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.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Leo's Initial Observations
Here's what I think I know about the state tournament
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8 comments:
One-day format: yes, while it served its purpose well and went smoothly this year, it should be reserved solely for emergencies.
That said, the smoothness and tightness of this year's one-day event demonstrated that we can get a lot more done in a more condensed time frame than the standard format. Suppose we started at 2 or 3 p.m. Friday, ran two rounds of IEs, then 2-3 rounds of policy and LD, much like a normal tournament. Next morning, bring in the PF teams and judges, run the remaining LD and policy prelims, then quarters, semis, and finals from lunchtime on. Run it like this year, and we could be on the road for home by sunset Saturday.
Advantages:
--later start means less lodging cost for judges
--more judges could head for the contest Friday morning... meaning more judges could make the tournament?
--less sitting around for competitors, coaches, and judges
Cory makes an interesting point here with regard to the later start. I for one share his feelings that this would be a better - more desireable format.
We did however, pound out a new schedule for the state tournament last summer in Watertown that I was really looking forward to seeing implemented this year. I believe the schedule would minimize some headaches and maximize judge availablilty while still allowing for some of the nuances of our old tournament format - with time to observe pairings, conduct judge strikes, etc.
In the end, I don't think I'm alone in feeling that we need a schedule that works with the size of our judge pool providing even/fair-handed competition and resulting in a quality state event.
One thing that wasn't mentioned, and I have no idea if it is even possible, it changing the date. Leo mentions that no one really likes the state tournament now. I don't know if dislike it how I would put it, I would say a lot of students treat it as a joke, unfortunatly. I have really pushed my students to take State seriously (whether or not I have been successful is another story), but it is an uphill battle. I think a lot of this is because it comes after our NFL tournaments. Those are the two most intense tournaments of the year and everyone is so drained an ready to be done that State is treated as like a last break vacation. So, I don't know if it is possible to move it ahead of our NFL tournaments or not, but I think it would help with students attitudes. That along with the schedule changes I think would make this a great tournament.
State earlier? I suppose we could all benefit from an extra week to prep for NFLs (there's my bias, too, looking at the issue from the perspective of NFLs as the big focus). SDHSAA likely won't allow it -- can't conflict with wrestling and gymnastics weekends. And if we did move it, would the later district have to switch to the March topics?
Frey is right -- starting earlier or later isn't quite as important as making things work with whatever size judge pool we have and providing a fair, high-quality contest. Run it tightly liek this year, and we have a little more time at the end to slow down, observe pairings, be extra-careful, etc.
Travis makes a good point here, but I hate to be the bearer of bad news, there is NOTHING we can do.
You're absolutely right about one thing, the kids don't value the state tournament in the way we would like them to. I get this too, because I was the same way when I was in high school. But we need to remember the kids don't have to impress administrators. Our administrators don't speak "national tournament" but boy do they understand "State Champion!" School boards, administrators, communities just "get" state titles more than national tournament qualifications.
I do not believe moving the tournament date is going to be a practical option either. Our current rules are clear - no competitions can occur AFTER the state tournament. And unfortunately, it may prove easier to change one of the 10 commandments than changing this rule!
Actually, if the deminishing value of the state tournament is a concern, moving it ahead of NFL only serves to further reinforce that NFL is a bigger deal.
While I agree with the save money, etc. I also subscribe to the save sanity theory.
By the time I got more than a 15 minute break at this years contest, it was close to 9pm. That being said, I also did not have a great deal of time to discuss with my debaters or even see them between rounds. If we really want this tournament taken more seriously, then we can't subscribe to the wham, bam, slam that the one day tournament created. (It ran VERY well for what it was!) I personally liked being busy, but hated the fact that since I was left to coach without an assistant, that my debaters were left to their own devices. I know that I was not the only one in this position and I am not bringing it up to whine, but to remind all of us that it is about them. With a little less tight schedule, we not only gain time to strike, which I like for finals and possibly semis, but we gain time to coach our students. We also have time to be human and take a brief break now and then. Even our judges need a break now and then, or we will continue to have fewer and fewer of them.
I would like to see how the new and improved plan created last fall will work.
In this day and age of technology, does the judge meeting atthe crack of dawn have to happen, or is there a more efficient way to do this that allows them to be well rested before listing to many rounds?
I like the idea of starting the tournament later - even if just an hour or two would give the option to many to leave on Friday instead of Thursday evening.
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