration fee) plus an additional $25 NUISANCE FEE

6. DROP/ADD/CHANGE - Day of Tournament - standard FEE penalty (loss of basic registration fee) plus an additional $35 NUISANCE FEE

TO AVOID THESE FEE ISSUES, PLEASE SECURE YOUR COMPLETED REGISTRATION BY THE FIRST DEADLINE

STEP 5: Fees

The following costs apply to GRAND FINALS:

1. $13 entry fee PER STUDENT - a team is TWO STUDENTS, a duo is TWO STUDENTS. If you have 45 students entered, you pay for 45 students, no matter the number of entry slots taken. Remember, the number of students you register on 2/19 will be the amount you owe the league (Checks made payable to FGCCFL)

2. $100 school deposit - each attending school must provide FGCCFL with a check for $100. These checks will be held until after the tournament. Any school with qualifiers will use said check as a payment against the balance of their entries to Grand Nationals (at $35 per STUDENT). Any overage will be made up after the tournament. Any underage will be refunded to the school within one (1) week of the final audit of Grand Finals.

3. Remember, the League voted this year to hold each school responsible for the TOTAL COST of ALL THEIR QUALIFIERS at the end of Grand Finals. If you end up with ten kids qualified to Nationals, you will be expected to pay $350 (or $250, when you subtract the deposit). There is no arguing or negotiating. If a student who qualified ends up not attending Nationals, you are still responsible for the $35 fee. If an alternate does take the available slot, the schools involved may contact each other regarding reimbursement. The league will no longer be the money middleman in this process.

STEP 6: Determination of Qualifiers

For Individual Events: students will compete in four random rounds. Upon ranking, the top competitors will move on to break rounds. In the case of 25 or more entries, we will offer a SEMI-FINAL Round of 24 competitors. If there are 24 or less students in an event, we will instantly go to FINALS - 2 ROOMS of 6 ENTRIES EACH (12 total). Semi's and Finals are SUDDEN DEATH - there is no cumulative scoring. FOR SEMIS - the top THREE STUDENTS in each ROOM (4 rooms of 6) advance to FINALS. FOR FINALS - the top THREE STUDENTS in each ROOM (2 rooms of 6) are the QUALIFIERS, then the rest are ranked and the TOP TWO are the alternates. In a case where there are less than 12 entries in an event, the League Officers will limit FINALS to an even number (10…8..etc.) so that balance can be maintained. Again, the top THREE STUDENTS in each ROOM are the QUALIFIERS, then the rest are ranked and the TOP TWO (if any) are the alternates.

For Debate Events: Under new FGCCFL Rules, the first two rounds of any debate event will be random. Round 3 will be Power Protect in Brackets (High 2-0s hitting Low 2-0s, etc.), Round 4 will also be Power Protect in Brackets (High 3-0s hitting Low 3-0s, High 2-1s hitting Low 2-1s etc.). After4 rounds, the students will be ranked and the following formula applied:

Any Debate Event with 16 OR LESS competitors will instantly go to THE ROUND OF 8

Any Debate Event with 17 OR MORE competitors will be offered a ROUND OF 16.

Any Debate Event with 33 OR MORE competitors will be offered a FIFTH ROUND, POWER PROTECT IN BRACKETS to determine the 16 students to compete in THE ROUND OF 16.

Definitions: ROUND OF 16 - a bracketed break round where 1 hits 16, 2 hits 15, etc. in a standard competition breakdown. The winners proceed to the ROUND OF 8

ROUND OF 8 - based on bracket placement, the eight remaining debaters square off. The WINNERS are FOUR of our SIX qualifiers. The remaining FOUR debaters enter the consolation ROUND OF FOUR. The TWO WINNERS in said round are the remaining TWO QUALIFIERS. The remaining TWO are the alternates (determined by ballots, overall win/loss, and bracket placement at the start of the ROUND OF 18/8.

STEP 6: Additional Congress Information

The manual is online and includes all the rules and procedures that will be followed at Grand Finals. Bills and resolutions MUST be written using the template on the FGCCFL website. Those that are not will be rejected. The deadline to submit legislation is 2/13 so that the packet can be released well in advance of the tournament. As part of their registration, coaches may designate UP TO TWO of their entries as eligible to serve as Presiding Officer. ONLY students so designated may serve as Presiding Officer at Grand Finals.

STEP 7: Food/Hotel/Other

USF will be putting out a separate information packet on food plans and prices. Remember, you will be on campus all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. Since Grand Finals is a CLOSED CAMPUS tournament, we will no allow for meals outside of the tournament.

STEP 8: Questions and/or Issues

Any problems and/or issues with any of this information, please contact Bill Gibron (bgibron@verizon.net) and/or Dr. Terri St. John (tessspeak@aol.com). If your question concerns Congress, please contact Josh Schneider at (joshschneider@me.com).

Hope to see you on 27 February

BILL GIBRON

2010 GRAND FINALS SCHEDULE
Location: USF - St. Petersburg Campus
27-Feb		28-Feb
SAT		SUN
8:00AM	REGISTRATION	8:00AM	JUDGE CALL
8:30AM	DEBATE - RD 1	8:15AM	EXTEMP DRAW
9:30AM	CONGRESS ORDERS/ANNOUNCEMENTS	8:30AM	DEBATE - RD of 8/4
			IE - Semis or Finals
10:00AM	EXTEMP DRAW		CONGRESS - SUPERS SESSION 1
	CONGRESS - SESSION 1
		10:15AM	EXTEMP DRAW
10:30AM	DEBATE - RD 2
	IE - RD1	10:30AM	DEBATE - RD of 4 (If Needed)
			IE - Finals (If Needed)
12:00PM - 1:30PM	LUNCH		CONGRESS - SUPERS SESSION 2
1:00PM	EXTEMP DRAW	12:30PM	CONGRESS VOTING
			LUNCH
1:30PM	DEBATE - RD 3
	IE - RD2	1:30PM - 2:00PM	AWARDS
	CONGRESS - SESSION 2
3:00PM	EXTEMP DRAW
3:30PM	DEBATE - RD 4
	IE - -RD3
	CONGRESS - SESSION 3
5:00PM	EXTEMP DRAW
5:30PM	DEBATE - RD of 16/8
	IE - RD4
	CONGRESS - SESSION 4