Questions We Have

Cory, Travis, and Jon started a good discussion in comments section, but some others may not have access to comments section from school. I don’t. We realize that this is the track, prom, and thank-god-debate-is-finally-over season, so we thought a cyber worksheet might be in order.

Question 1. Can you live with two judge panels? Why or Why not

Question 2. If we go to two judge panels, what should we use as tiebreakers? Please list them in order.

Question 3. If you are a class A coach, when does a separate Class A tournament cease to be a viable option? Should it be decided on an event by event basis? Do we need to write rules establishing a contingency plan if we suddenly don’t have enough entries to warrant a separate tournament?

Question 4. Last season, the SDHSAA Board of Directors voted to waive the mandatory two team rule in policy debate. We will probably endorse the permanent elimination of that rule at our meeting. If there is no longer a two-team mandate, do we need to change the sweepstakes formula back to best entry?

Question 5. How may preset rounds are too many? When should the elimination process start?

Question 6. Are two IE rounds enough? Is what happened this past year better than the one and done.

Essay Question A. Do you want to see major changes at the state tournament? For example, Paul Harens claims that one proposal that was made in the distant past involved each school bringing only 5 students to the tournament. Those students would enter in all the debate and IE events. I only remember the wooly mammoth and saber tooth tiger; those of you who remember pterodactyls and the t-rex will have to vouch for the veracity of Paul’s memory. Anyway, what major changes would you like to see?

Essay Question B. If you don’t want major changes, what changes do you want to see happen in the state tournament?

Please post your answers in the comments section. Neatness counts. We can’t give late answers full credit.

Jon's Initial Observations

I will say this, the more I look at Brent's software for tournament use the more I feel that:

 

1. It can be customized to individual tournaments like invitationals, but it cannot be customized to fit a very specific set of pairing rules like NFL or like our state tournament works now. Furthermore, I believe no software will be able to do this consistently.
2. I believe it can be used to schedule, section and enter results for IE's with little to no headaches.
3. I think we need to consider using the software for ballot entry and strength of opp reports, but in the end, hand pairing will likely be the only way to ensure a specific set of rules is followed during a pairing procedure. I'm becoming a believer that a computer cannot be trusted to do this consistently.
4. While I still support the use of computers to tabulate the tournament and generate the reports at the tournament's end, I do not support the use of computers to schedule and pair the tournament.

 

Leo's Initial Observations

Here's what I think I know about the state tournament

1. The one day tournament should only be done in emergencies.
2. We need to be sure that people get out the door on time.
3. The current situation with people bye-ing in to quarters has the appearance of unfairness and has too many students and coaches sitting and doing nothing.
4. The judging problems will not go away, but we need ideas on how to ameliorate them.
5. No one really likes the current state tournament, but no one really wants major changes.
6. The schedule that we hashed out last August needs to be tried
7. I want tabulating software to make the math go faster, especially if we're trying to figure strength of op and/or opponents' strength of op as tie breakers.
8. We need to change the state PF ballot to a points system.
9. Someone is going to have to change the tournament again within 2-4 years because the SD debate world is going to continue to change.

A Modest Proposal to Start Discussion

A Modest Proposal for the State Tournament Format

Prelims: Four guaranteed randomly paired. It will be the goal to avoid school hitting same school in prelims, but it will not be guaranteed. The top 8 in AA will break to quarters; the top 4 in A will break to semis.

If there is a tie in ballot count, the following tie breakers will be used:

1. strength of opposition (opponent’s total ballots)
2. head-to-head (if applicable)
3. speaker points
4. drop hi/low speaks

Quarterfinals: Once the top eight are seeded in the brackets, care will be taken to preserve that a school cannot hit itself until finals by breaking brackets to preserve this rule.

Judge strikes?: We're open to suggestions. Late in a tournament, it may be difficult to find enough quality judges. Further, it takes up time. However, strikes allow teams who have reached semis or finals some control over the final round

Entry Limits: Two teams or contestants in all events.

Judge Requirements: One school provided judge per debate event entered, even if the school is only entering a single debater or team in the event.

1. One judge cannot be used to conver an entry consisting of 1 policy team and 1 L-D debater.
2. Individual event judges must be designated.
3. It is preferred that each judge be able to judge all three events.

Some Quick Math: 14 AA schools = 28 entries teams and 6 A schools = 12 entries/teams. Therefore, we need 40 judges to cover 20 rounds of debate with 2 judges in each round.

Schools would provide 20 / SDHSAA would provide 20 who should be able to judge both policy and L-D.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

We Need Your Help

Jon, Kristin, and I stole this idea from Cory. He set up a page for state one-acts, and we thought that we could borrow his idea to get your comments about changes that we should make at the state debate tournament.

During the next few days, we will be posting some of our concerns about the state debate tournament and perhaps an idea or two that we believe will make the tournament better for both students and coaches.

Please post your concerns and questions in the comments sections. Also, please offer your own suggestions. We need all the information and ideas that we can get.