Sked Hendrick Hudson Forensics

(Latest update 3/1)

A marginally agnostic (albeit occasionally opinionated) snapshot of tournaments in the extended NYC/Hudson Valley region, and in some other extended regions too numerous to mention, unless otherwise noted.

Access a Google Calendar of Northeastern (and some other) debate:

2024-25 Season

emtg

4/5-6 NYSFL Finals @ The Bronx High School of Science

Or, as we New Yorkers like to call it, States. All sorts of speech and debate at all sorts of levels. And a tip of the hat to Bronx Science for opening their doors for yet another forensics rowdydow.

Menick Rating: 4 Dinosaurs Yes, it's old-fashioned debating to random judges, but if you can't adapt here, I'm sorry, but you're really not developing a whole important skill set that forensics is supposed to encourage. Bone up on your judge adaptation skills, my friend.

4/12-15 NDCA Finals

4/26-28 TOC

AKA Schadenfreude Weekend for those of us who do not attend.

You have to qualify for this one at tournaments throughout the year that are designated as having TOC quals. Congress, LD, PF, Policy. There is also some speech, but I don't pay much attention to that. There's even middle school events a couple of weeks later, but that idea is so bizarre to me--"Let's send all our sixth graders to Kentucky" sounds vaguely Swiftian--that I'll leave you to sort that out on your own. There are also now also-ran divisions, or at least one also-ran division for PF. It's nice to know that not qualifying for TOC no longer prevents you from qualifying for TOC...

Menick Rating: It's a lost cause. I give up. You're going to go, or not, regardless of anything I say here. It's your money; you're free to squander it as you wish. Given the history of the schools at this event, you've probably got plenty to squander.

Memorial Day Weekend -- CatNats in Chicago

Back in that toddlin' town for the second year in a row, offering all your favorite speech and debate activities. NCFL Finals (heavenâ€”literallyâ€”forbid you refer to it as CatNats within earshot) takes place every year over the Memorial Day holiday. You have to qualify for this at our local NYCFL Grands.

Menick Rating: Well, it's CatNatsâ€”er, I mean NCFL Finals. You know what you're getting into. Can you say judge adaptation? For three judges? That's the name of the game, young padawan.

6/15-10 NSDA Finals, Des Moines

I've got nothing against it. I think the word we're looking for here is disinterested.

2025-6 Season

emtg

9/6 NYCFL Moderators Meeting @Iona, 9:00 a.m.

A local host of allegedly Catholic coaches assembles every year to decide this year's plan to convert the rest of the forensic community to the True Faith. So far, their efforts have been in vain, although the Pope is still rooting for them.

Menick Rating: It's like the pilgrimage to Camino de Santiago without the walking. Nowadays there seems to be an option for the faint of heart to attend virtually, but those of us made of sterner stuff will be there in person to eat Catholic Charlie's bagels.

9/13 Lexington JV RR @ NSDA Campus

Get your second-years started online (or on the road to perdition, if you prefer). PF, LD and CX.

9/19-21 Yale

Yale is for many the traditional seasonal opener, situated in beautiful downtown New Haven. It's got debate (all flavors), IEs, Parli, and more Congress than you can shake a stick at. In other words, a vast smorgasbord of forensic delights, minus the herring. Then again, they do have a Shake Shack (also minus the herring).

Menick Rating: Elihu Who? Plunked down discordantly in the middle of New Haven, Yale is so quintessential a college campus that you can't imagine yourself not going there. Unfortunately for you, however, for their part Yale has abolutely no difficulty imagining yourself not going there, and the sooner yourself comes to this realization, the better. I mean, has yourself looked at yourself's Grade Point Average lately? But don't worry: The College of Hard Knocks is always looking for new matriculants.

9/27 NYCFL @ Regis

JV-X, V-X, JV Prose, V-Prose, Duo (bindered -- the material, not the students), DP, OO, POI (the speaking event, not the Hawaiian side dish). Three rounds, no Finals, round 1 start time 10:30.

