Virginia is for Lovers
Spring 2025 Swing

The teams from George Mason University and James Madison University cordially invite you and your students to attend the 2025 “Virginia is for Lovers” Spring Swing, February 8-9, 2025. Both tournaments will take place in Fairfax, VA on the campus of George Mason University. We will offer all 11 AFA-NST events at both halves of the swing. The following information should make your trip to the swing easier to plan:

 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

We’ll use the same schedule for both days.

 

8:00am - 8:30am    Registration in Horizon Hall, main floor lobby
8:30am                  Extemp Draw
9:00am                  IA (Ext/POI/Duo/Per/Info/Pro)
10:15am                IB (Imp/DI/ADS/CA/Poe)
11:30am                 Lunch
12:00pm                Extemp Draw
12:30pm                 IIA
1:45pm                  IIB
3:00pm                   Extemp Draw
3:30pm                   Finals A
4:45pm                   Finals B
6:15pm                   Awards

 

ACCESSIBILITY NEEDS
We plan on keeping the tournament limited to just a few buildings, with Horizon being tournament headquarters. Please reach out to Dawn Lowry (dlowry4@gmu.edu) with any accessibility needs and we’ll be sure to handle those. 

 

“SPREAD THE LOVE”

We encourage teams who have recently seen significant budget reductions (or those which are student-run programs) to reach out so that we might find a way to make competition for all students at this swing possible. 

 

ENTRY INFORMATION

1.     There is no limit on team entries in any event. 

2.     Students may enter a maximum of three events per bracket; two duos count as two events.

3.     The deadline for team entry is Tuesday, February 4, at 6 pm Eastern. You can make edits after this deadline (including adds, drops, and changes). We ask that you please include as accurate a representation of your team size by this deadline as possible, even if events may change before the Wednesday add/drop deadline.

4.     Entry fees are $8 per event slot. Qualified judges cover six slots. Uncovered entries are an additional $15 per slot.

5.     Each entry dropped after Wednesday, February 5, at 6 pm ET will incur a $10 penalty. Each entry dropped on Saturday and/or Sunday will incur an additional $20 penalty. Dropped judges after Wednesday, February 5, at 6 pm ET will incur a $50 penalty. Dropped judges on Saturday and/or Sunday will incur an additional $100 penalty. 

6.     To register for BOTH tournaments included in the swing, please go to www.speechwire.com, scroll down to “Virginia Is for Lovers Spring (JMU)” and “Virginia Is for Lovers Spring (GMU)” and submit your entry SEPARATELY FOR EACH HALF. You will receive a confirmation email detailing each half of your entry by 9 pm on Wednesday, February 5. Please be sure to check the entries you submitted and immediately correct any errors directly on Speechwire.

 

COMPETITION AND RECOGNITION

1.     Both tournaments will offer 2 rounds of preliminary competition and a final round.

2.     Any event with more than 50 entries competing in both preliminary rounds will feature a semifinal round.

3.     We will recognize the finalists in each event, the top five individual sweeps winners, and the top five schools at each tournament.

4.     The top overall speaker for both halves and the top overall team for both halves will be recognized on Sunday.

5.     We will use AFA-style rules and tabulation.

 

We hope you will join us for what will surely be a fun and competitive event! See you in February!

 

 

Brennan Mock 
GMU Tournament Director 
George Mason University 
bmock@gmu.edu

 

Mallory Marsh
JMU Director
James Madison University
marshml@jmu.edu

 

Dawn Lowry
GMU Director
George Mason University
dlowry4@gmu.edu

 

(vr24)