High School

Following its mission of increasing student involvement in debate by providing quality debate opportunities to students across Orange County and beyond, the Orange County Debate League offers three high school tournaments each school year. There are currently no league dues or registration fees to join the high school tournaments. They are open to any interested individual and team debaters. 

Information regarding our high school tournaments can be found below. Should you have questions regarding the tournaments or if you wish to participate as an individual (independent of a school), please contact the high school tournament coordinator, Mark Hobbs: mhobbs@ocdl.org

DATES FOR THE 2025 - 2026 SEASON:

Fall Tournament – October 25, 2025

Winter Tournament – February 7, 2026

Spring Tournament – April 25, 2026

TOURNAMENT TOPICS

February 7, 2026 Tournament

  • The US benefits from imposing tariffs on foreign goods
  • A government issued photo ID should be required for voting
  • Impromptu (determined on the date of event)

A topic selection committee convenes over Zoom to determine the next topics. You can email jthimons@ocdl.org if you would like to be invited.

STUDENT AFFIDAVITS

Updated student affidavits below

Affidavit

REGISTRATION

Skip to step 3 if you already have a Tabroom account and a school profile. If you have participated in an OCDL tournament before, skip to step 4.

1. Create a Tabroom.com account.
2. Create a school profile.
3. Join the OCDL circuit (click on your email at the top, select your school from the ‘Institutions’ list, click the Circuits tab, and select Orange County Debate League).
4.Select your school from the ‘Institutions’ list.
5. You should see the following link in the list of tournaments. Select the ‘Register’ button.

6. Fill in adult information and save.

If you do not need to add new students to your roster, skip to step 11.

7. Select your email address at the top. Then select your school from ‘Institutions’.
8. Select the ‘Competitors’ tab.
9. Select “Add a new student” in the top right.
10. Enter student information and repeat until all students are entered.
11. Select your email address at the top. Then select ‘Entry’ for the desired tournament.

12. Select the ‘Entries’ tab. Then click the blue ‘Add entry in’ button.
13. Select your competitors (two or three person teams) and save.
14. Select the ‘Judges’ tab. Then add existing judges from the dropdown or add new ones to the roster.

Should you encounter a problem with registration, please contact the high school tournament administrator, Rebecca Starbeck at rstarbeck@ocdl.org. You can also reach Mark Hobbs at mhobbs@ocdl.org.