Tournaments

Verity hosts at least one Stoa/CCofSE modeled tournament each year. Verity parents and volunteers lead tournaments in order to give our students the opportunity to hone and develop their skills through competition. Within Stoa, there are around 100 tournaments nationwide during each speech and debate season. Students can register for any of the tournaments listed in StoaHub; however, some families choose to attend only a Verity hosted tournament. If intense competition and nationwide travel are important for your student/family, we encourage and help our students achieve this. However, if your family goals include a less competitive approach, attending only a Verity hosted tournament allows students the chance to not only practice throughout the year, but also work toward a goal.

Verity highly encourages students to set their own goals for the year which might include anything from reaching NITOC, the Stoa national championship, or simply feeling more comfortable speaking in public. Each family and student is unique and we encourage each student toward their own family-established goals.

What exactly does a Tournament entail?

Tournaments can last anywhere from one to four days, with NITOC, the national championship, lasting a week. Tournaments are organized and planned by local speech and debate clubs in communities all over the nation. During the course of a tournament, students can compete in a number of different speech events as well as several debate formats depending on the tournament offerings. Some tournaments offer single day debate-only or speech-only events as well. Each tournament is hosted by a local club and therefore while the overall format and rules are the same, there are local variations. An example of variations would include offering Junior/JV speech and debate events. As a club, Verity offers speech and debate from the age of 5 to 18. This means that the Verity hosted tournaments include this age range.

Families

Tournaments are a family affair and Verity relies completely on parents volunteering in order to be able to host our tournament. We appreciate the time and dedication that each family gives to both our club and our hosted tournaments! Traveling to other tournaments is also family-centered due to the fact that students are generally required to have a supervising parent/adult with them at all tournaments they attend. Parents work hard to both staff a tournament as well as serve as judges. The reward for all of this work is a community of like-minded parents who get to fellowship and encourage each other during these tournaments.

Costs

The costs for each tournament are determined by the needs of the local club. This is true for our Verity-hosted event as well. The costs for registration go to cover the expenses each tournament incurs. Costs will be clearly displayed on each tournament registration page when the event opens and will vary by both location and year.

Calendar of Tournaments

Tournaments are added to the Stoa Calendar throughout the year. Check back often to make sure you don’t miss any tournaments or see if any have been canceled. Verity has both a local/regional calendar as well as a Stoa calendar that can be found on StoaHub.

Speech and Debate for the Tournaments

Verity meets as a club each Wednesday to learn the basics of both speech and debate. Not only do we teach the fundamentals of both public speaking and debate, but we spend a portion of the year focused on developing each student so they can perfect their skills with a speech they choose. Debate operates in a similar manner with a portion of the year focused on learning and perfecting debate skills and the rest honing a case that can be used for tournaments. Please see our specific sections for more speech and debate information including the debate resolutions and specific speech events.