Coolidge League Tournament #4, Franklin Academy | Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation

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Tournament Tabroom.com Page

The Coolidge League at the Luddy Schools is a regional debate league in North Carolina and the mid-Atlantic, open to all high schoolers and middle schoolers. While it is a joint project of the Coolidge Foundation and the schools founded by Robert L. Luddy (the Thales Academies, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy), tournaments welcome students in grades 6 through 12 from any school willing to travel to them.

Overview of the Tournament
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2026.
Times: A detailed schedule will be available soon. Check in at 8:00 AM, the morning seminar begins at 8:30 AM, and awards conclude by 4:15 PM.
Format: Coolidge 2v2 “Doubles” Debate.
Location: Franklin Academy High School, 648 Flaherty Avenue, Wake Forest, NC, 27587.
Eligibility: All students in grades 6 through 12.
Cost: Registration is free and includes lunch for debaters and judges.
Registration: Luddy schools’ students: your coach will register you on Tabroom. Non-Luddy school teams please register using the below form. Registration closes Thursday, February 26, at 11:59 PM EST.
Attire: Business professional.

Resolution and Research Brief
At this tournament, students will debate our spring 2026 topic, “Resolved: The United States federal government should repeal the Wagner Act.” We will post our research brief on this resolution in early January.

Tournament Overview
Participants will begin Saturday with a topic seminar from a subject matter expert. You will debate against other teams in four rounds throughout the day, getting a chance to argue both sides of the resolution. Competitors will be paired randomly for round one, and paired high-low within brackets thereafter. To clarify, this means students debate an opponent with the same win-loss record as their own from round two onwards.

We ask that you find a partner in advance and register as a team. If you do not have a debate partner, you may register solo, also known as “maverick.” Such entries are discouraged but permitted, and may be asked to partner with another maverick entry at the tournament officials’ discretion. Maverick entries must also provide an adult judge.

All students in grades 6 to 12 from any school are invited to compete, including homeschool students and independent entries (students attending without the formal support of their schools).

Format and Style
Students will compete in the Coolidge 2v2 debate format. If you are new to debating in this league, we highly recommend reviewing our debate education resources that provide information about this particular format, style, and rules.

Divisions
The tournament will have three divisions: Middle School, High School Novice, and High School Open/Varsity.

All students in grades 6-8 must enter the Middle School division. Only students in grades 6-8 may compete in the Middle School division.
High school students with no experience or minimal experience may elect to participate in the Novice division. (We define a novice as a high school debater who is in their first year of any speech and debate competition.)
High School students with experience debating in either the Coolidge Debate League or other leagues should participate in the Open/Varsity division. Any student in grades 9-12 may choose to enter the Open/Varsity division. Teams must compete in the division of their most experienced partner (e.g., a team of a novice and a varsity debater must compete in varsity).

Judges
We need volunteer judges for our debate tournaments! We welcome citizen judges of all types, including parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and other members of the community. Experience with debating or judging is not necessary. If you are interested, please take a look at our information for judges. On the morning of the tournament, we will hold a brief judge training session, where we will give you all the guidance you need for the day and will answer all of your questions. Register below to volunteer as a judge.

Questions
If you have any questions about the tournament, the league, or about judging, please contact Coolidge Foundation Director of Speech and Debate, Jonathan Peele.

Registration for Independent and Homeschool Competitors

If you are registering from a Thales Academy campus, Franklin Academy, or St. Thomas More Academy, do not use the form below. Instead, please contact your Luddy school coach, and they will register you directly into the tournament using Tabroom. Independent entries (students attending without the formal support of their school) and homeschool entries should register below using this form. If you need to make a change or cancel your registration, please reach out to jpeele@coolidgefoundation.org. For coaches of teams attending as a group officially representing your school, you must use this tournament’s page on Tabroom.com to add, change, or cancel your entries.

