New Zealand Schools’ Debating

Huge congratulations to the New Zealand Schools debating alumni who won the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships in Korea last night.

The Victoria University of Wellington 1 team took out the title after defeating the National University of Singapore in a 7-2 split decision. It is Victoria’s second successive Australs victory.

The winning team comprised Seb Templeton (Wellington coach 10/11), Richard D’Ath (Nationals and NZ Team 06) and Udayan Mukherjee (Nationals 07).

Seb Templeton was the 3rd equal best speaker, with Richard and Udayan not far behind.

Also congratulations to the Auckland University 1 team who reached the quarter-finals: Stephanie Thompson (Nationals 07), Josh Baxter (Nationals and NZ Team 09) and Aria Newfield (Nationals and NZ Team 09).

Lots of other NZSDC alumni reached the octo-finals:

• Holly Jenkins (NZ Team 08) and Paul Smith (NZ Team 07) for Victoria Two
• Nupur Upadhyay (Nationals 08) and Jess Storey (Nationals 10) for Auckland Two
• Kieran Bunn (Nationals and NZ Team 10) and Kurt Purdon (Nationals 07, 08, 09) for Otago One.

The Attorney-General, Hon Christopher Finlayson (himself a former debater) announced today that NZSDC life-member Claire Ryan has been appointed a judge of the District Court.

Judge Ryan has practised for over 26 years, including five years in Australia, working extensively in the areas of criminal law, family law and child protection. She has regularly appeared in the Youth, District and High Courts and she has been the team leader for the Youth and Family Court team at Meredith Connell.

Claire is well known to New Zealand debaters as a regular judge at the Auckland, Northland, Waikato and New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships. On the world stage, she has been a Chief Adjudicator of the World Schools’ Debating Champs, the Secretary of the World Council and is the current Chair of the Council.

NZSDC congratulates Claire on her appointment and wishes her all the best in her new role.

This year’s Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team will be taking part in TWO World Schools Debating Championships. The first Worlds is in Dundee, Scotland, from 16 – 26 August, 2011. The second Worlds is in Cape Town, South Africa, from 17 – 27 January, 2012.
 
Applications are now open for the position of NZ Coach, and the position of assistant coach.
 
Our preference is to appoint the NZ Coach for the Worlds in both Dundee and Cape Town now. However, we will accept applications from those interested in just Dundee. We are not accepting applications from those interested in Cape Town at this stage (if the eventual coach is appointed for Dundee only, then we will obviously re-open applications for Cape Town later).
 
We are opening applications for the assistant coach position for Dundee only.
Please pass this email onto those who you think may be interested.
 
Please note that applications will close on Friday March 11 at 5pm.
 
NZ TEAM COACH
 
Role of the Coach
 
The role of the NZ Team Coach is to prepare the NZ team team thoroughly for the upcoming World Champs. The coach is expected to attend the tournament in his/her capacity as coach.
 
The coach will be expected to organise (in conjunction with the Council) training sessions for the team in advance of the tournament, and to run those sessions.
 
The NZ team manager will assist with organising travel etc, liaising with the teams, and other non-debating matters that arise. The team manager will also act as the key contact point between the Council and the coach.
 
Time Commitment
 
The coach will be expected to travel to Worlds with the NZ Team. In the time between the date of appointment and the tournament, the coach will be expected to make themselves available to coach the team on mutually acceptable dates for the team members and the coach.
 
We would prefer it if the coach could also attend the National Finals of the NZ Schools Debating Champs in Wellington from May 27 – May 30. The Council will cover transport and accommodation costs to allow the coach to attend.
 
Costs
 
The Council will meet the reasonable travel and accommodation costs for the coaches to attend training sessions, if they are not held where the coaches live.
 
The coaches will be expected to pay a contribution towards the travel costs of sending him or her to Worlds. This contribution has not yet been set by Council, but will be no more than $1000 NZD.
 
