Club Policies

Icommunicate for Christ (iCom) Speech and Debate Club
Club Policies 2010-2011

Mission Statement

iCommunicate for Christ Speech & Debate (iCom) is a Christian club for home schooled students.  Our mission is to provide a format for home schooled students to practice formal speech and debate, and to learn and exercise analytical and oratorical skills, addressing life issues from a biblical world view in a manner that glorifies God. We strongly emphasize team work, honesty, transparency, and excellence.

Leadership Team

Craig and Odalys Sivils - Club leadership, Debate Coaches, parent council members

Frank and Becky Thompson - Extemporaneous and Apologetics Coaches, parent council members

Kevin and Tami Marisola- Parent Council members, Student council leaders

Jerri Jones- Parent council member

Tom and Betty Brewer- Parent council members

Speech Club      

Speech Coaches: Judge Cagle (Senior Speech 12-18yrs old) and Vivian Behne (Junior Speech 5- 12 years old)

The purpose of the Speech club is to train and prepare students for speech tournaments, and professional communication. Meetings will begin promptly at 6:00 P.M.. Please plan to arrive a few minutes early to get settled to respect our parent coaches that have volunteered their time. The club provides instruction, practice sessions and critiquing for the following speech categories.

Interpretative Speeches

    *     Dramatic Interpretation
    *     Duo Interpretation
    *     Humorous Interpretation
    *     Open Interpretation

Limited Preparation Speeches

    * Apologetics
    * Extemporaneous Speaking
    * Impromptu Speaking

Platform Speeches

    *Expository Speaking/Illustrated Oratory ( Check the rules and make any necessary modifications)
    * Original Oratory
    * Persuasive Speaking

This is accomplished as a cooperative effort with each student striving to do his/her best. Weekly meetings include teaching time and small group exercise/practice time with parent coaches/assistants. Students will choose appropriate literary pieces from good books or original literary works, depending on the speech category. Practice and homework may take 2-3 hours per week until pieces are selected and memorized.

Debate Club

The objective of the Debate club is to train and prepare students for debate tournaments. Students can choose either Team (policy) debate or Lincoln Douglas (values) debate.  In addition we are happy to introduce Parliamentary (Parli) debte this year.   Meetings will include teaching time, small group exercises and practice time (with parent coaches), to develop debate skills as well as affirmative and negative arguments for this year's resolution. Meetings will begin promptly at 6:00PM. Please plan to arrive a few minutes early to get settled to respect our parent coaches who have volunteered their time.  
 
Debate research and homework could take 3-5 hours per week. There are hundreds of different cases each year, making it impossible for one team to research and adequately prepare to refute each case. The greatest benefit of the club is to pool the efforts of all the students in researching and preparing briefs against known cases. Students will be given assignments to prepare briefs on the cases they went negative against at the previous tournament. Briefs will be shared among club members to contribute to this effort. This approach will strengthen and equip our debate teams and provide an atmosphere of serving and encouraging one another. 

Students are responsible for turning in their brief assignments on their due date.

Requirements

Student success requires parental involvement! Parents are encouraged to attend club meetings with their students. 

Dress Code

The spirit of the dress code is modesty and professionalism with the intent to glorify Christ. The goal is to minimize the focus on the body or outward appearance and maximize the focus on the development of ideas and communication skills. Young ladies should wear modestly fitted clothing and must have NO midriffs showing. No tank tops, no low-cut blouses, and no T-shirts with offensive slogans will be allowed.

Tournaments

Students must be between the ages of 12-18 on January 1, 2010, and must be home schooled at least 51% of the time to compete in speech & debate tournaments. The dress code for tournaments is professional business attire. One parent is required to accompany his/her student to tournaments and will be trained to serve as a judge and timekeeper.

Students competing in the Jr. Division must be at least 5 years of age by Jan. 1, 2011. The three events for their division include Open Interpretation, Original Oratory, and Impromptu speeches. They must not exceed 5 minutes in length. 

As a club we will support/staff one local tournament per month.  iCom families may compete in as many tournaments as they are able to.  NCFCA and Stoa must coordinate tournament staffing requests through the club leadership.  All iCom families are asked to redirect any league staffing requests to club leadership.  In order to help the new Stoa league get a strong start, iCom parents should expect to volunteer (over and above regular  judging and timing requirements) at a minimum of 2 Stoa tournaments each debate season, and expect to be available to help at any tournament they attend.

In the unfortunate event that NCFCA and Stoa tournaments have calendar conflicts (which Stoa leadership is doing everything possible to avoid), iCom families are asked consult with the club leadership before committing to help with EITHER league’s tournament.  Club coordination will insure that the club’s resources are not divided between tournaments on a given day/weekend and hopefully result in more tournaments spread throughout the year and greater student participation.

Club Facility 

We are grateful for our generously provided facility. We expect club members to treat all people and the property with the utmost honor and respect. This applies to any facility we are privileged to use for round robins, conferences, tournaments, etc. No food or drinks are allowed in the classrooms.

Club Meetings

Club meetings will be held every Monday
Location:The Foundry Methodist Church
              8350 Jones Road
              Houston, Texas 77065
Speech and Juniors: 2nd Monday of the month (6PM- 9PM)
Debate: 1st and 4th Mondays of the month (6PM-9PM)
On Line Debate Meetings: Every Thursday (7-9PM)
Extemp and Apologetics: 3rd Monday of the month

Communications

All announcements including club meetings, tournament information and other events will be communicated through the iCom yahoo group. Families are responsible for checking email weekly to stay informed. To join the yahoo groups, send parent and student's name and email addresses to csivils@hotmail.com  once  all registration forms are complete.
 
Suggestions? Your input is important to us! We welcome your feedback and are always looking for ways to improve. We ask that you take the time to jot down your suggestions and email them to our Communication coordinators at icomclub@gmail.com

Childcare

Siblings of participating speech and debate students that demonstrate the necessary maturity may volunteer as timers at tournaments and debate club. There is no area where siblings may play or do homework at the church. Parents are responsible for coordinating the necessary arrangements for their families during this time. Absolutely no siblings allowed to stay without a parent present.

Registration

1 . Attend Parent Orientation meeting-  September 13, 2010

2.  Read all club policies and Complete the Registration Form

3. Submit Registration form and the annual Non-Refundable Club Fees-$120

Note:  Registration and all club fees are due Sept 27,2010.
     Please make checks payable to Icommunicate for Christ Speech and Debate Club

Other costs to consider:

• Debate camp/workshops: $150 and up 
• Average Tournament entry fees: $60 per Student, plus lodging, food and gas
• Debate evidence book: $40-$60
• Professional attire: depending on your budget
• League Affiliate Fee: $35 per family, per year, per league