Congress Resources
The OSDA is providing the information below to assist coaches with aspects of Congress.
The OSDA is providing the information below to assist coaches with aspects of Congress.
OSDA Overview
Credit: Bill Franck (Wooster)
"Make a Copy" to use at tournaments.
The posted legislation is what coaches and students should prepare to be debated at OSDA tournaments, unless the host specifies otherwise at least two weeks in advance.
OSDA students are encouraged to submit legislation to their coach. All legislation shall follow guidelines set by the National Speech and Debate Association and be typed using the OSDA Legislation Templates and shared as a Google Document.
Coaches then share the Google Document with their OSDA District's Congress Liaison by the Legislation Deadline (see below).
Each Congress Liaison should submit no more than 6 pieces of legislation to the OSDA per submission date.
Monthly dockets will be divided into weekly tournament sections. Tournament hosts should clearly communicate/confirm the legislation that will be on their tournament's docket.
For the OSDA State Tournament, legislation will be posted online by February 1 in sections: preliminary, semis, and finals.
2024-2025
Akron: Anthony Paridon (Norton)
Canton: Kayla Hrindak (Louisville)
Cleveland: Vicki Balzer (Laurel)
Columbus: Julia Bray (Gahanna-Lincoln)
GMV: AJ Ricker (Wayne)
Toledo: Jaiden McQuillin (Otsego)
Youngstown: Nicole Fryfogle (South Range)
Coaches must share legislation with their OSDA District's Congress Liaison by the following dates.
October 1: November Docket
November 1: December Docket
December 1: January Docket
January 15: State Tournament Docket
Oct/Nov 2018 Addition - Week of Nov 17
Click Here for Explanatory Document
The Presiding Officers must use precedence and recency to determine the next speaker as well as the next questioner. Preset randomized recency must be used to determine each participant’s initial “recency” with respect to speeches and questioning. This will be established based on the seating chart order unless detailed otherwise. For speeches, the ordering is from low to high. For questioning, the ordering is from high to low. For example, in a chamber with 15 participants, the student listed in the first slot (1) has priority for the first speech (followed by 2, 3, 4, etc), whereas the student listed in the last slot (15) has priority for the first question (followed by 14, 13, 12, etc). As the chamber progresses, speakers and questioners must be selected correctly based on precedence and recency. If a PO selects the incorrect student as the next speaker or next questioner, this can only be addressed and remedied at that time (prior to the speech or questioning) by a student, the parliamentarian, or another judge in the chamber. A PO’s incorrect selection of the next speaker or questioner based on the preset randomized recency will not be grounds for a protest.