The New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna and Udayan Mukherjee as Co-Coaches of the 2012 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team for the World Schools’ Debating Championships in Antalya, Turkey, in January/February 2013.
Clodagh and Udayan coached the 2011 New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team which reached the quarter-finals of the 2012 World Schools’ Debating Champs in South Africa. Clodagh has previously coached the 2009 New Zealand Team which reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 Worlds in Qatar. She also has an outstanding record as a coach on a national level. Regional teams she has coached have won the National Championships on three occasions (2007, 2009 and 2010).
Udayan was the assistant coach of the the 2011 NZ Team which reached the octo-finals in Dundee in August 2011 and co-coach of the team in Cape Town. He has coached regional teams at the National Champs in 2009, 10 and 11, and was an adjudicator for New Zealand on the Russell McVeagh International Tour in 2011. He won the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships in both 2010 and 2011, and was ranked as one of the top 10 speakers in the world at the World Universities’ Debating Champs in early 2012.
The Council wishes Clodagh and Udayan and the NZ Team all the best for the World Champs in Turkey.
