National Christian Forensics and Communications Association

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National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA)

Logo of the NCFCA
Logo of the NCFCA
Formation 2001[citation needed]
Headquarters Mountlake Terrace, Washington, United States [1]
Website http://www.ncfca.org

The National Christian Forensics and Communications Association is a Speech and Debate league for Christian homeschooled students in the United States. The NCFCA was 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 various tournaments throughout the season.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Structure of the organization

The NCFCA is an entirely volunteer organization and non-profit.[2] 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 an administrative assistant. [3] The NCFCA is governed by a board and comprised of ten regions. Each region has a regional coordinator and representatives for each state.

[edit] Clubs

Further information: National Christian Forensics and Communications Association clubs

As homeschooled debaters 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, and organize tournaments and classes.

[edit] Regions

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 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.[citation needed]

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 2007, there were three national opens: the Appletree National Open in Seattle, Washington, the Ohio National Open and the Texas National Open. Qualifying at a National Open is extremely difficult and carries a great deal of prestige, as well as high nationals predictions.[citation needed]

The ten NCFCA regions are:

  • Region 1: Hawaii
  • Region 2: California
  • Region 3: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Western Canada, and Wyoming
  • Region 4: Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
  • Region 5: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska
  • Region 6: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin
  • Region 7: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee
  • Region 8: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina
  • Region 9: Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia
  • Region 10: Eastern Canada, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont

[edit] Competition

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.[citation needed] 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 necessarily translate to 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] Individual Events

The NCFCA offers ten individual events classified into three categories: Platform, Interpretation, and Limited Preparation. There are specific rules for each event.

Platform events are memorized informative speeches written by the competitor. The three NCFCA Platform events are Expository Speaking, Original Oratory, and Persuasive Speaking.

An interpretation event is the acting/delivery of published literary works, with the exception of Open Interpretation. The four NCFCA "interp" events are Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretations, and Open Interpretation.

Limited Preparation events are speeches that are delivered immediately after preparation times of two to thirty minutes. The subjects for Limited Prep speeches are written by tournament staff and randomly allotted to competitors soon before they speak. The three NCFCA Limited Preparation events are Apologetics, Impromptu Speaking, and Extemporaneous Speaking.

In the past, there was a "wildcard" event, which is absent from the list of events in the current season.

  • 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 was Thematic Interpretation. Competitors select several pieces of literature and weave them around a common theme.

[edit] Debate

The NCFCA offers two types of debate — policy debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. 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 manner ordinary people will understand.

[edit] The NCFCA and Collegiate Debate

As a result of this emphasis, former NCFCA debaters tend to do well in college parliamentary competition, as well as communication-oriented leagues such as the small, insular National Educational Debate Association league with only 11 college members. 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 Cross Examination Debate Association and the National Debate Tournament; however, since 2002 at least two dozen NCFCA alumni have gone on to the National Parliamentary Debate Association a separate, less evidence-oriented parliamentary league with more than 300 college members and 1,200 two-person teams.[citation needed] Several colleges with good parliamentary debate/speech squads continue to attract former NCFCA debaters.[citation needed] These schools include: Point Loma Nazarene, Biola University, Cedarville University, Hillsdale College, and Patrick Henry College.[citation needed] Nearly a dozen NCFCA alumni have competed at national level NPDA tournaments and finished among the top 40 teams in fields of 120 to 320 college teams.[citation needed] Several former NCFCA debaters have competed at the invitation only National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence.[citation needed] This is an annual tournament where the top 56 college parliamentary debate teams in the U.S. gather to compete every spring. No NCFCA alumni have ever finished in the top 10 of the 56 top college parliamentary teams at NPTE.

[edit] Debate Resolutions

Further information: NCFCA Debate Resolutions

NCFCA resolutions are chosen annually by member families through a voting process. Each family is allowed one vote.


Team Debate 2007-2008 Policy Resolution: Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially change its policy on illegal immigration.

Lincoln-Douglas 2007-2008 Values Resolution: Resolved: That the United States of America ought to more highly value isolationism.

[edit] National Championship locations

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ NCFCA website [1]
  2. ^ National Christian Forensics and Communications Association- Frequently Asked Questions
  3. ^ National Christian Forensics and Communications Association- Local Contacts