NCFCA Tournaments

The National Christian Forensics and Communications Association holds regional speech and debate tournaments, national mixers both online and onsite, and regional championships, which culminate in a national championship. Many Quo Vadis students have qualified for the regional championships and a few have “broke” all the way to nationals. “Breaking” in speech and debate tournaments means that they scored high enough to compete in the next round of NCFCA tournaments.

We highly recommend participation in NCFCA tournaments. Tournaments provide motivation for students to refine their speeches and debate skills and students gain experience communicating effectively in front of judges, and and audience of both adults and peers.

You’ll find that in just one tournament, your student will grow in one way or another! Whether it’s encouraging them to face their fear and walking away from the tournament knowing that they’re still alive (and it wasn’t that bad!), or improving their communication skills in baby steps — tournaments are a very helpful tool in the process of growing these valuable skills.

We’ve had students initially choose not to participate in tournaments, but after attending and observing their fellow students compete — they realize that it wasn’t that bad (the environment was safe and it looked do-able!). These same students then signed up for the next tournament — and they were so glad that they did!

We strive to create a loving and grace-filled environment at the tournaments and attempt to center all participants (students, parents, and volunteers) on the WHY of the tournament — to Glorify God, and grow in their skills of communication, to that end.

Who is eligible to compete in a tournament?

Please refer to the NCFCA League Handbook, in the NCFCA Resource Library (ncfca.org), for COMPLETE details on eligibility or contact Kelly Smith (mksmith99@gmail.com).The following are some of the Competition Eligibility Criteria highlights only.

A competitor eligible for qualifying competition during the 2024-2025 season must meet all of the applicable criteria listed below:

• Be an NCFCA Affiliate
• Read and abide by the NCFCA Standards of Conduct
• Be no younger than 12 years old on January 1, 2025, for participation in Lincoln Douglas Value Debate, Team Policy Debate, and speech events.
• Be no younger than 15 years old on September 1, 2024, for participation in Moot Court.
• Be no older than 18 years old on September 1, 2024
• Not have earned a high school diploma.