Debater Name*
First Last
Name Pronunciation
Help us get your name right. Put accented syllables in all-caps. (E.g., CAL-vin COO-lidge)
Debater Email*
Enter Email Confirm Email
Debater Mobline Phone*
Enter (000) 000-0000 if no phone.
Street Address*
City/Town*
State*
Zip*
School*
What high school do you attend? (Or if homeschooled, write Homeschool.)
Grade*
What grade are you in for the 2025-2026 school year?
Division*
In what division of the tournament are you registering to compete? All students in grades 6-8 must enter the Middle School division. Only students in grades 9-12 who are in their first school year of any speech or debate competition may choose to enter the Novice division. Any student in grade 9-12 may choose to enter the Open/Varsity division. High school teams comprised of debater(s) who both have no experience or minimal experience may elect to participate in the novice division. Teams must compete in the division of their most experienced partner (e.g., a team of a novice and varsity debater must compete in varsity).
Debate Partner's Name*
This is a 2v2 team format tournament. Please indicate your partner's name and note that you will not be considered fully registered until your partner and their parents have completed their registration form and also listed your name. Maverick (individual) entries are discouraged but permitted, and may be asked to partner with another maverick entry at tournament officials' discretion should we reach capacity. Maverick entries must also provide an adult judge. If you are registering as a maverick, write "none" below in the partner field.
Debate Coach's Name
(If you do not have a debate coach, leave blank.)
Debate Coach's Email Address
(If you do not have a debate coach, leave blank.)
Parent / Guardian Information
Please enter the following information about your parent or guardian.
Parent/Guardian Name*
First Last
Relationship to You*
Parent/Guardian Email*
Enter Email Confirm Email
Parent/Guardian Phone*
Please enter the first phone number to call in the event of emergency.
Permissions
Accompanying Adult Name*
An adult age 21+ (e.g., parent, guardian, coach) must supervise every team attending this tournament and remain on site for the duration of your participation. This adult must appear in person at final registration to verify your arrival and their presence at the tournament. Please provide the name of the adult supervising you at the tournament.
Accompanying Adult Relationship*
What is your relationship to the adult supervising you during the Presidents' Cup?
- Your parent
- Your debate partner's parent
- Your family member (add their relationship to you after their name above)
- Your debate partner's family member (note their relationship to your partner with their name above)
- Coach/teacher/school approved chaperone
Click here to download our required Medical and Media release forms.
File*
To complete your registration, you must upload these documents after they have been completed and signed. For students under 18 years of age, a parent or legal guardian signature is required on the Medical release and Media release forms. PDF submissions are preferred, but clear photographs of the entire page taken in such a manner that they resemble a scanned document are also permitted.

Registration for Judges

Name*
First Last
Email*
Enter Email Confirm Email
Phone*
Please provide a cell phone number where you can be reached on the day of the tournament.
School Affiliation*
If you are affiliated with a school attending this tournament, please provide the name of that school. For example, the parent of a student competitor would list the name of the school their child attends. A recent alumni of an attending school would list their alma mater. If you do not have an affiliation with an attending school, write none.
Tabroom.com*
Have you ever used Tabroom.com as part of judging at a speech and debate tournament before? If so, do you have a log in on that site?
- Yes, and I have a log in.
- Yes, but I do not have a log in.
- No.
Availability
Generally volunteer judges will be available for the entire tournament day (see the schedule posted on this tournament's information page on the Coolidge Foundation website). If you anticipate any limitations on your availability during the tournament, please describe those.
Other Information
Are there other important pieces of information that tournament officials should know that will help us run an educational, efficient, and fair competition? If your Tabroom.com account is associated with an email address other than the one provided above, provide your Tabroom.com email address here.
Conflict Avoidance
If there are any debaters at this tournament who you should not be assigned to judge, please list them here. For instance, if you have any children competing, or if there are students whom you coach.
Confirm Background Check*
The Thales Academies, St. Thomas More Academy, and Franklin Academy require adult volunteers to complete a one-time criminal background check. If you have completed this process in the past for one of these schools, no additional action is required. If you have not, please email Judith Castillo-Arzeno (judith.castillo-arzeno@thalesacademy.org) to initiate your background check.
- I understand that, in order to judge, I must pass a background check.

Varsity award winners from the Coolidge League tournament at Franklin Academy, April 2024

Speech & Debate

Registration for Independent and Homeschool Competitors

Parent / Guardian Information

Permissions

Registration for Judges