In the past four years, the NFL has made monumental strides in providing an incredible on-line point recording system for its members. This recording tool has made it easier for our membership to record NFL points and to view the outstanding records and accomplishments of the 90,000 active members each year. Over 80% of our school membership is now using the internet to record NFL points.
However, as many realize, the Internet is capable of providing additional benefits to our member. A little over a year ago, the national office embarked on a mission to create new functions to the NFL website that would increase the communication within the membership and between the National Office and its members, provide services that would strengthen the development, and promotion of forensic programs throughout the country, represent the mission of the NFL and its long traditions and history, and provide a forum that students and coaches in the NFL can enjoy and utilize as an educational tool. Stronger use of internet resources can lead to increased support and understanding of the activity.
The NFL would be remiss if it did not thank the Schwan Food Company, Lincoln Financial Group, ConocoPhillips, and The Stennis Center for Public Service for providing additional funding for website development. In addition, Lincoln Financial Group was instrumental in the original design of the NFL point site. As initial plans to provide more services to our members developed, the Schwan Food Company, in an act of extreme generosity, assigned an outstanding web designer to work with the National Office to begin the arduous process of designing the plans for new functions to the site. Then, this summer, the NFL employed its current web support team, Thunder Data Systems. By incorporating some of the initial design plans developed with Schwan and the innovative ideas of Thunder Data, the NFL is ready to unveil the "new and improved" NFL website.
League Mission and History
The website now includes an "About the NFL" section that outlines the mission of the NFL, includes some historical facts, provides key contact information, and describes the key competitive events that the NFL offers. Visitors will also find pertinent information in regards to the National Office and the Executive Council as well as information on "How to Join" both the NFL and NJFL. In addition, this section provides the NFL Constitution/By-Laws and the most current Chapter Manual.
Student Resources
The NFL Student Resource section is designed as both a valuable resource and a place of enjoyment for high school speech and debate participants. This section includes tips and articles to provide both an educational resource and an opportunity for students to post and publish some of their own thoughts and ideas on debate and speech. The most exciting element of this section is the "Student Challenge" page. Each month, the National Office will pose a variety of fun questions to allow students to share some of the "lighter side" of their programs. Each month in Rostrum, we will try to publish some of the more "interesting" comments.
Coaching/Teaching Resources
This section is by far one of the most comprehensive sections of the website. Making the decision to coach and teach speech and debate is both gratifying and challenging. The NFL is excited to offer some incredible features that will provide crucial support for the forensic educators. In this section, viewers will find information on recording NFL points, participating in a nationwide NFL mentoring program and regional coach workshops. In addition, we have provided a "Getting Started" packet for new coaches who are starting new NFL programs. Also, the NFL is collecting educational resources to provide a pool of free educational materials from top speech and debate teachers, coaches, and administrators nationwide. This is a file share section that allows educators from all over the United States to submit and utilize speech and debate lesson plans, coaching tips, fundraising ideas, and a variety of other resources. The NFL would like to encourage all speech and debate educators to participate in this wonderful resource by going on-line and submitting materials. All materials that are submitted for sharing are greatly appreciated. The more educators and coaches that participate, the stronger the resource will be. The site also gives coaches access to the NFL video library where the NFL boasts over 40 videos that are available to coaches for free checkout.
Rostrum
The NFL has always been proud to offer an on-line version of Rostrum. However, we have enhanced this feature so that past articles are now available and archived by subject area as well as publication date. Educational Rostrum articles also appear in the "Student and Coach Resource" sections of the site. Future plans include providing a Rostrum supplement of online articles that were submitted for print publication, but could not be included in the magazine due to page constraints.
District Information
This is an exciting section of the NFL site. In this section, the NFL has provided key information that creates stronger communication within the league. Visitors will find all necessary contact information for district committees and district chairs. In addition, each District in the NFL has an individual website homepage which can be edited to provide information about local, regional, district, and national events as well as accessibility to a variety of resources for promoting forensics within those specific regions of the country. Furthermore, this section contains a coach and district chair bulletin board to promote stronger communication on crucial issues concerning a specific topic. Also, this section includes the most current versions of the district speech/debate and student congress tournament manuals, and registration forms for the district tournament series.
National Tournament Information
Each year, the NFL is proud to host the LFG/NFL National Speech Tournament. This section of the site will provide all of the information necessary for the tournament. Visitors will find important site information including hotel lists, car rental deals, and local restaurant and entertainment lists. Also, we have included a history of the tournaments, a list of the scholarships and sponsors, and a photo archive.
Alumni
The NFL hopes to provide special features for the thousands of Alumni members of the league. These features include an online newsletter, a "What are they doing now" section, and a list of support opportunities for Alumni that wish to continue to support the NFL and the programs and coaches that meant so much to their training and development.
Sponsors
It is our honor to recognize the incredible sponsors of the NFL. In this section, visitors can learn more about the individual sponsorships and scholarships provided by our national sponsors. In addition, a link is provided to the individual web sites of each sponsor so that NFL members can learn more about these fantastic and generous supporters. This section will also include information on additional sponsorship opportunities for anyone interested in potential sponsorship.
Enhanced Online Store
The online store has never been better. All products sold by the NFL are available for purchase online. The NFL inventory includes a vast variety of apparel merchandise as well as coach awards, student awards, insignia items (pins, keys, etc.), coaching resources (timers, ballots, etc.), and a tremendous library of audio and video tapes that are available for purchase.
Special Features
The new website also contains a number of special features that are available throughout the site which include.
- The most current news updates.
- Front page access to the point recording system
- A comprehensive calendar posting system for listing tournament and event dates
- Live Polling and Voting on weekly issues
- A search tool bar for easier navigation through the site
The NFL is proud to offer such a valuable resource to its members. We hope that all members will visit the site and begin to utilize its many features. In addition, we would like to encourage visitors to post comments/suggestions as we continue to enhance and develop the NFL website.