If applications are made by a pair of coaches on a co-coach basis, the Council will re-evaluate the contribution of each coach.
 
Appointment Process
 
The appointment process will be as follows:
 
1. Applicants need to send:

• a coaching/debating CV;
• a letter which explains why they would like the job, why they would be a good coach for the NZ team, and which comments on their strengths as a coach (applicants should feel free to provide as much info as they would like);
• the name of one person who would be happy to be contacted as an oral referee to the NZ team manager, Christopher Bishop, by Friday March 11 at 5pm on cjsbishop@gmail.com

2. Team manager to consider applications and meet with Council to create a shortlist of applicants.
  
3. Oral referees of shortlisted applicants to be contacted.
  
4. Council may authorise a sub-committee to conduct an interview with short-listed applicants if deemed necessary.
  
5. Council to advise applicants of outcomes by Friday March 18.
 
ASSISTANT COACH
 
We are also looking for an assistant coach of the NZ Team for Worlds in Dundee. The position is designed for someone who may like to coach the NZ team in the future, and who would like to gain some experience and skills by learning from the NZ coach proper. The assistant coach will work with the NZ Team coach in preparing the team for Worlds in Dundee.
 
People who have coached or are coaching regional teams are encouraged to apply for this position.
 
The Council will help pay for the assistant coach to attend the NZ team training sessions in advance of Worlds in Dundee. The assistant coach is also encouraged to attend the World Champs with the team. Due to the registration restrictions in Dundee, the assistant coach will need to attend as an official New Zealand adjudicator. To this end, the Council will set aside one of New Zealand’s two judging slots at the tournament for the assistant coach.
 
Unfortunately, the assistant coach will have to cover their own flights to Worlds and their registration costs (480 British pounds).
 
Appointment Process
 
The appointment process will be as follows:
 
1. Applicants need to send:

• a coaching/debating CV;
• a letter which explains why they would like the job, why they would be a good assistant coach for the NZ team, and which comments on their strengths as a coach (applicants should feel free to provide as much info as they would like). Comments as to future coaching intentions would also be welcomed.
• the name of one person who would be happy to be contacted as an oral referee to the NZ team manager, Christopher Bishop, by Friday March 11 at 5pm on cjsbishop@gmail.com

2. Team manager to consider applications and meet with Council to create a shortlist of applicants.
  
3. Oral referees of shortlisted applicants to be contacted.
  
4. Council may authorise a sub-committee to conduct an interview with short-listed applicants if deemed necessary.
  
5. Council to advise applicants of outcomes by Friday March 18

There’s been a range of articles in regional and national newspapers following Nationals.

The Manawatu Standard did a profile on new NZ Team member Aric Shakur – click here to read it.

The Otago Daily Times also profiled the new NZ Team Captain, Kieran Bunn. Click here for that.

A small article on p 2 of the Dominion Post the day after the final:

And finally a small article in The Press, also the day after the final.

NZSDC alumni have done spectacularly well at the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs which concluded yesterday at the University of Auckland. 100 teams took part in one of the most prestigious and largest debating tournaments in the world, and the final featured five speakers who have debated at the New Zealand National Champs (and one coach)! It was also the first all-New Zealand final that anyone can remember.

The winning team from Victoria University of Wellington was Stephen Whittington (Nationals 03/04), Udayan Mukherjee (Nationals 07) and Ella Edginton (Nationals 07). The runner-up team from the University of Auckland featured Stephanie Thompson (Nationals 07), Akif Malik (Nationals 2005) and Kathy Errington (Auckland Coach 09/10)

Another Victoria team also reached the semi-finals. Congratulations to Richard D’Ath (Nationals 06), Paul Smith (Nationals 07), and Seb Templeton (Wellington Coach 09) who were knocked out by the eventual champions.

It’s also worth noting that Stephen Whittington was the 2nd best speaker of the tournament and Seb Templeton was the 7th equal. Stephen also won the Jock Fanselow Cup for being the Best Speaker in the Grand Final.

