Speech and Debate Tournaments cannot operate without judges, and there aren’t enough coaches, former competitors, and community judges to cover every round. Without parent volunteers, rounds can’t run.

In addition to free food and entertainment, you get to see what your child does on Saturdays, and it gives you a way to be involved with your son or daughter’s activity without smothering. Many parent judges keep a record of their volunteer service, something valuable for the community portion of resumes and annual reports.

We would love for you to stay for the tournament, but that’s not always necessary. As long as we know your time constraints before the tournament day, we can sometimes accommodate morning-only and afternoon-only schedules at local tournaments.

If you want to pay for your room, we consider it a donation. Otherwise, the booster club attempts to cover all coach and parent lodging expenses.

Any adult willing to be fair, patient, honest, and attentive is qualified to judge. You don’t have to be an actor, philosopher, news junkie, or speech therapist to evaluate performers, debaters, and speakers.

We are trying to help students become good communicators with the broadest range of possible people. Former competitors and high school teachers can be good judges, but our event suffers if they are the only kind of audience with whom our students interact.

Students want to know why they received the rank they did, what they did well, and what they could do better. Your comments don’t have to be long or exhaustive. Almost anything works as long as they aren’t just empty praise or mean-spirited. It’s okay to be short as long as you are specific.

We’ll have judge training sessions at Riverside. They’re short and (of course) free. You are also welcome to shadow an experienced judge anytime at twice-weekly practices.