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Abstract

Two distinct tournament features were offered at a regional intercollegiate individual events swing: 1.) an open door policy for all competition rounds and 2.) a mindfulness room for students. A 16-item survey (with both qualitative and quantitative prompts) was administered at the conclusion of the swing to gain a sense of participants’ perceptions of past tournament experiences and experiences with the newly implemented features. Seventy-one (n=71) respondents participated (competitors, coaches, tournament staff, and hired judges). Analysis of the data revealed: 40% of participants had felt the need to leave a round in the past (a disproportionate 80% of which were women, nonbinary, or genderqueer), a clear quantitative increase in perceived confidence that competitors felt to leave the room as needed after the reading of the open door policy, judges and students had divergent perceptions on the effectiveness of the open door policy, and while the mindfulness room concept was praised, the main criticisms were the size and levels of accessibility to the room. The authors offer suggestions for administering an open door policy and a mindfulness room in a forensics context.

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