Hello,

I want to extend an invitation to the 2014 Pacific Southwest Collegiate Forensics 2014 Coaches Conference. For the conference, we will return to our home away from home, the Omni Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage, California September 5-7.

The 2014 schedule has been posted under the Coaches Conference link and  I have also included it below.

I look forward to seeing you in September!

 

April Griffin

PSCFA President

 

2014 Coaches Conference Schedule

Friday, September 5th

3:00-4:15 Session I: Special Topics Discussion

Social Media for Forensics:

A discussion on appropriate usage of social media for promoting teams, individuals, and relaying

information.

Danny Cantrell, Mt SAC

4:15-5:30

Session IIA: Special Topics Discussion

British Parliamentary Debate:

A discussion on the merits of British Parliamentary Debate and the possibility of PSCFA

adopting British Parliamentary Debate.

John Meany, Claremont University

Session IIB: Special Topics Discussion

Ballot Writing

Tips and tricks to writing effective and educational ballots

Shawn O’Rourke, Saddleback College & Josh Fleming, Pasadena City College

6:00 Group Dinner

Saturday, September 7th

9:00-10:15

Session IA

Persuasion Master Class

Rolland Petrello, Moorpark College

Session IB

New Coach Orientation-PSCFA Executive Board

10:30-12:00

Session II-Special Topics

IPDA: A discussion on IPDA and its adoption by PSCFA

Keith Milstead, University of Arkansas at Monticello, President of IPDA

12:00-1:30 Lunch Break

1:45-3:15

Session IIIA: Business Discussions

Proposing New Ideas

Liana Koeppel, Cypress College

Session IIIB: Business Discussion

Finance and Administration

Cindy Phu, Pasadena City College

3:30-5:00pm

Session IVA

Everything Tab: An overview of Everything Tab and its use in the community

Danny Cantrell, Mt. SAC

Session IVB

AFA Updates

Trends and norms in the AFA community and what District 1 can do to be competitive

Robert Cannon, Glendale Community College

7:00 Social Gathering

Sunday, September 7th

9:00am-12:00 Voting Business Meeting

Invitation for the 2012 California Double Up hosted at APU is now available for download (PDF)

Registration for the first tournament (Fri-Sat) is here and the second tournament (Sun) is here – both on forensicstournament.net.

Full Invite Available Here

March 28, 2012

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of PSCFA, I would like to invite you to the 2012 PSCFA Cool-Off Tournament, April 28-29, at Saddleback College. With the season coming to an end the Cool-Off is a great opportunity to introduce new students to forensics and possibly add a few recruits for the coming year.

A unique aspect of the Cool-Off is that it is for novices and rookies only. This allows for students with little or no competition experience to compete with students of their level.

This is also a great opportunity for coaches to take a break and give junior and senior competitors a chance to get on the other side of the ballot and judge a few rounds. Those junior and senior students that do judge will not sacrifice any competitive eligibility for later seasons since this is a novice only event. Remember, all judges must be certified for PSCFA tournaments so please have them go to the PSCFA website and read the Forensics Related Educational Document (F.R.E.D.) to certify online.

The debate portion of the tournament will take place on Saturday. NFA-LD debate will be on Saturday scheduled at the same time as parliamentary debate. We will offer four preliminary rounds and one elimination round for the novice division. On Sunday, we will offer two preliminary rounds and finals for all 11 individual events, plus Cultural Artifact (no scholarships awarded).

In addition to the tournament, Saddleback will also be hosting the PSCFA Spring Meeting and coach’s lunch at 1:00pm on Saturday. Items on the agenda include discussing the year in review, electing new officers, and selecting a site for the 2012 Fall Coaches Conference.

ENTRY DEADLINE is Tuesday, April 24 at 6:00pm through http://www.forensicstournament.net Changes may be made through Wednesday, April 25, at 6:00pm at no charge.