10/4 Watch this space for information on one-day (formerly OPL) virtual events open to all comers.

10/17-19 The NYC Invitational @ The Big Bronx High School of Big Science (AKA Big Bronx)

High level Debate, Congress and Speech. Welcome to the National Circuit and the bloody hunt for TOC bids, or the hunt for bloody TOC bids, or however you want to put it. Mr. Softee usually shows up at some point over the weekend to make the whole bloody thing worthwhile.

Don't believe me?

10/22 NYCFL PF judge training online

Essentially, this is for newcomers. If you already know more than the instructor--a not unlikely possibility--you are free spend the evening searching for Bachelorette spoilers on the dark web, leaving us alone to our own dark webness.

10/25 NYCFL Event @ Somewhere, no doubt

Speech events: Dec, JV X, V X, JV Prose, V-Prose, Duo (Memorized), DP, OO, POI

Congress

Debate: LD and PF (Nov, JV and Varsity divisions--probably a lot of first timers in those novice divisions).

NOTE: NOVICE LD DEBATES THE NSDA NOV-DEC TOPIC. We started this topic adjustment in 2023.

Menick Rating: Forensicians, start your engines! You've got to start somewhere, you young 'uns, and I recommend here. Or you can wait until you're really really really ready, some time next July, when everyone else has graduated and started packing to go off to their safety schools. Where's your sense of adventure, you prat?

11/1 Watch this space for information on OPL/ODL/NYCFL virtual events open to all comers.

Tim Averill Invitational

AKA The One Strip of Bacon Invitational, AKA The Home of the Albino Bagel.

Novice and Varsity iterations of PF, CX and LD.

Menick Rating: Are we there yet? This used to be live in Manchester-By-The-Sea. But nowadays its virtual on NSDA-Campus-By-The-Computer. So it goes.

11/8 Scarsdale NJV Jamboree (formerly the good old ScarVite)

Nov and JV LD and PF, plus JVOI, JVEX and Dec. Maybe some of the construction will be completed from last year.

Menick Rating: Sigh... I'm quite fond of the new 1-dayer, but one does yearn for the Good Old Days.

11/15 Even Littler Bronx Debate NYCFL, possibly at PS 95 in, you guessed it, the Bronx

All your usual CFL debate divisions: Nov/JV/V LD/PF. If they can't use the high school, the Ps that B at Bronx Science will probably arrange PS 95 for us again. It's near Bx Sci, and is the usual Saturday venue for Rather Large Bronx's speech divisions.

11/22 Little Lex (Or Wee Sma' Lex, as they say in Glasgow, although to my knowledge, no one in Glascow has ever said it)

All debate events, with V, JV and Novice divisions.

Menick Rating: It's worth a little trip to little Lexington to debate a little at the Little Lex.

Rumor has it that, when he was young, Lex Luthor debated for Lexington. He was of small stature, and when they ultimately named their Autumn tournament after him, they called it Little Luthor, later shortened to Little Lex. Some people believe this, and some people do not. Some of the doubters insist that young Lex was, at most, a Dec kind of guy rather than a debater, and others maintain he was more likely to be seen at one of the numberous Lexington pool halls rather than any sort of forensics tournament.

11/22-23 Villiger

The NYCFL's annual cloning in Pennsylvania, run by Pennsylvania Jeff and His Associates, including Catholic Charlie.

Menick Rating: "I once spent a year in Philadelphia, I think it was on a Sunday." -- W.C. Fields.

Actually, I kind of like Philadelphia. Great museums. Great food. The fantastic flower show in the Spring. Last time I went to Villiger it was the 90s. Benjamin Franklin was still the tournament director, if I remember correctly. Everything was tabbed by hand, and we spent the entire bus ride home finding errors in the published results. Meanwhile, I caught the flu, got sick as a dog, and permanently lost 10 percent of the hearing in my right ear. I haven't been back since, but I know things are vastly improved under PJ&HA. It's just that these days I prefer the Wee Sma and hanging on to whatever little hearing I have left.

