Entry and Fee Information

Invitation

You are cordially invited to The Meadows School’s Invitational Tournament, October 30th – Nov 1st, 2015. We will provide competition in Varsity Policy and Lincoln Douglas debate on the 2015 Policy and LD topics.

There is no entry deadline – we will accept entrants until we are full. Fees will be frozen on Oct 16th; entries that drop after that time will still be obligated to pay entry fees. We can accommodate up to approximately 56 teams and 76 LDers. Entry will be through the Tabroom.com site. Hired judge requests must be sent to by Sept 18th. We must receive payment for hired judges prior to Sept 30th. Directions, announcements and judging preference instructions will be sent out in the weeks prior to the tournament through Tabroom.com.

Both Divisions will consist of six preliminary debates. We will break to at least Octofinals. Power matching in Policy will be based on Wins, High Low Points + Opponents Wins, Total Points and Judge Variance. Round Three will be matched High High, with the remaining rounds being powered High Low within brackets. Power matching in LD will be based on Wins, High Low Points + Opponents Wins, Total Points and Judge Variance. (These are subject to change due to technology consultation). Up to 16 teams/debaters in policy with winning records will advance to elimination rounds. Up to 32 debaters in LD with winning records will advance to elimination rounds.

Entry and Fee Information

COMPETITORS:

In both divisions, there is an initial entry limit of Five (5) entries per school. Every year we have been able to accommodate additional entries.

We can accommodate up to approximately 56 teams and 76 LDers. We have reached capacity early, so please register early.

Lunch on Friday and dinner on Saturday will be included.

JUDGES:

Judge Requirements:

Policy

1-2 Teams – 1 Full Judge

3-4 Teams – 2 Full Judges

5-6 Teams – 3 Full Judges

1-3 LDers – 1 Full Judge

4-6 LDers – 2 Full Judges

As our tournament attempts to provide national circuit level competition, we ask that all judges be have national experience and be qualified in their event, subject to our approval. Please do not make us ask you to replace your judge.

Judges may only be placed in one division. If you wish to have a judge in one division cover an entry in another division, please contact us.

All Judges will be required to have a judging philosophy sheet available on

A limited number of hired judges will be available for $300 each. Please contact us at by Sept 18 if you need to hire judges.

Please do not request to hire judging if you will be present at the tournament but not in the judging pool yourself.

All judges are committed one round beyond their school’s elimination.

ENTRY FEES:

Fees will be $90 for a Policy Team

Fees will be $50 an LD Competitor

There are No extra Late, Drop, Hotel or School fees or Nuisance Fines added on.

Please make checks payable to The Meadows School, NOT to Tim Alderete or Scott Phillips.

You may send checks to Tim Alderete, Meadows Debate, 8601 Scholar Lane, Las Vegas NV, 89128. Or you may bring entry fees to registration.

Tentative Policy Schedule

Thursday, October 29thth

4:00 PM – Entries will Close, Tabroom.com will be turned off, and Prefs will be turned off. IF YOU HAVE NOT FILLED OUT YOUR PREFS BY THURSDAY AT 4:00 PM YOU WILL HAVE TO FILL THEM OUT, BY HAND, AT THE TOURNAMENT, AND THEY WILL BE ENTERED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BY TAB ROOM STAFF, HOPEFULLY BEFORE ROUND THREE.

Evening – Phone / Email confirmation

Friday, October 30th

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM Registration – Middle School Commons

8:30 AM Round 1 Pairings Available

9:00 AM – 11:00 Round 1

11:30 PM – 1:30 PM Round 2

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Lunch – Middle School Commons

2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Round 3

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Round 4

Saturday, October 31st

11:30 AM Round 5 Pairings Available

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Round 5

2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Round 6

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM Dinner– Commissary

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Octo Finals

Sunday, November 1st

7:30 AM Quarterfinal Pairings available

8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Quarterfinals

10:30 AM – 12:30 PM Semifinals

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM Finals

Tentative Lincoln Douglas Schedule

Thursday, October 29th

Evening – Phone / Email confirmation

Friday, October 30th

8:00 AM – 8:30 AM Registration – Middle School Commons

8:30 AM Round 1 Pairings Available

9:00 AM – 11:00 Round 1

11:30 PM – 1:30 PM Round 2

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Lunch – Middle School Commons

2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Round 3

5:30 PM – 7:30 PM Round 4

Saturday, October 31st

11:30 AM Round 5 Pairings Available

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Round 5

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM Round 6

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM Dinner – Commissary

6:00 PM – 8:00 PM Double Octo Finals

Sunday, November 2nd

ALL SUNDAY LD ROUNDS AT UPPER SCHOOL

7:30 AM Octofinal Pairings available

8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Octofinals

10:30 AM – 12:30 PM Quarterfinals

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Semifinals

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM Finals

Hotel Information

We have secured a group rate of $45 plus tax for Thursday and Sunday, and $75/night for Friday and Saturday at The Santa Fe Station. The Address is 4949 N Rancho Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89108. Guests can call 866-767-7771 and reference code ACIMEAD Or log onto and enter ACIMEAD when prompted for the code.The block is under the name The Meadows School. Please make reservations soon, as last year the block of rooms did fill up long before the tournament. The block will expire Thursday, Oct 1, 2015. After that point it may become difficult to secure rooms given the Halloween weekend. The Santa Fe Station is a full service hotel and casino, with a number of 24 hour restaurants, a food court, buffets, a movie theatre and 24 hour bowling on site. More information can be viewed at

Directions

The Meadows School is located on the Northwest side of Las Vegas, at 8601 Scholar Lane.

