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EspañolNATIONAL CHRISTIAN FORENSICS AND COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION
(Redirected from NCFCA)
The 'National Christian Forensics and Communications Association' is a speech and debate league for Christian 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.
In 1995, Christy Shipe and her father Michael P. Farris, head of the Home School 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 modestly, with competitors from across the nation, but usually separated by great distances. It grew quickly and in 2001, it was detached from HSLDA as a separate organization, called the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association. Though the league initially only offered Team Policy Debate and Individual Events, Lincoln-Douglas Debate was added in the 2001-2002 season.
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.
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 eleven individual events: Apologetics, Duo Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Thematic 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.
The eleventh event is a "Wildcard" event, which changes each year. The kind of Wildcard is 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.
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.
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.
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
★ '2000': Point Loma Nazarene University – San Diego, California
★ '2001': Santa Clara University – Santa Clara, California
★ '2002': Murfreesboro, Tennessee
★ '2003': Cedarville University – Cedarville, Ohio
★ '2004': Liberty University – Lynchburg, Virginia
★ '2005': Point Loma Nazarene University – San Diego, California
★ '2006': Patrick Henry College – Purcellville, Virginia
★ '2007': University of Mary Hardin, Baylor – Belton, Texas
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 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.
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.
As a result of this emphasis, former NCFCAers 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 which is a less intellectually rigorous parliamentary league with more than 300 college members and 1,200 two-person teams. 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, 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. 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 parlimentary teams at NPTE.
'Team Debate 2007-2008 Policy Resolution:'
Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially change its policy on illegal immigration.
'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 2007-2008 Values Resolution:' Resolved: That the United States of America ought to more highly value isolationism.
'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.
★ Official NCFCA National Tournament Results
★ Unofficial NCFCA Tournament Results
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.
★ Official NCFCA website
★ Official NCFCA Hall of Fame (Last updated 2004)
★ Homeschool debate forum
★ Homeschool debate... with a K! (an alternative, less crowded forum)
★ NCFCA Google Videos
1. NCFCA website [1]
The 'National Christian Forensics and Communications Association' is a speech and debate league for Christian 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.
History
In 1995, Christy Shipe and her father Michael P. Farris, head of the Home School 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 modestly, with competitors from across the nation, but usually separated by great distances. It grew quickly and in 2001, it was detached from HSLDA as a separate organization, called the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association. Though the league initially only offered Team Policy Debate and Individual Events, Lincoln-Douglas Debate was added in the 2001-2002 season.
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.
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 eleven individual events: Apologetics, Duo Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation, Thematic 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.
The eleventh event is a "Wildcard" event, which changes each year. The kind of Wildcard is 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.
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 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 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.
Regions
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
National Tournament sites
★ '2000': Point Loma Nazarene University – San Diego, California
★ '2001': Santa Clara University – Santa Clara, California
★ '2002': Murfreesboro, Tennessee
★ '2003': Cedarville University – Cedarville, Ohio
★ '2004': Liberty University – Lynchburg, Virginia
★ '2005': Point Loma Nazarene University – San Diego, California
★ '2006': Patrick Henry College – Purcellville, Virginia
★ '2007': University of Mary Hardin, Baylor – Belton, Texas
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 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.
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 manner ordinary people will understand.
The NCFCA and college debate
As a result of this emphasis, former NCFCAers 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 which is a less intellectually rigorous parliamentary league with more than 300 college members and 1,200 two-person teams. 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, 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. 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 parlimentary teams at NPTE.
Resolutions
'Team Debate 2007-2008 Policy Resolution:'
Resolved: That the United States federal government should substantially change its policy on illegal immigration.
'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 2007-2008 Values Resolution:' Resolved: That the United States of America ought to more highly value isolationism.
'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.
Results
★ Official NCFCA National Tournament Results
★ Unofficial NCFCA Tournament Results
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.
External links
★ Official NCFCA website
★ Official NCFCA Hall of Fame (Last updated 2004)
★ Homeschool debate forum
★ Homeschool debate... with a K! (an alternative, less crowded forum)
★ NCFCA Google Videos
References
1. NCFCA website [1]
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