Havre speech and debate setting up tournament

Press release

The Havre High School speech and debate team is getting into full swing for the season, including getting ready to host the season-opening tournament a week from Saturday.

Head coach Tim Leeds said the season is starting to shape up well for Havre.

“We have been graduating a lot of talent from our team each of the last few years — only three members have come back from last year so far — but we have a lot of new talent coming out for the team,” Leeds said.

He added that the people who have joined so far range from freshmen to seniors, with the team looking good to build momentum in the upcoming seasons.

Havre is hosting its tournament Saturday, Oct. 28, and Leeds said he and assistant coach Luke Thompson are working to get everything set up for that, including recruiting volunteer judges.

“Montana speech, drama and debate wouldn’t exist without the people who are willing to come out and judge each year,” Leeds said. “We can’t thank the volunteer judges enough for what they do.

Leeds said he and Thompson are contacting people on their list, but if people want to volunteer they are welcome to contact the team.

“I know judges are out there whose contact information we don’t have,” he said, “people who have changed phone numbers or have new email addresses, and we don’t know how to reach them, as well as people who would like to judge but aren’t on our list.”

Leeds said the tournament will have rounds at 9 and 10:30 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Saturday, with the full range of Class A and BC speech, debate and drama at the tournament.

He said people who are interested or who have questions can email the team at [email protected], call or text him at 406-552-9023, or use an online form to sign up for judging at http://bit.ly/Havrespeechjudging.