12/5-7 Princeton

PF and LD, all speech events and Congress. The wonderful things about tiggers include dueling carolers in the streets, a grilled cheese restaurant, a giant Christmas tree, and bathrooms in McCosh that are so cold that you'll pee ice, but then again, some of us already pee ice, so maybe that's non-unique.

Menick Rating: Princeton is a preppy little oasis in an otherwise seemingly endless desert of pure New Jersey. The drive along Route 1 is worth the whole trip: American road culture in all its repetitious glory. Oh, yeah, BTW, the tournament is really good too.

12/5-7 NY Fall Faceoff @ Mamaroneck

CX: Open Varsity and Packet Novice

Menick Rating: It took Kaz 7 years to correctly pronounce Mamaroneck. What more do you need to know?

12/6 NYCFL Emily Clemente Memorial @ Chapin

JV - X, OO, JV-OI, V-OI, Dec. Seniors can judge JV divisions.

Menick Rating: BYO Spotify This tournament was once Charlie Sloat's lame excuse for not joining the rest of us in Princeton, but last year he changed his tune. (Actually, if you've ever seen his basic car playlist, you know that "changing his tune" has never happened; how much Genesis and/or Beegees can YOU listen to?)

12/12-14 Ridge

N and V LD, JV and V PF, N and V Policy, Open Parli. Late elims will be held virtually on Sunday.

Ah, the old Bump weekend. Am I remembering this right? When Newburgh stopped running in November, Bump moved there from the potentially snowy December weekend and Scarsdale moved from its likely snowy January or February weekend to the potentially snowy December Bump weekend. When Bump stopped running in November on the old Newburgh weekend, Scarsdale moved to the Old Bump/Old Newburgh weekend in November and Ridge moved to the potentially snowy December Old Bump/Old Scarsdale weekend from its guaranteed snowy old January weekend. Right? Prayers for sunny days nevertheless still commence on Thanksgiving by whoever holds the potentially snowy Old Bump/Old Scarsdale/New Ridge weekend slot.

Menick Rating: All Ys, All the Time. This one fits like a comfy old glove. You should be there.

12/20 The NYKFL Kristmas Klassik AKA The NYChFL Christmas Chlassich AKA The Venial SinVitational @ Regis

LD and PF, Novice, Intermediate and Varsity (if we have the numbers), with all the returning (homecoming? homecame? housebroken?) Regis alums aiming to go wassailing after, if not during. They also have Congress at this event, which, needless to say, is where I spend all my time.

Menick Rating: 1 Our Father, 5 Hail Marys, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree: Since the olden days people have come from miles around, some even from a few feet around, for this one, with enough happy-homecoming Regis judges to stuff a goose, and, in the judges' lounge, enough goose to stuff a happy-homecoming Regi. Best way I know to end up the first half of the season, but then again, it's the only way I know to end up the first half of the season, so I may not be that good a judge.

12/21 Online Policy League Tournament (NSDA Campus)

Novice, JV and Open Divisions.

1/9-10 Newark

PF, Policy and LD, Nov and Varsity

Menick Rating: Happy New Year! One of my old favorites. One of the first tournaments I ever tabbed (although I don't any longer) with the best rice and beans at any tournament ever.

1/10 Chaminade

All speech events.

Long Island faces off with NYC, and maybe Jersey a little bit. Archdioceses as archenemies, which is as Pope Alexander VI (Lucretia Borgia's father) intended it to be when he set this one up in 1501.

Menick Rating: The only tournament on the calendar where, when they give you chamins, you get to make chaminade.

1/10 Watch this space for information on OPL/ODL/NYCFL virtual events open to all comers.

1/17-19 Bigle X

Big, worthy event, with TOC bids up the proverbial wazoo. V and Nov in LD, PF, and Policy.