Other NZSDC alumni to do well included Aria Newfield (Nationals 09), Josh Baxter (Nationals 09) and Gretta Schumacher (Nationals 08), Nupur Upadhyay (Nationals 08), Sam Bookman (Nationals 07), and Craig Riddell (Nationals 06) who all reached the octo-finals for Auckland University.

Congratulations to Tom Chen, a member of the 2008 NZ Team which won the 2009 World Champs in Athens. Tom now studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, and he recently debated for ANU at the Australian Intervarsity Debating Champs, which involved over 100 teams and 300 debaters from all around Australia. Tom was ranked as the 8th best speaker at the tournament; a remarkable achievement. Tom’s team also reached the octo-finals.

There was a huge amount of NZSDC alumni competing and judging at the recent World Universities’ Debating Championships held in Turkey.

Two teams of all-NZSDC alumni fought their way through 388 teams and made it to the octo-finals, where they were knocked out.

• Victoria A – Stephen Whittington (Nationals 03, 04, NZ Team 04) and Polly Higbee (Nationals 03, 04, NZ Team 04) – broke 29th
• Auckland A – Ben Milsom (Nationals 03) and Stephanie Thompson (Nationals 07) – broke in 32nd place.

Congrats also go to the following Victoria teams who narrowly missed the break:

• Victoria B – Seb Templeton and Ella Edginton (Nationals 07, NZ Team 07) who finished 48th;
• Victoria C – Kathy Scott-Dowell (Nationals 05, 06, NZ Team 05, 06) and Richard D’Ath (Nationals 06, NZ Team 06) who finished 43rd.

NZSDC alumni were also active on the judging front. Current President of the Council, Christopher Bishop, judged the Grand Final of the tournament. Sayeqa Islam (Nationals 98, 99, NZ Team 98) judged the ESL Grand Final. Jonathan Orpin (Nationals 01, NZ Team 01) judged the main break semis and Jesse Wilson (Nationals 98, 99, NZ Team 98, 99) judged the ESL semi-finals. Gareth Richards (Nationals 01), also broke as a judge.

Congrats to all the NZSDC alumni who participated at the recent Australasian Intervarsity Debating Champs in Melbourne, Australia. In particular, hearty congrats to:

• Stephen Whittington, Polly Higbee and Ella Edginton – who finished as runners-up, representing Victoria University of Wellington
• Glenn Riddell and Craig Riddell who broke in 8th position for Auckland 1, knocked-out in the octo-finals
• Stephanie Thompson, Ben Milson and Mitchell Cooper who broke in 12th position as Auckland 2, knocked out in the octo-finals
• Sayeqa Islam who acted as a DCA for the tournament and who judged the semi-finals
• Christopher Bishop, Ranald Clouston, Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna, who all judged the semi-finals and were conflicted out of the final!
• Brad Ward and Clodagh who judged the ESL Grand Final;Sarah Keast and Louis Chambers, who also broke as judges.

The latest edition of the NZ Schools’ Debating Council newsletter “Declined for Rudeness” is now available to download: Download Now

If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please email the president of the NZSDC: president@debating.org.nz

On Monday 11 May the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hon John Key, hosted a reception in the Grand Hall of the New Zealand Parliament to congratulate the world champion Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team.

Update: Photos from this event are now available in the photo gallery.

The speeches from the event were videoed and you can see them by clicking here or at the bottom of this post. The Prime Minister speaks first, followed by Maria English (Captain of the NZ team), Tim Clarke (Partner at Russell McVeagh), and Christopher Bishop, the President of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council.

Also present were the Minister of Education, Hon Anne Tolley, the Attorney-General, Hon Christopher Finlayson, the Minister of Revenue, Hon Peter Dunne, and Jacinda Ardern MP (a New Zealand Schools’ Debating Council alumna), along with proud family and friends.