Competitions and Adjudicators
School Competitions
2002 Team Entries
You can enter your 2002 teams online
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School debating is run at three levels or grades. In 2000 we held three seminars on school debating.
Prepared Debating
There are no restrictions on the number of teams a school may enter, unless your school has a history of defaults. In that case, the limit on entries is printed on page 2 of your entry form. This is not done to penalise schools but to ensure that you don't enter more teams than you are capable of managing. But if you genuinely believe you can exceed the specified limit, then you may do so, provided you agree to pay a bond of $60, which is forfeit if your school has an unreasonable number of defaults.
For your information, the number of teams entering at each level are:
| 2000 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 |
|---|
| Advanced | 59 | 73 | 77 | 55 |
|---|
| Senior | 87 | 110 | 119 | 92 |
|---|
| Junior | 138 | 161 | 162 | 109 |
|---|
| Total | 284 | 344 | 358 | 256 |
|---|
School Competition Administration
All schools should select at least four students (and preferably five) for each team. This extends the team's breadth of experience and knowledge, provides a replacement in case of illness and reduces the number of defaults. Persistent defaulting will jeopardise your school's entries in future years.
Note the components broken down at the bottom of the marksheet and the contribution made by teamwork and general impression.
We reply on good will and cooperation between the two teams to arrange an acceptable time, date, venue and adjudicator for debates (when the ADA does not make the arrangements). If two teams find it impossible to agree then the ADA will set a time and date and venue. This would normally be at the advanced debating venue closest to the affirmative team, on the next available day. If either (or both) teams could not attend, then either (or both) would lose by default. We suggest you try to reach agreement among yourselves.
If the problem is due to factors outside of the control of the teams (eg industrial action, rigid school policies) the ADA will consider each case on its merits and may cancel the debate (awarding a win to both sides). If the cause of the problem is ongoing and likely to affect other draws then the affected school may be advised to withdraw from the competition.
Please ensure you have marksheets for adjudicators. A glass of water is often appreciated (and so may the Chair and the team members). A supply of blank paper and a pen can often assist an adjudicator who has left work or university without these essentials.
All correspondence to a school goes to the school debating coordinator. All questions should first be referred to the debating coordinator as that person should already have the answers.
It is the responsibility of the coordinator to distribute all information to the school teams and coaches.
Provided both teams agree, you can reschedule your debates for after the due date for a round.
You do not need the permission of the ADA. However both teams must notify the ADA
as soon as they know they will definitely not be using an adjudicator or a venue that the ADA has arranged.
There are consequence for delaying debates after the end of round 4
The draw for the school competition is computed using a range of factors which are given different weighting (degree of importance)
- Prevent having the same side three times in a row
- Prevent debating against a team you have already debated
- Avoid having the same side as in the last round (a bye counts as affirming)
- Avoid debating against your own school
- Avoid travelling more than your preferred maximum travelling distance
- Avoid debating against a school you have already debated
- Avoid debating a school with a different number of wins
- Avoid debating a school with a different seeding
A Bye is assigned to the team with the lowest score
If you are unahppy with any pairing that you have received do let us know so we can examine (and adjust) the weighting given to these factors
Competitions and Adjudicators Last updated: Saturday, 26 January 2002 at 10:58pm Copyright 2002 Wayne McDougall.
ADA, PO Box 3233, Auckland Central, New Zealand Ph +64-9-6252847 Fax +64-9-6252851 Mobile +64-21-962783 Email to president@ada.org.nz
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