Saturday through Monday for all events. (It used to just be VCX). In-person through Sunday, hybrid on Monday.

Menick Rating: A northeast classic. Nowadays we're all together at the High School, and a swell time is had by all. A great way to kick off the new year.

1/17 NYCFL - Sr. Raimonde Service Tournament (No Trophies) @ TBA

All speech, congress.

1/24 Watch this space for information on OPL/ODL/NYCFL virtual events open to all comers.

1/24 Ridge Invitational

Their other tournament, with speech and debate. Rumored to be run on SpeechWire: Oh, the humanity.

1/23-25 Emory

Never been, never gonna go.

Columbia ONLINE @NSDA Campus

1/31 CFL @

All Speech, Congress, POI (Senior Judging) Double Entry.

1/30-2/1 Pennsbury

Debate, Speech and Congress. It's near Trenton; you can practically walk there from NYC. A well-run tournament with good numbers and various TOC bids. You really should give it a try.

U Penn 2/6-8

All speech events, congress, plus numerous divisions of all debate events, in beautiful sorta downtown Philadelphia. Room allocations can be tight, meaning strict caps, so sign up early.

2/7 The Legendary Re Ducks, AKA the Bronx Winter Local @ Bronx Science

PF, LD, CX, Congress, every sort of speech known to humankind

Menick rating: Better than you'd expect. Lots of people are away at Penn, but those who brave the forces of Bronx nature for this one have a good time and a good tournament. If you're not in Philadelphia, you should be here.

2/15-17 Harvard

All speech and debate.

2/27-3/1 Lakeland (NSDA Campus)

Debate events for the late of season, with a semis bid in Policy and a finals bid in PF.

Novice and Varsity in all debate events, plus some MS stuff thrown in for seasoning. (There may also be grammar school, preschool and prenatal divisions of which I am blissfully unaware.)

Menick Rating: Forget it, Jake. It's Lakeland.

2/28 Districts/Regionals for Hudson Valley folks (and maybe a few others)

Get a full qual for Regionals in one swell foop. Or qualify for NSDA Finals, if you're aiming in that direction. The bind moggles. It's all online, except for Congress at Iona on the 28th.

Regarding Regionals: If you get a qual here, you go to States. Only one Regionals qual and you're in. But if you already had a half qual in that event, by debating at Regionals and not qualifying, you lose it.

You cannot attempt to get a qual at Regionals in a second event if you are already qual'd in one event. You forfeit that qual if you so let your greed run away with you.

(NFL Districts also runs, or at least crawls, here simultaneously.)

Menick Rating: I dunno. Once upon a time I was the world's worst district chair. Now I'm just a dim memory, even to me.

March/April (or thereabouts) Last Chance NYSFL Speech @ Somewhere

I don't follow this closely, but if you do, you know exactly where it is and what it is about.

The definition of "last chance" according to the NYSFL: Regionals is the last chance.

Except for the Iona Last Chance, which is actually the "Last Last Chance."

The day after the Last Last Chance is the Mickey Cullen at Regis, which is the "Really Last Last Chance This Time We Really Mean it Last Chance."

Except for Mini-Stuy concurrent with CFL Grands, if it exists, which is, I gather, pretty much, the "Drop Dead Super Serious There's No Turning Back Now Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here Last Chance."

(Unless they decide to have another tournament the following week, tentatively named the NYCFL Overkill. I wouldn't put it past them.)

3/14 CFL Grands @ Stuyvesant

Qualify for CatNats in all the NCFL events, 3 entries allowed in each. Single-entry only in Speech. Lots of judges needed: 1-1 in PF and LD, 1-3 in speech.

Menick Rating: You'll feel holy just thinking about it. I know I do. This is the final NYCFL tournament, our culminating event transforming our competitors into colleagues vying for tin at CatNats. We skim the cream from the cream, so to speak.