I look forward to seeing you at the Cool-Off. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

April Griffin
Tournament Director

January 10, 2012
Dear Colleague:

On behalf of PSCFA, I would like to invite you to the PSCFA Spring Championship Tournament to be held at Moorpark College February 24-26, 2012. We promise outstanding hospitality and a well-run tournament.

Students may compete in rookie, novice, junior, and senior divisions of Parliamentary Debate, novice, junior, and senior divisions of NFA L/D; as well as one division of Readers Theater. Additionally, we offer novice, junior, and senior divisions of 12 individual events. There will be four preliminary and the appropriate elimination rounds in debate; and two preliminary and final rounds (with sufficient entry) in individual events.

All entries are due by 6:00 p.m. on Monday, February 20th, 2012. YOU MUST USE THE WEB ENTRY SYSTEM – NO EXCEPTIONS. Visit www.forensicstournament.net to enter. Tournament Entry will be available beginning on February 13th.
Other Important Announcements:
1) Fees have been raised for individual events, debate events, uncovered entries, and drop fees. Please review the fee sheet at the end of this invitation for changes. The web registration will also estimate your fees for Spring Champs.
2) PSCFA does not allow uncovered Debate and Theater entries unless allowed by the Tournament Director. At the present time I cannot guarantee any teams will be allowed to buy out of this commitment. I am in the process of finding hired judges. Our first priority is to provide hired judges to cover PSCFA commitments. If anyone knows of judges for hire, please have them contact me by email (rpetrello@vcccd.edu). PSCFA now pays $15 a round.
3) The winner of Cultural Artifact will no longer receive a scholarship.
4) We will be enforcing the nuisance fee for drops and no-shows (including judges).
5) PSCFA has a different format for the first two rounds of parliamentary debate. Please consult the schedule and inform your students and judges of the procedures. Remember, that teams not reporting 15 minutes after the topic has been announced for round 1 will be dropped from the tournament.
6) ALL JUDGES MUST BE CERTIFIED BEFORE THEY CAN BE USED TO COVER YOUR COMMITMENT. IF YOU HAVE NOT CERTIFIED WITHIN THE LAST YEAR, YOU MUST RE-CERTIFY. Please have your judges go to http://www.pscfa.org and click on the “FRED” link. If your judges show up to the tournament uncertified, they will not be able to judge round one (so they can read “Fred” and get certified) and your school will incur a judging penalty. Judges must register with the judges table upon arrival.
7) The tournament headquarters will be in Fountain Hall.
Attached please find more detailed tournament information, a description of tournament rules and procedures and entry forms. Please refer to the PSCFA HANDBOOK for the newest information on Rules. If you do not have a copy of the PSCFA HANDBOOK, please check PSCFA’s website at http://www.pscfa.org

If you have any questions please contact me at rpetrello@vcccd.edu

Rolland Petrello
Tournament Director

The 2012 Back to the Beach Invitation is available. Back2Beach12-FINAL

December 1, 2011

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Mt. San Antonio College and California State University, Long Beach are pleased to invite you to Southern California for our 10th annual “Back to the Beach” swing on January 28-29, 2012.  This year’s tournament will be held in Walnut, CA on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College.

The two tournaments will offer similar schedules and fees and both will have sweeps awards for the top three teams and top community college team. Saturday competition also includes a novice division and/or top novice awards while Sunday is an open division free-for-all. The top two overall speakers at the swing will compete live at awards for a showcase of fabulous prizes.

We are excited to announce the addition of a one-day parliamentary debate tournament on Saturday and a one-day NFA-LD debate tournament on Sunday. The Open division will be a standard 4/2 format but in novice we will have a six prelim tournament with Gold/Silver/Bronze awards given to the top teams. NOTE: Students may not enter both debate and IE events on the
same day. Students are more than welcome to mix and match on different days.

So c’mon back to the beach for some great competition and even better memories. Let us know how we can help with your travel plans or anything else that will make this a special weekend for your team.

Hope to see you there!

The Coaching Staff at Mt. San Antonio College & California State University, Long Beach