National Christian Forensics and Communications Association
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The National Christian Forensics and Communications Association is a speech & debate league for homeschooled students in the United States, established in 2001 after outgrowing its parent organization, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which had been running the league since it was originally established in 1995. NCFCA is now organized under its own board of directors with regional and state leadership coordinating tournaments and other activities.
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[edit] History
In 1995, Christy Shipe and her father Dr. Michael P. Farris, head of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College, founded the "HSLDA Debate League" to provide an opportunity for homeschooled students to engage in competitive forensics. It started small, with competitors from across the nation, but usually separated by great distances. It grew incredibly quickly and in 2001, it was detached from HSLDA as a separate organization, called the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association. Initially offering only Team Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate was added in the 2001-2002 season, in addition to a host of individual events.
[edit] Nature of the Organization
The NCFCA is governed by a board and comprised of ten regions. Each region has a regional coordinator and representatives for each state. The NCFCA is an entirely volunteer organization and non-profit. Tournaments are run by volunteers, usually parents and other league officials in the area. Judges are recruited from among the parents, alumni, and community. Coaches also serve on a strictly volunteer basis. The only person in the entire organization who receives any compensation, monetary or otherwise, is a secretary at the office in Washington.
[edit] Events
The NCFCA offers a variety of events, including two types of debate--Policy Debate and Lincoln-Douglas Debate--as well as eleven Individual Events.
NCFCA offers ten Individual Events: Apologetics, Duo Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Expository Speaking, Extemporaneous Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Impromptu Speaking, Open Interpretation, Original Oratory, and Persuasive Speaking. There are specific rules for each of the categories.
Events are classified in three broad categories: Platform, Interpretation, and Limited Preparation. Platform events are memorized informative speeches written by the competitor. Interpretation events are the acting/delivery of works of literary art, usually written by someone else. Limited Prep events are speeches that are written with a limited amount of time available. The subjects for Limited Prep speeches are written by tournament staff and randomly allotted to competitors soon before they speak.
Up to the 2004-2005 season, the eleventh event was a "Wildcard" event, which changed each year. The kind of wildcard was determined by affiliate voting before the national tournament and usually announced at a banquet during the tournament. Following a hiatus from a "Wildcard" Event in the 2005-2006 Season, the NCFCA opened voting on a Wildcard to the affiliates for the 2006-2007 Speech year. It is yet unknown if Wildcards are back for good or if they will only be offered some years.
- The 2002-2003 Wildcard was Duo Impromptu. Two competitors would randomly draw three pieces of paper with the words for a person, place, and thing. Then they would have four minutes to prepare a five minute skit incorporating all three nouns.
- The 2003-2004 Wildcard was Impromptu Apologetics. It was later renamed Apologetics and has become a standard NCFCA event.
- The 2004-2005 Wildcard was Oratorical Interpretation. The competitor would interpret a famous and/or historical speech.
- The 2006-2007 Wildcard is Thematic Interpretation. Competitors select several pieces of literature and weave them around a common theme.
[edit] Levels of Competition and Competitors
The NCFCA is divided into ten regions. This is known as the Regional System and was adopted during the 2003-2004 season to accommodate the exponential growth of the league. Each region receives a specific number of qualifying slots to nationals, the year-end championship tournament held at a different college each June. The number of slots allotted to the region is determined largely by the number of competitors in that region. Most regions award all or a majority of these slots at a championship tournament sometime in April or early May, known as "regionals." In some regions, qualifying slots to regionals are given to the states in the region, which then hold state championships. In others, they are simply divided up amongst a series of Pre-Regional tournaments and any debater within the region may qualify for regionals at a pre-regional tournament. In California (which comprises Region 2), nationals slots are given out directly at a series of qualifying tournaments throughout the year.
In addition to the regional competitions, a certain number of wildcard slots are awarded each year at competitions known as National Opens. These are large tournaments held at various colleges and open to the entire nation. In 2006, there were three national opens: the San Diego Classic held at Point Loma Nazarene University, the Tennessee National Open held at Carson-Newman College, and the Colorado Gold Standard held at Colorado College. Qualifying at a National Open is extremely difficult and carries a great deal of prestige, as well as high nationals predictions.
