Getting Started with SCJFL
Welcome to the Southern California Junior Forensics League (SCJFL)!
If you are new to speech and debate, getting started can seem complicated. There are many different events, tournament procedures, and unfamiliar terms. The good news is that you do not need to know everything before attending your first tournament.
This guide provides an overview of what speech and debate is, how SCJFL tournaments work, what participation costs, and what you need to do to get your students started.
What Is Speech and Debate?
Speech and debate, sometimes called forensics, is competitive public speaking.
Students prepare speeches, interpretations, arguments, or presentations and perform them for judges at tournaments. Depending on the event, students might deliver a prepared speech, interpret a piece of literature, speak with only a few minutes of preparation, debate another student or team, or participate in a legislative-style Congress.
SCJFL offers competition primarily for elementary and middle school students.
Students do not need previous experience to begin competing. Many students attend their first tournament while they are still learning their event.
Speech Events
Speech events generally involve a student presenting individually or with a partner rather than directly debating an opponent.
SCJFL offers events including:
Prepared Speaking: Informative, Persuasive, Assigned Platform
Limited-Preparation Speaking: Impromptu, Extemporaneous Speaking
Interpretation: Declamation, Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Poetry, Prose, Storytelling
Other Events: SPAR and several events offered on designated tournament dates
Elementary students have their own division with events including Declamation, Duo, Impromptu, Informative, Persuasive, Poetry, Prose, SPAR, Storytelling, Congress, and Assigned Platform.
A new program does not need to offer every event. It is perfectly reasonable to begin with a few events that fit the interests and experience of your students.
Debate Events
Debate events require students to argue different sides of a question or resolution.
SCJFL Middle School Debate includes:
Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD): One student debates another student.
Public Forum Debate (PF): Two-person teams debate a current topic.
Big Questions Debate (BQ): Students debate broad questions involving science, philosophy, and society.
World Schools Debate: Teams participate in a parliamentary-style debate format.
Congressional Debate: Students simulate a legislative chamber, giving speeches for and against proposed legislation. Congress is offered at designated tournaments.
Coaches do not need to teach every debate format. Most programs choose the events that work best for their students and coaching resources.
How SCJFL Tournaments Work
SCJFL conducts both in-person and online tournaments during the school year.
This gives programs flexibility. Schools can participate throughout Southern California without traveling to every competition, while still having opportunities for traditional in-person tournaments.
Check out the SCJFL Schedule to find the dates of the tournaments that work best for your team.
In-Person Tournaments
Students travel to the tournament site and compete in classrooms or other designated competition rooms.
For speech events, students are typically placed into sections with several other competitors. Students perform one at a time before a judge.
For debate, students are paired against an opponent or opposing team. The judge listens to the debate and determines the result.
Students normally compete in several preliminary rounds. Depending on the event and number of entries, qualifying students may then advance to elimination or final rounds.
Online Tournaments
Online tournaments follow many of the same competitive procedures, but students and judges participate remotely.
Competitors receive information about their rounds through the tournament registration and tabulation system and enter the designated online competition room at the appropriate time.
Online tournaments can be particularly useful for new programs because they eliminate travel and make it easier to begin competing with a small number of students.
How Much Does SCJFL Cost?
SCJFL member programs pay an annual league membership fee based on the divisions in which the program participates.
The annual fees are:
Elementary only - $300
Middle School Speech only - $300
Middle School Debate only - $300
Elementary + one Middle School division - $500
Middle School Speech + Middle School Debate - $500
Elementary + Middle School Speech + Middle School Debate - $600
Annual membership fees are due on or before the program's first competition of the year.
Tournament entry fees are determined by the host of the tournament and are separate from the annual membership fee. These fees might differ from torunament to tournament and also depend upon the events entered. For example, typical Middle School Debate entry fees are:
Individual Speech Events - $20
Lincoln-Douglas - $30
Public Forum - $40
World Schools - $50
Congressional Debate - $30
Speech tournament fees and any tournament-specific charges are listed on each tournament's registration page or invitation.
Registration
SCJFL tournaments use ForensicsTournament.net (FTN) for registration and tournament administration.
Coaches create an account and register their program, competitors, events, and judges through FTN.
