Membership

All high schools must register for both Coast Forensic League (CFL) and California High School Speech Association (CHSSA) annually in order to be eligible to participate in CFL tournaments (see explainer). Please note that registering for CFL does not automatically make you a member of NSDA or of NSDA California Coast District.

Coaches, please see the School Eligibility Summary to inquire if your school is eligible to compete at our League Tournaments for the 2026-27 Season. Schools eligible should have a "Yes" in the column for "Tournament Eligibility."

To register for CFL, please follow the five steps below.

Step 1: CFL Membership Dues

CFL membership dues for the 2026-27 season are $TBD per school. They must be paid separately from tournament entry fees, so you cannot pay them out of your general CFL balance. You must pay membership dues even if your overall CFL account balance going into the season is positive.

We strongly prefer payment by PayPal (see below), but you may also pay by paper check. Payment instructions for paper check can be found on the Membership Form below, which also functions as your invoice.

Step 2: CHSSA Registration Fees

CFL will cover 2026-27 CHSSA participation fees for all its member schools. Please do not pay your CHSSA fees.

Note: you will need to pay your own CHSSA participation fees if you register later than November 1. Please forward your payment receipt to coast.forensic.league@gmail.com and area1@chssa.org

If your school's CHSSA fees have already been covered (e.g. if you have a judge bond rollover from the 2026 State Tournament), you will receive a $150 credit you can use to pay for league tournaments.

Step 3: CFL Signature Form (PDF)

Print and fill out the CFL School Membership Form. Obtain a signature of your school principal/head of school - either a wet signature or an e-signature. 

Make sure the name of the file is your school name.

To reduce the workload for CFL officers, member schools are encouraged check the checkbox next to "YES, I consent to electronic transmission".

Step 4: CHSSA Signature Form (PDF)

Fill out the CHSSA Registration Form. Obtain a signature of your school principal/head of school - either a wet signature or an e-signature.

Step 5: CHSSA Registration (Form)

Upload the scanned and signed CFL and CHSSA forms using the CHSSA School Registration Form.

The emails you enter in the Google Form will be added to the CFL coaches Google Group, which has access to our member folder in Google Drive.