2024 Cactus Clash

Welcome to the 2024 Cactus Clash!

This is a qualifying Stoa Speech & Debate Tournament hosted by Mars Hill Speech & Debate Club. All participants must be members of Stoa.

Dates: November 14-16, 2024

Location:

Cornerstone Family Church
Formerly known as First Baptist Church
Address: 10215 N Saguaro Blvd, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268

Events:

Debate: LD, TP, and Parli
Limited Prep Speech: Apologetics, Extemporaneous, Impromptu, Mars Hill, and Slam Poetry
Extra: Novice Apologetics (For Stoa Competitors in their First Year) and Juniors Speech

Registration

Registration Opens: October 18, 2024 10:00 AM Mountain Time (Note: This is 9:00 AM Arizona Time)
Registration Closes: October 23, 2024 11:59 PM MST

Stoa Membership is required in order to participate. You will need to register with Stoa on StoaHub before you can register for Cactus Clash. 

1. Parent creates a family profile on StoaHub
2. Parent adds students to the family profile
3. Request and be granted membership into an official Stoa club
4. Pay for the family Stoa annual registration

Speech Note: Competitors may select a maximum of 3 speech events.

Debate Note: All 3 debates will have 6 prelim rounds, semi finals, and finals. Power matching will begin with Round 2. 

Fees:
Debate - $45 per Debate
Speech Events - $25 per Speech, limit of 3

Payment: Registration is not complete until your fees have been paid! We use Stripe to process payments. A small surcharge will be added to cover Stripe fees. If fees are not paid at the close of registration, unpaid events will be dropped.

No refunds will be given for drops after registration closes.

Meals: Lunch and dinner breaks must be kept to only thirty (30) minutes in order to keep the tournament on time. We recommend you pre-purchase your meals or bring your own as there will not be time available to go out between rounds. Meals may be paid for during registration or added up until November 8, 2024 noon MST.

Refund and Drop Fees:
Drop Fees are standard practice at many tournaments. Drop Fees are utilized to discourage late drops to events. Late drops negatively impact the tournament in a number of ways. Please double-check your events prior to October 23rd. If you decide to drop any events, send an email to MarsHillTournaments@gmail.com.
• October 18 - October 23 ~ Refunds available.
• October 24 - October 29 ~ No Refunds
• October 30 – November 13 ~ Drop Fee of $20 per event.
• November 14 (On Site) ~ "Ouch" Drop Fee of $25 per event.

In order to be eligible to compete in your other events, drop fees must be paid by Stripe prior to the tournament. There will be a $25 fee for any event that is dropped at on-site student check-in. In order to be eligible to compete in your other events, this fee must be paid at student check-in before the tournament begins.

Waitlists

During registration, some events might show that only a waitlist is available. If you desire that event, add yourself to the waitlist. We will let you know if space becomes available. Watch your email for notification of being cleared from a waitlist OR log back into your registration to check.

Parent Judges

Each registered competitor needs to have at least one of their own parents judging for them every day of the tournament. Students will need to have their parent physically with them at check in.

Thank you for your assistance to keep our tournament running on time. Please plan on judging every other round, and check with the ballot push table 45-30 minutes before each round to see what the judging needs are for the upcoming round. The Ballot Push Team will be happy to see you! Judge orientation sessions will be provided each day of the tournament.

A special note to local families -- please consider having family/alumni/friends come and judge a round. We will have training available. For more information, see the Community Judge page.

Dress: All competitors are required to follow the Stoa Dress Code found Here. (Click "Dress Code" under the photo). Students not in compliance with the dress code may be disqualified from competition.

More Information: For questions, please email MarsHillTournaments@gmail.com