Shakopee Saber Speech

Parent Meeting

Judge - a qualified adult who is paid to critique competitors and rank them in order of placement in each round. -Invitational tournaments do not require state certified judges. Each team is responsible for hiring a judge per

6 competitors for each invitational they attend. It is the responsibility of the head coach of each team to make sure their judges are qualified.

-Sections and State tournaments use state certified judges who have been trained and tested by the MSHSL.Category - there are thirteen categories for speech. Your student specializes in one category in which they compete.Interp. (Short for Interpretation) - any category which requires dramatization of a fictional work - ie acting.

Light Interp: Humorous, Humorous Duo, StorytellingHeavy Interp: Prose, Poetry, Drama, Ex. Reading.

PA (Short for Public Address) - any category which is a straight format speech written by and given by the student.Disco - DiscussionO.O. - Original Oratory is a persuasive speech categoryInfo. - Informative is an informational speech category.Ex. (Ex. Reading or Ex. Speaking) - ExtemporaneousCreative Ex. - Short for Creative Expression is a work of fiction that is written and performed by the student.Round - Refers to the random grouping of students in a category that compete against each other in a room and are judged by a common judge.

Speech Vocabulary

Break- If a student is selected to proceed to the final round they “Break”Finals: Final rounds are composed of the top 6-7 students in each category.Tab Room - The room where competitor scores are tabulated at a tournamentBoards - Two Dimensional visual aids used by the Informative Category.Manipulatives - Three dimensional visual aids used by the competitors in the Informative Category.Talk to a Wall - To prepare for their rounds, students will often face a wall or a locker bank and give their speech. This allows them to focus on the speech and also to hear their voices bounced back to them.Bins - Bins of hard copy research that is shared by Extemporaneous Speakers on a team.Speech Clap - In order to make award ceremonies shorter in length, when 6-2nd place are announced in each category the audience will issue one clap for each competitor announced. Then for the champion in each category, the audience stands and applauds.Team Sweeps - at the end of each award ceremony, trophies are awarded to teams with the highest number of competitor points. We are not that Team - Popular phrase within the Shakopee team to use when we as coaches, or other team members want to remind each other to calm down, watch their behavior or language, etc. We don’t have control over the behavior of students from other schools. We do however have high expectations for the behavior of our competitors. Meld - Preliminary Round scores that are added togetherSpeaker Points - Percentages added together - a tie breaking strategy for students in the same category who recieve the same meld score.Reciprocals - a tie breaking strategy for students in the same category who recieve the same meld score.

Speech Vocabulary

What is Speech

-45 min. Category Practice once a week (Discussion and Ex. Speakers have a different schedule)-30 min. meeting on Fridays

-Saturday tournaments Leave times are generally around 7:00 AM with

return times ranging from 4:00-6:00

Student Time Commitment

3 Preliminary Rounds - Students are split into groups of 6-8 other competitors in their categories and placed in a room with a judge. Each student performs their piece, and is ranked 1-4 (with all others 5), and given a percentage of 85-100. After all three rounds are finished, the scores for each competitor are averaged together to create a meld score. Students with the lowest meld scores in each category advance to final rounds.

Example: Student A receives 1st place in their 1st round = 13rd place in their 2nd

round = 32nd place in their 3rd round

= 2

Meld = 6In final rounds students compete against the top 6-8 in their category and are judged by a panel of three judges. The three scores are averaged to decide who receives first through 6th/8th place.

How does Scoring work at a Tournament

1. Tournaments are every Saturday.

a. We leave from the high school parking lot in the early morning.

b. The leave times are posted on the speech page of the activities website under “tournament schedule”.

c. If your student is running late, please call. The leave times have a little bit of wiggle room in case of poor road conditions etc. so we might be able to wait a few minutes.

i. If your student is over 10 min. late they will most likely miss the bus. If this is the case, and they would still like to compete, you can drive them to the tournament. They need to be at the tournament before 8:30. Once they are there, they will be able to ride the bus back to the high school at the end of the tournament.

2. Pick up time:

a. Tournaments usually follow approx. the same schedule, so leave and return times can be predicted by the length of travel time.

b. We will have the students call you when the bus is about 10 min. away from Shakopee.

c. Unless there is an event or activity being held at the high school, the building will be locked and a coach will wait with the students until everyone is picked up. Please have a pick up arranged for your student so that everyone’s time is respected.

Saturday Tournaments

1. Once students arrive at the tournament, they will be expected to read the tournament schedule, find out when and where they are speaking, and then attend all rounds from start to finish

2. Students are expected to bring their own food, or purchase lunch and snacks from the concession stand.

3. If the tournament has finalsa. if they break into finals, they will competeb. if they do not they will observe the final round in their category.

4. Students are expected to stay at the tournament from start to finish unless picked up by a parent, or other arrangements have been made in advance.

a. No student will be allowed to leave with anyone other than a legal guardian unless an alternate transportation form has been filled out and filed with the activities office at least 2 days prior to the tournament.

At the Tournament

1. Business Formal:a. Women: pantsuit, or skirt/jacket/hosieryb. Men: Suit and Tie

2. Dress shoes – clean and polished. No tennis shoes.3. Solid colors – no prints – preferably no prints and dark colors4. Conservative jewelry5. Well groomed

a. Hair back and away from face – pinned or no bangs.

b. Clean Shaven6. Strategically draw attention toward face and hands

Dress Code: First Impression is very important

1. Home Meet: 3/7/15a. This is our fundraiser - we use the registration fees and concession

sales to help fund for team needs such as interp. scripts, presentation tools, technology, etc.

b. You will be contacted later in the season to sign up for a shift to work either concessions or judges lounge at the home meet.

2. Banquet: 5/1/15a. Your students work exceptionally hard during a long practice and

competition season - they deserve the recognition of a nice banquet.b. You will be contacted later in the season to sign up tasks for the

banquet at the end of the season.

Parent Commitment