CHSSA

Overview

Coast Forensic League is a regional league (see map). Along with 10 other regional leagues, it comprises the statewide California High School Speech Association (see memberships explainer).

Coach of Record

Responsibilities

The registration process for CFL and CHSSA is combined (see our membership page).  When completing the CHSSA signature form, a school lists its Coach of Record. This person has two responsibilities:

1) Communication with CHSSA.
Please do not have your assistant coaches, parent volunteers, or student officers email CHSSA.

2) Chaperoning the students at the State Tournament.
The overall Tournament Adult Contact listed on the Tabroom registration must match the Coach of Record listed on the CHSSA signature form.

If your Coach of Record changes mid-season, you should use the CHSSA Google form to re-upload the CHSSA signature form signed by the principal, now listing the new Coach of Record (see our membership page).

Substitute Chaperone

Students attending the State Tournament must be chaperoned by an adult who is present at the tournament at all times. CHSSA strongly recommends that the Coach of Record chaperones and judges at the State Tournament. (See CHSSA Rules and Regulations Article XV Sections 2 and 4).

If the Coach of Record is unable to chaperone at the State Tournament, the school principal may designate another adult to be the Substitute Chaperone. The designation letter, signed by the principal, must be emailed to director@chssa.org with area1@chssa.org and coast.forensic.league@gmail.com CCed.

The overall Tournament Adult Contact listed on the Tabroom registration must then match the Substitute Chaperone listed on the designation letter. The Coach of Record should be listed as the backup Tournament Adult Contact. Emails regarding the school's State Tournament entry must then CC both the Subsitute Chaperone and the Coach of Record.

State Tournament

Qualification

CFL gets approximately 8-12 slots in each Speech and Debate event offered at the State Tournament (see CHSSA Allocations). These slots are awarded to the winners of the CFL state qualifier tournaments (see calendar).

Registration

After a team qualifies to the State Tournament, its Coach of Record must register it on chssa.tabroom.com. The Coach of Record is responsible for reviewing the tournament invitation on Tabroom for the list of key deadlines and registration requirements.

The 2024 registration deadline is March 22, 5PM.

The 2024 judge entry, payment, form upload, and speech piece info deadline is April 3, 5PM.

Drops

If one of your entries is dropping from the State Tournament, please notify director@chssa.org , area1@chssa.org , and coast.forensic.league@gmail.com ASAP. The slot will go to the alternates - the entry next in line based on the results of the state qualifier tournament. The sooner you notify us of the drop, the sooner the alternates can accept their slot and begin planning their travel logistics.

If you have an alternate to the State Tournament, you should monitor your email closely. If the Coach of Record is notified that their alternate was accepted to the tournament, and the Coach does not promptly respond to accept, they will forfeit the slot. It will then be offered to the next highest alternate.

Release Forms

Each student must sign the CHSSA release form. If the student is under 18, their parent/guardian must also sign.

Collect scans of the signed forms from your students. Then upload them to Tabroom.

Step 1:
Log in to Tabroom as a coach and view your existing tournament registration. Click on the icon next to your CHSSA registration.