From Airport to Hotel

To reach the Santa Fe Station from the airport, take the 215 West exit from the airport for about a mile to 15 North (there are signs for both starting at the airport). Take 15 North past the Strip to 95 North. Take 95 North (to Reno) to the Second Rancho Exit (do NOT take the Rancho exit immediately after exiting 15) The Hotel is impossible to miss from the Rancho exit.

From Airport to School

To reach The Meadows School from McCarran International Airport, take the 215 West exit from the airport for about a mile to 15 North (there are signs for both starting at the airport). Take 15 North past the Strip to 95 North (to Reno) to the Summerlin Parkway. Take the Summerlin Parkway West (the only way it goes) to Rampart. Turn Right and go North from the exit for approximately a half of a mile and turn Right onto Scholar Lane, just after Hillpointe. (If you hit Lake Mead, you've gone too far) The school is immediately on your Right.

From Hotel to School

To get to The Meadows School from the hotel, take 95 South to the Lake Mead exit. Go West on Lake Mead. Turn Left on Scholar Lane, just after Laguna Mist. (If you hit Rampart, you have gone too far) and follow it around as it curves toward the West. The school will be on the Left.

Contact Information

If you have any questions, please email first, as that is the most reliable way of receiving a response. If you need to contact us during the tournament, please use cell numbers, as those work better than our school's phone tree. Please do not fax anything. Who uses Fax anymore?

Tim Alderete: Cell: (702) 443-7162

Scott Phillips: Cell: (612) 695-8474

School: The Meadows School, 8601 Scholar Lane, Las Vegas NV, 89128 (702) 254-1610

Tournament Casino/Hotel: The Santa Fe Station, 4949 N Rancho Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89108. 866-767-7771

Independent Entries

In an effort to balance opportunities for competition with the need for a safe and efficient tournament, we will ask students who wish to enter as Independent Entries to follow the following Procedures:

PROCESS and DEADLINE: Students wishing to attend the Meadows tournament as an independent entry or as an entry from a home school must complete the process below no later than Sept 18th, 2015

TABROOM.COM – Entries must be made by coaches, school administrators, or chaperones. Entries may not be made by student accounts. All entries from a single school wishing to enter as an independent must be on the Same entry.

SUBMITTING LETTERS: Please scan and submit completed letters to . All students from one school must enter as One Independent Squad and submit all of their documents in a single PDF email attachment. All students from a given school must be entered from the same account. We will not accept multiple independent entries from the same school submitted from multiple "independent" accounts.

CHAPERONES: Even though an entry is "independent," the attending students must still be accompanied by a parent or designated ADULT chaperone.

FEES: Independent entry payment MUST be received no later than Sept 18th, 2015. Judge Fees for a Hired Judge must be included by Sept 18th.

TEAM NAME: The students must use a variant of the school or city name if the students attend a "school," but must use the addition "Independent" as a portion of the name. If you have difficulty with registering an account with Tabroom.com, please contact the website.

LETTERS/PERMISSION: To be accepted as an independent entry the attending group must include an authorization letter from the school and each set of parents or guardians no later than Sept 18th, 2015.

BIDS: We will indicate in our tournament results to the TOC which entries are independent, as independent entries are precluded from receiving bids.

A letter signed by a school administrator (principal or vice-principal) on school letterhead, with the text as in the template below. This letter must list the names of all students competing, and must also list the name of the chaperone. THE TEXT OF THE LETTERS CANNOT BE CHANGED OR ADDED TO IN ANY SUBSTANTIVE WAY; FOR EXAMPLE, WE CANNOT AND DO NOT INDEMNIFY SCHOOLS AGAINST LIABILITY - that is an issue between the family of the attending student, their school, and their respective legal counsels; and The Meadows has no jurisdiction, legal or otherwise, to oversee, rule upon, or pass judgment on such assertions or declarations.

A letter from a parent of each participant, with the text as in the template below/on the next page.

THE TEXT OF THE LETTERS MUST READ AS FOLLOWS:

Parent Letter (template--copy/paste the text and fill in the blanks as appropriate):

Date

Dear Meadows Forensics:

This letter is to inform you that we would like our child, ______, to attend the Meadows Invitational from Oct 30-Nov 1, 2015 and that she / he does so with our full consent and permission. We have arranged for our child to be fully chaperoned and for transportation to our satisfaction, and accept full responsibility and liability for our child during the entire course of the event. We understand and agree that Meadows Debate and The Meadows School, their employees, and their agents provide no chaperones for the event, and further agree that Meadows Debate and The Meadows School, their employees, and their agents are hereby relieved of any responsibility or liability of any sort for the supervision of our child.

The following person will be chaperoning our child:

Name: ______

Cell phone: ______

Relationship to our child: ______

By signing this we are certifying that we are in fact the legal guardians of the listed child, and have full legal authority to act on the listed child's behalf.

Name, Sign, Date Contact info:

e-mail

phone

School Letter (template--copy/paste the text and fill in the blanks as appropriate):

Date

Dear Meadows Forensics:

This letter is to inform you that we have no objection to children from our school attending the Meadows Invitational from Oct 30-Nov 1, 2015 as independent entries. We understand that the parents of the children have arranged for their children to be transported and fully chaperoned to their satisfaction, and they have agreed to accept full responsibility and liability for their children during the entire course of the event. We further understand and agree that Meadows Debate and The Meadows School, their employees, and their agents provide no chaperones for the event, and we have explained this to the parents of the children listed in this letter. These are the names of the children who attend our school for whom we are certifying that we do not object to their participation in the above described event:

[list of students, with full names, goes here]

By signing this I am certifying that I am an official of the school and that I have full authority to act on the school's behalf in matters of this kind.

Name, Sign, Date Contact info:

e-mail

phone