Judging Resources
One of the best things you can do to support the team is serve as a judge. Whether you judge once or every week, you can make a big impact on the team. We will hold judge training at or before the Gig Harbor Invitational, but there are a lot of great resources online to help you learn how to judge as well. You will find some of the best below. Keep in mind that some of these videos and tutorials are from other parts of the country, which means that some of the specific rules may be different in our area.
I would recommend starting out with the 3P judging video for a good overview of judging speech events. Then take a look at the information about judging debate on the NFLtv website.
Judging Speech
The folks at 3P debate have a great video series on youtube on how to judge speech. It focuses mainly on interpretive events, but there is information about oratory and impromptu as well. Watch the first video (linked below) and then there will be links to others you can watch if you choose. The rule information he references is a bit different than our rules, but the tips he gives on what to look for are excellent.
Link to 3P Speech Judging Instructional Video
The National Forensics League also has some really good tutorials. The easiest way to access them is at NFLtv. You can watch tutorials for speech events in general or specific events there.
Judging Debate
The debate event you will most likely be judging is Public Forum Debate. This is where we start most new judges. You also might be asked to judge Congressional Debate. If you are interested, we can potentially train you to judge Lincoln Douglas Debate as well.
Start out by watching the general judging debate video at NFLtv. Then take a look at their resources about Public Forum debate.
The National Forensics League has published a good overview of judging Public Forum. Find it here . Reading it would be a good place to start.
They also have a video about Judging Public Forum. Find it here.
If that link doesn't work, go to NFLtv, and click on the Public Forum video, you can also watch some basic judging resources or LD videos as well.
Here is the National Forensics League instructions for judging Congressional Debate. Link to PDF.
Here is a link to the NFL's video about judging Congress. It references a general judging video, which you can find at the NFLtv link above.
If you are interested in judging Lincoln Douglas Debate, this document from the NFL will be useful. Judging LD Debate