[edit] Competitors
During the 2005-2006 season, there were roughly 5,000 competitors, making the NCFCA the third largest national high school speech and debate league after the NFL and the NCFL. These competitors vied for 90 Policy nationals slots, 49 Lincoln/Douglas slots, and approximately 400 speech slots. Unlike other leagues however, individuals are not constrained to one event and may compete in one type of debate and up to five individual events. Thus, 550 nationals slots does not mean 550 competitors at nationals. Those who qualify to nationals in five IEs are referred to as "Marathoners" and those who qualify in debate as well as five IEs are called "Ironmen." Both are recognized at the awards ceremony and in the NCFCA hall of fame.
[edit] Debate in the NCFCA
As the purpose of the NCFCA is to train good communicators, not just good debaters, the use of complicated theory and extremely fast talking (also known as speed and spread) is discouraged. This is accomplished through the judging paradigm. Tournaments use a mixed pool of judges, which always includes a large number of lay judges who are recruited from the community and the parents and have no extensive debate experience. Even in final rounds, where prominent and experienced judges are used, judges may dock teams speaker points for using excessive speed or for using too much jargon; some will even give them an automatic loss. Thus in order to do well, debaters must learn not only to find and use good arguments, but also become familiar communicating those arguments in a way ordinary people will understand.
[edit] The NCFCA and College Debate
As a result of this emphasis, former NCFCAers tend to do very well in college parliamentary competition, as well as communication-oriented leagues such as NEDA and the NFA; former NCFCAers dominated the upper levels of the recent NEDA nationals, taking nearly one third of the varsity speaker and team awards. NCFCA debaters rarely do well in top levels of the larger policy leagues, such as CEDA and the NDT; however, since 2002 at least two dozen NCFCA alumni have gone on to the NPDA which is a more technical parliamentary league. Several colleges with good parliamentary debate/speech squads continue to attract former NCFCA debaters. These schools include: Point Loma Nazarene, Biola University, Cedarville University, Hillsdale College, Asuza Pacific and Patrick Henry College. Nearly a dozen NCFCA alumi have competed at national level NPDA tournaments and finished among the top 40 teams in fields of 120 to 320 college teams. Several former NCFCA debaters have competed at the invitation only National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence NPTE. This is an annual tournament where the top 48 college parliamentary debate teams in the US gather to compete every spring. No NCFCA alumni have ever finished in the top 10 of the 48 top college parli teams at NPTE.
[edit] Resolutions
Team Debate 2006-2007 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should be significantly reformed or abolished.
Team Debate 2005-2006 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That medical malpractice law should be significantly reformed in the United States.
Team Debate 2004-2005 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States should change its energy policy to substantially reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
Team Debate 2003-2004 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States federal government should significantly change its policy toward one or more of its protectorates.
Team Debate 2002-2003 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States should significantly change its trade policy within one or more of the following areas: The Middle East and Africa.
Team Debate 2001-2002 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States federal government should significantly change its agriculture policy.
Team Debate 2000-2001 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States should significantly change its immigration policy.
Team Debate 1999-2000 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution should be repealed and replaced with an alternate tax policy.
Team Debate 1998-1999 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially change the rules governing federal campaign finances.
Team Debate 1997-1998 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That Congress should enact laws which discourage the relocation of U.S. businesses to foreign countries.
Team Debate 1997 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States should change its rules governing foreign military intervention.
Lincoln-Douglas 2006-2007 Values Resolution: Resolved: Democracy is overvalued by the United States government.
Lincoln-Douglas 2005-2006 Values Resolution: Resolved: That the media's right to protect confidential sources is more important than the public's right to know.
Lincoln-Douglas 2004-2005 Values Resolution: Resolved: That the restriction of civil rights for the sake of national security is justified.
Lincoln-Douglas 2003-2004 Values Resolution: Resolved: That when in conflict, cultural unity in the United States should be valued above cultural diversity.
Lincoln-Douglas 2002-2003 Values Resolution: Resolved: That human rights should be valued above national sovereignty.
Lincoln-Douglas 2001-2002 Values Resolution: Resolved: That the restriction of economic liberty for the sake of the general welfare is justified in the field of agriculture.
[edit] Results
[edit] Clubs
As homeschooled debaters obviously do not have "schools" to compete with, the fundamental unit of the NCFCA is the "club." A club is a group of competitors, coaches, and families who meet together to practice, help one another, organize tournaments and classes, and provide a team for the debater to compete with at tournaments.
Incomplete list of NCFCA clubs