Tournament registration generally opens approximately 30 days before the competition. Each tournament's registration page contains the specific deadlines, schedule, fees, event offerings, and other tournament information.
Do not worry if your students are not ready to compete when registration first opens. You can use the tournament schedule to identify an appropriate first competition and work backward from that date.
Choosing Events for Your Students
One of the most common mistakes for a new program is trying to do too much immediately.
Start with the events that make sense for your students and available coaching time.
A student who enjoys acting or literature might enjoy an interpretation event. A student who enjoys giving presentations might prefer Informative or Persuasive. A student who thinks quickly may enjoy Impromptu or SPAR. Students interested in argumentation may prefer LD, Public Forum, World Schools, or Congress.
Students can branch into additional events as they become more comfortable.
At Middle School speech tournaments, competitors may enter a maximum of two speech events.
Judges
Schools should also plan for judging when entering tournaments.
Judges are an essential part of speech and debate competition. A judge watches a speech or debate, evaluates the competitors according to the event rules, and completes a ballot explaining the result.
Judges do not need to be professional speech and debate coaches. Parents, teachers, alumni, and other qualified adults can often serve as judges after learning the basic procedures for the events they will judge.
Coaches should recruit judges early rather than waiting until immediately before a tournament.
Specific judging obligations and requirements are provided with each tournament's registration information.
What Happens at a Tournament?
Before the tournament, coaches should make sure students know their event rules, have any required materials, and understand the tournament schedule.
At the tournament, students receive their round assignments and report to their competition rooms. They compete several times during the day against or alongside different students.
Judges submit ballots after each round. Those results are used to determine final placements and, when applicable, which competitors advance to elimination rounds.
Students should expect a tournament to involve some waiting between rounds. Coaches should encourage students to use that time to prepare, eat, rest, and support their teammates.
Do We Need an Established Speech and Debate Team?
No large or longstanding program is necessary to begin.
A program can start with only a few interested students and grow over time. New coaches also do not need years of speech and debate experience before bringing students to competition.
The important first steps are understanding the rules of the events your students select, preparing them sufficiently to participate, and learning tournament procedures as you go.
A Simple First-Tournament Checklist
For a new coach, the process can be reduced to a few basic steps:
Review the SCJFL season schedule and select a tournament(s).
Decide whether your program will participate in Elementary, Middle School Speech, Middle School Debate, or a combination of divisions.
Select one or more events for each student.
Review the rules for those events and begin practicing.
Create your FTN account and register your program.
Enter your students and judges before the tournament registration deadline.
Review the tournament invitation and schedule with students, parents, and judges.
Attend your first tournament.
You do not need to build a complete speech and debate program before completing Step 8. Competing is one of the best ways for both students and coaches to learn how forensics works.
Common Terms You Will Hear
Forensics: Another name for competitive speech and debate.
Entry: A student or team registered in an event.
Section: A group of competitors assigned to compete together in a speech event.
Ballot: The judge's evaluation of a round.
Prelims: Preliminary rounds used to determine which competitors advance or receive placements.
Elims: Elimination rounds following preliminary competition.
Break: To advance from preliminary competition to an elimination or final round.
Tabulation or Tab: The process of collecting results, determining standings, and creating subsequent rounds.
Pairing: The assignment showing where and against whom a student will debate.
Sweepstakes: Team awards based on the collective performance of a program's competitors.
Advice for Your First Tournament
Your students do not have to be polished varsity competitors before entering.
The first tournament should primarily be an opportunity for students to experience competition, receive ballots from judges, meet students from other programs, and discover what they want to improve.
The same is true for coaches. You will understand tournament procedures much better after experiencing one tournament than you will by trying to learn every rule beforehand.
Read the rules for the events you are entering, pay attention to tournament announcements, ask questions when something is unclear, and give your students the opportunity to compete.
After that first tournament, the terminology and procedures begin to make considerably more sense.
Questions?
SCJFL is happy to help new coaches and programs get started. If you are unsure which division or events are appropriate for your students, how to register, what judging you need to provide, or what to expect at your first tournament, please contact the league before registering.
You do not need to figure everything out on your own before joining us.