Parent Volunteer Judging
Every tournament we always need parent volunteer judges. It is one of the easiest ways to understand what your child is learning. It is a wonderful community and it is amazing to see how incredibly supportive all of the competitors are. In order to register students, there is a certain amount of judges that we have to register as well. If we do not register enough judges, we have to pay a fee that covers the hired judges on hand. It is not a small fee. Sometimes, we simply cannot register enough students because of lack of judges. There isn't always the option to just pay the fee. We are so very grateful for every parent volunteer and we cannot thank them enough.
Judging & Volunteer Faq
When do you need Judges?
We need judges every tournament. The amount of judges depends on how many students are registered for the tournament. The Head Coach Mrs. Barker, assistant coaches Kristen Livingston & April Smith will be at the tournaments and will be counted as judges. However, we still need more. Tournaments are typically on Saturdays, occasionally tournaments can be 2 days, covering Friday & Saturday.
How long should I expect to be needed at a tournament?
Tournaments do tend to be all day. It consists of 4 rounds and an awards ceremony. District and State tournaments have 5 rounds. Starting around 8am -4pm and awards around 5pm. If you can stay with us and judge with us all day, AWESOME!!!, we'll take whatever time a volunteer is able to do. If you can only do 2 morning rounds - we'll take it. Can't do morning rounds but you can do after lunch - that's ok.
I'm a grandmother, uncle, older sibling etc can I judge?
Absolutely! We're thrilled to have you.
I'm not available on Saturdays to judge, are there other ways I can volunteer or contribute?
Definitely. Want to bring the kids some snacks on Wednesdays? Awesome. Want to help us with one of our upcoming fundraisers? Great! Have speech and debate experience and want to help with source material etc, super. There are lots of ways you can help and we always appreciate it.
I don't know anything about Speech and Debate. How can I judge?
Don't worry about that. If you sign up to be a judge, we will give you information on what to look for when judging. There are some categories that are more difficult to judge than others, we can generally tell the Tabroom not to assign you to a category that is more difficult. We will be at the tournaments and there are tons of volunteers just like you. Scores are given between 20-30 for each competitor. Listen, jot down a few notes and score the best that you can. The round you are judging will be one of many for the students. Decisions on what place a student gets is not solely on your shoulders. It is a combination of all rounds that they will participate in that day. Judging is surprisingly fun, with some incredible people and one of the best ways to learn more about speech and debate.