A: Omaha Knights is a competitive speech and debate club for homeschool students ages 12-18. We are affiliated with the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA). The purpose of our club and our league is to provide home school students the opportunity to develop their communication skills through competitive speech and/or debate so that ultimately students can more effectively communicate the Gospel and a Christian worldview.
Q: What is NCFCA? A: NCFCA is 'an organization committed to training homeschool, high school students to address life issues in a manner that glorifies God, and ultimately preparing our students to shape our culture and impact people for Christ.' They do this through the vehicles of competitive speech and debate.
Q: What type of debate styles do you offer? A: Currently Knights offer Lincoln Douglas (one on one debate). NCFCA offers Team Policy and Moot Court competition as well. Individuals interested in Moot Court should inquire about options for indiv. coaching. Knights do not currently offer Team Policy coaching.
Q: What categories of speech do you offer? A: NCFCA sets the speech categories every year. This year's categories are: PlatformInterpretiveLimited Prep. Digital Presentation Open Extemporaneous Informative Duo Apologetics Persuasive Biblical Presentation Impromptu After Dinner Speaking
Q: Can students do just debate or just speech? A: Yes! We have students who choose to focus on either just speech or just debate.
Q: How much time the students put into debate outside of the club time? A: This varies depending on your student and the time of year. Many new students spend more time in the fall as they learn the ins and outs of debate, research, and write their cases. Then again prior to a tournament students often spend more time. On average we would estimate students spend between 5-15 hours a week depending on the variables listed above as well as your student.
Q: What is the commitment required from parents? A: Knights asks that parents attend weekly club meetings in order to be available to give feedback to our students as well as be present for club and league announcements. If no feedback is needed that week, parents are free to leave or work on something else during club. Since we are primarily a volunteer run organization, if we do not have parents volunteer to give feedback at club or judge at tournaments, our students will not be prepared to compete/have the opportunity to compete at tournaments.
NCFCA requires a parent or chaperone to be on site during the entirety of their tournaments in order to judge. Parent volunteers are vital to our club and to making the tournaments run. We can't do what we do without parent volunteers.
Q: When do you meet? A: We meet every Monday beginning in September and ending in mid-May with breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our current plan is to meet in person. If circumstances change, we will notify the club immediately.
Q: What do they do during club time? A: This depends on the day but generally coaches have lessons they present, students have discussion on topics, briefs, etc. then they debate. Speech students will have the opportunity to construct/edit their speeches during the first few weeks of club. After that club time will be devoted to practicing speeches and giving/receiving feedback. Attending weekly is very important.
Q: How many tournaments must students attend in the spring? A: Knights require students to attend our practice tournament (one for speech and one for debate) usually in late Nov. or early Dec. Then students must attend at least one qualifying tournament in the spring. The qualifying in person tournaments are 3 days long and students must have a chaperone on site all 3 days. This can be a parent or grandparent or some other designated adult. NCFCA also offers online qualifying tournaments in addition to in person tournaments. Students must have a parent or chaperone available to judge throughout these online tournaments as well. More information about tournament requirements can be found at ncfca.org.
Q: Where are tournaments? A: Qualifier tournaments are regional. Dates are set according to facility availability as well as the league's calendar. Tournament locations can change year to year. In the 2021/22 season our Region (Region V) had in person tournaments in Moorhead, MN, Kansas City, MO, Lincoln, NE and Omaha, NE as well online opportunities. There were also national opens that students from all over the nation were able to attend. Those sites also change year to year. Tournaments dates will be announced in the fall.
Q: How long are tournaments? A: NCFCA has several tournament types. The first type is a traditional, in person 3 Day Tournament. These tournaments are 3 days long (if tournaments are out of town, you may need to add a travel day to the length). They run all day long from devotionals beginning at 7:30am to the last round which can start at 8pm. Debate rounds alternate with speech rounds over the course of the tournament. Students and their chaperone are required to be on site at the tournament all day, every day. Chaperones are vital as they also serve as volunteer judges which we need to make the tournament happen! Online tournaments can vary in length from 3 to 4 days. Parent/chaperone judges must be available to judge all tournament in order for a student to participate. Contact us for more specifics regarding these new tournament styles and their availability.
Q: What are the fees for Knights speech/debate? Is there curriculum to purchase? A: For more information on fees/curriculum and/or to register, please email [email protected]
Q: Where can I find out more about NCFCA? A: The ncfca.org site has a great deal of information and resources you may want to check out.