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Statement on Virtual Tournaments 8/1/20
As the United States and the world face unprecedented and unpredictable circumstances in the midst of a pandemic, the Stoa Board has spent many hours in discussion and prayer with regard to the upcoming 2020–2021 speech and debate season. We have developed a plan with the hope of assuring our member families that Stoa remains committed to training our young people to speak boldly and change the world for Christ and providing opportunities for our students to continue to compete.
To that end, we offer the following:
The Stoa Board fully intends to host NITOC 2021. As most of our members know, NITOC 2021 is currently scheduled to take place in May 2021 on the beautiful campus of Concordia University in Irvine, CA. In the event that Concordia becomes unavailable due to COVID-19, the Board has secured an alternative in-person location. Because there is no way to predict what impact COVID-19 will continue to have, if an in-person NITOC becomes impossible, the Stoa Board will provide a virtual NITOC.
In order to ensure the integrity of NITOC and the quality of competition characteristic of Stoa, the Board will institute a pilot program for virtual tournaments this fall. During the fall of 2020, the Board plans to offer a minimum of 2–3 virtual, NITOC-qualifying tournaments.
Over the course of the remaining weeks of summer and this fall, the Stoa Board will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 and will decide whether additional virtual tournaments are a necessary option in 2021. We intend to release another statement in late fall.
In the meantime, we encourage local tournament directors to schedule in-person tournaments as your conscience, state or local government allows. We also support offering non-qualifying virtual tournaments hosted by local leadership. These competitions would offer opportunities for students and tournament directors to practice in a new format.
We thank you for your patience and your prayers as we seek God’s wisdom for the upcoming season.
Your Stoa Board of Directors
- Dallas Baptist University virtual preview – Register NOW for this Stoa Exclusive tour
- Stoa Prayer Fridays – 2:00 p.m. central. For more information, contact Allisha at speedtribe777@gmail.com
- Stoa Member Registration is now open! Encourage new members to register early so they can start reading the StoaByte and gain access to all Stoa member resources.