Are students participating in a tournament allowed to go watch rounds when they are not competing? Sometimes tournaments are flighted, meaning there is a round 1A and a round 1B. If a student is not debating until round B, can he or she go watch a debate during the other hour? 

Yes. Students may watch rounds. The SCJFL rounds are open to audiences. Some people may feel this is ―cheating‖ or ―unfair‖ because a team that is observing may end up competing against a team they observed, and thus, may have heard their arguments and anticipated answers for those arguments. Scouting, as it is referred to sometimes in forensics, is NOT cheating and it is NOT unfair. The SCJFL encourages students to participate in good debates in which there is a lot of ―clash‖ on the arguments. A student who debates another student who has answers to his or her arguments becomes a better debater. If a parent does not understand this rule or disagrees with this rule, then please speak with your coach. Do not accuse students of being cheaters. They are observing, learning, and becoming a better debater. No coach asks their student to rely purely on the element of surprise. We ask our students to learn to think on their feet and to weigh arguments, and to explain why their arguments are better than their opponents’ arguments. The league’s position on this is clear: it does not encourage or discourage students from scouting. Scouting can also work against a student by ―psyching them out‖ or making them feel intimidated going in to the round.