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Team Expectations – Parents

Summary of expectations for parents:

  • Send team contribution check in full by September 4, 2025 - $475 Varsity, $275 Novice

  • Complete transportation form to permit student participation in all extracurricular tournaments

  • Drop off and pick up students at Seven Lakes High School promptly on tournament weekends

    • If your student is not picked up within 15 minutes of drop off at school, Katy ISD police will be notified to relieve coaches of supervision.

  • Judge for 3 days at local tournaments during August - February or, if you are unwilling to judge, include an additional $250 to contribute to the team to cover your student’s hired judging fees during the year (example: $475 + $250 = $725 for Varsity, $275 + $250 = $525 for Novice). Fees associated with hiring judges will be due by the end of the first semester - the last day to pay without a hold on your student’s account will be Wednesday, November 19, 2025.

  • Provide 1 judge per household for the duration of the home tournament, or volunteer for the equivalent amount

  • Encourage and support student fundraising efforts, i.e. spirit nights

  • Participate in the team’s Booster Club, including donating meals, water, and snacks to tournaments, and assisting with hospitality and concessions during tournaments hosted at SLHS

  • Assist with team fundraising activities

  • Support your student’s membership on the team!

Contribution Expectations

At the beginning of the school year, each Varsity student (anyone returning to the team from last year) will be expected to contribute $475 to the 7LHS Speech and Debate Booster Club. Each Novice student (anyone in their first year of competition, including all Debate 1 and Oral Interpretation 1 students) will be expected to contribute $275 to the 7LHS Speech and Debate Booster Club. This contribution funds direct activities and expenses associated with the team’s programming, including meals for the students when attending local tournaments on Fridays and Saturdays, TFA tournament participation in the immediate Houston area, transportation, hiring consultants and judges to prepare for tournaments, and buying supplies for the program. This contribution is due on September 4, 2025.

All tournaments designated as “Travel Tournaments” on the team calendar must be sponsored by parents, and students electing to attend those tournaments may incur additional fees associated with travel, lodging, and tournament entry, depending on that tournament’s cost. Those fees will be communicated with team members as they arise. Estimates of costs for travel tournaments are posted in the year’s tournament schedule.

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Please contribute using one of the following methods:

Cash

Cash, in an envelope with your student’s name and ID number in it, brought to a Coach

Check

​Write a check to the “7LHS Speech and Debate Booster Club.” Include the student’s name in the memo line, and have your student bring it with them to school.

Zelle

7LHSSDBoosterClub@gmail.com. Include your student’s name in the message, along with what is being paid for. Example: “Tuyen Le Team Dues 2025” or “Calen Cabler Grapevine Tournament 2025”.

Other

If none of these methods work for you, please contact the Booster Club at  7LHSSDBoosterClub@gmail.com to coordinate an alternative method of payment.

All students are expected to contribute to the team. If contribution to the team is an issue for you or your family, please email Coach's and Booster Club President to discuss an alternative solution. 

The 7LHS Speech and Debate Booster Club is a non-profit public corporation and will be able to give you a donation receipt if requested by the parent. We are always looking for additional contributions – if you can provide additional donations, please let the leaders of the Booster Club know.

Students who register for a tournament and then drop from that tournament will pay drop and nuisance fees. 

Volunteering Expectations

Because of the size of our team, low availability of hired judging, and high hired judge fees, we need parent volunteers to assist us with judging rounds at tournaments. This helps us keep entry fees reasonable for all members of the team. We will provide you with training before the beginning of the tournament. Each household on the team is responsible for providing at least one of the following:

  • Additional financial contribution of $250 to cover your student’s extra hired judging costs

  • Three tournament days of judging – a tournament day being defined as full availability on Friday evening or Saturday.

Signups for parent judges will be emailed out approximately 2 weeks before each tournament. Parents should email Coach Le with questions about judging at tournaments.

Additionally, during the year, we will host our own tournament. This date is September 19-20, 2025, for this school year. During that tournament, all students will be expected to provide the equivalent of one judge for the duration of the tournament. Volunteering with the Booster Club counts as judging during the tournament, should they need the assistance.

We always welcome additional volunteering efforts or financial contributions to facilitate more competition for students. If you are able to judge more often, we may be able to lower your student’s expected contribution to the team on a case by case basis. 

Throughout the year, coaches and the year’s officer team will announce various fundraisers. All students are expected to participate in these fundraising efforts.

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