NDR Tournament Cancelled

ARLINGTON, TX - Jeb Puryear announced yesterday that the NDR Tournament, scheduled for March, has been cancelled.

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South Eugene Round Robin Announced

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thanks to word from Justin Perry, a list of the participants in the South Eugene High School Round Robin is now available on the VBD. The tournament will be held this weekend in Oregon.

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Hirsh Jain on Rocketboom!

SANTA MONICA, CA - VBI staff member & coach at Mission San Jose, Hirsh Jain, is featured in today’s episode of Rocketboom by way of Victory Briefs Video’s 2005 TOC coverage. Rocketboom is widely considered to be a pioneer in video blogging (vlogging) and is the recipient of many awards. They have also recently signed a contract with TiVo so their content can be downloaded directly to your TiVo DVR. Needless to say, Hirsh will be seen in action by thousands non-debate types. Thanks to Rocketboom for the real-world exposure!

Click here for a perma-link to the feature.

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NDCA Announces Election Results

NASHVILLE, TN - Congratulations to Jenny Heidt of the Westminster Schools, Tim Mahoney of the St. Mark’s School, and Aaron Timmons of the Greenhill School upon their election to the board of the National Debate Coaches Association.

They join president David Glass, vice president Frank Seaver, secretary-treasurer Alan Coverstone, and board members Dan Lingel, Tara Tate, and Ed Williams on the board.

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North Dakota Bans Public Forum Resolution

SANTA MONICA, CA - It is being reported over in the Minnesota forum of HSDebate.com that North Dakota has banned the debating of the NFL Public forum resolution: “Resolved: In the United States, public high school science curriculum should include the study of the Theory of Intelligent Design.”

Seth Halvorson, former Apple Valley LD debater, frequent debate judge, and PhD candidate at Columbia called the League. Here is his report:

I was told that the decision was made because ID was to be the state topic, and some school adminstrators, not coaches, balked at the idea of debating intelligent design. The person said evolution is not taught in some of the schools. He was really surprised, but in the end said that administrators have the final say, and it wouldn’t be fair to exclude some students from state competition on the grounds that their administrators would not allow them to debate. He said similar things were afoot in Kansas and elsewhere.

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Get Well, Jon Cruz!

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - For those of you who were in attendance at or following the Blake Tournament this past weekend, you probably noticed that Jon Cruz, his camera and his VBD updates were noticeably missing. Many of you heard that Jon was sick during most of the tournament. Even though he had thought he was getting better, Jon went to the doctor at a local hospital to make sure he was ok. He found out, yesterday, that what he has is a viral heart infection induced by food poisoning. He will be fine, but his doctor told him he cannot travel for a month. This is nothing that should alarm anyone, but Jon being Jon, he wanted everyone to know that he is sorry that he won’t be able to attend the VBT, the Bronx Tour and other tournaments through January. As per Jon’s wishes, The Tour will go on. For those of you signed up, you will hear from me, personally, very soon.

So, get well soon, Jon. I hope I remember to format all these posts to your specifications. We will try to survive here at VB without you!

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Second Building To Allow More Lexington Entries

LEXINGTON, MA - Lynne Coyne just announced that a second building–Estabrook Elementary School–has been procured for this season’s Lexington Winter Classic. It is located less than a mile away from Lexington High School. This should begin to satisfy the waitlist, which, between divisions, contains nearly one hundred entries. (Indeed, Coyne indicated that thirty novices would be granted spaces now, most likely allowing for double-octafinals in that division.)

“Varsity will also see an increase in numbers once the number of rooms at the middle school are verified. I will release spots as soon as I can,” Coyne explained. “Please enter judge information asap so I can begin the hiring process. Public Forum Debate is still open and populated by students from nine states. E-mails will be sent to all coaches once the changes in schedule are in place.”

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