SCFCA Coaches Meeting

 August 16, 2003 - Columbia, SC

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19 coaches representing 15 schools met at 11:30 a.m. in Columbia, SC, to discuss the 2003-2004 tournament schedule as well as other SCFCA business.  The following is the minutes from the meeting:

Ruth McAllister called the meeting to order and led the discussions.

New coaches present were Archie Washington of Estill HS and Ann Smith of Stratford HS.

Seddrick Bell gave the treasurer's report for the SCFCA.  The current balance of this account is $3368.68.

Gail Nicholas gave NFL announcements - PLEASE see the August/September Newsletter for the details.

Ruth gave a short explanation of her observations about Ted Turner Debate at nationals.  Her team came in 12th in the nation!

A vote was taken concerning the maintaining of the SC website.  The group voted in favor of keeping the website.  The group also voted to keep the 70/30 payment division between the SCFCA (70% of cost) and the SC NFL (30% of cost).  The website fee for the next year is $390 - $277 will be covered by the SCFCA, and $117 will be covered by the SC NFL account.

Minhaj Arastu was elected as the new SCFCA president.  The other officers and the location of States will be determined by the Columbia area coaches.  As soon as this information is available, it will be posted on the website.

The 2003-2004 calendar was discussed - see "2003-2004 Tournament Schedule" on the website.  Please contact Gail Nicholas for any additions or corrections to the calendar.

The group voted to keep Duo Interp split into two categories at States: Humorous Duo and Dramatic Duo.  The division will continue to follow the rules set in the State manual - a required number must register to keep the split category.

Joe Siren moved that Policy Debate have 2 divisions if there are at least 4 schools in each division and at least 6 teams in each division.  Otherwise policy will be "open" at States. This motion passed.

The group voted to keep 2-man Ted Turner Debate as a State event.  The group also voted NOT to have a 1-man division at States.

Minhaj Arastu and Gail Nicholas were encouraged to work on more publicity for the speech organizations.

The need to have a speech coach on the SC Department of Education textbook adoption committee was discussed.

Angela Billings presented to the group her concern for the correct use of speaker points on ballots.  The group agreed that we need to give better directions to our judges concerning speaker points.  Basically "ranks" should reflect what happened in an individual round of competition.  "Speaker points" should reflect a contestant's ability/performance in comparison to the entire tournament.  Angela will be posting her comments on the website.

Due to the budget concerns of most schools, coaches were encouraged to have reasonable entry fees.

Ruth McAllister will conduct an IE judges' training session on Tuesday September 23 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. The session will be held at Riverside HS in Portable 5C located in front of the school.  Schools wishing to send potential judges should contact Ruth by September 19 concerning the number attending.  Ruth can be reached at 864-244-6710 in the evenings or 864-848-2523 at school.