New Zealand Schools’ Debating

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating team narrowly lost to England in the quarter-finals of the World Schools’ Debating Championships.  New Zealand affirmed the motion that “This House believes that the gay rights movement should ‘out’ gay celebrities.”  In a 3-2 decision, in a debate descibed as of exceptional quality and excruciatingly close, New Zealand unfortunately lost.

Well done to all the team members – Nick Orr, Ed Foley, Rayhan Langdana, Thomas Simpson, and James Penn – for their performance at Worlds.  Also well done to the two coaches - Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna and Udayan Mukherjee. 

The grand final will take place this evening between Scotland and Wales.

New Zealand defeated Hong Kong in a 2-1 split decision, opposing the motion that “This House would create schools to teach endangered indigenous languages.”

They face England in the quarter-finals.  The result should be coming out about 11 PM this evening. 

Good luck!

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team is through to the octo-finals, after winning all eight preliminary rounds. 

The final day saw them beat Swaziland in a 2-1 split decision, proposing that “This House believes that developing countries should be allowed to use child labour.”  They also beat Greece in a 3-0 decision, negating the motion that “This House would entrench legally actonable socio-economic rights.”

New Zealand is one of three teams to reamin unbeaten – along with South Africa and Singapore.  I am unsure precisely where they have finished, but it will be either 2nd or 3rd, meaning they will face either 15th or 14th placed respectively in their Octo-Final.

Update: New Zealand break third, and will face Hong Kong in the Octo-Final.  The result for this debate should come through around 4 AM on Wednesday (New Zealand time).

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team remains undefeated going into round 7 of Worlds, after winning both their debates on the third day.

They won their fifth debate against Wales, who are typically a strong team, in a 2-1 decision, opposing the motion that “This House would allow the police to use racial profiling to help fight crime.”  They won their sixth debate against Sweden in a 3-0 decision, arguing in favour of the motion that “This House believes that the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography.”

New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa remain the only teams which are unbeaten.

Good luck for the final day of debating!

For those who are interested, the teams for the first four rounds have so far been made up of:

Round one – Rayhan Langdana, James Penn, and Ed Foley
Round two – Rayhan Langdana, Thomas Simpson, and Nick Orr
Round three – James Penn, Thomas Simpson, and Nick Orr
Round four – Rayhan Langdana, Thomas Simpson, and James Penn

Will post the results for the next two rounds when they are available.   The official blog is also updating results fairly promptly.

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team has continued their excellent performance on day two at the World Schools’ Debating Championships, winning both of their debates.

They won their third debate against Slovenia in a 3-0 decision, proposing the motion that “This House would allow single parents to care for their children while in prison.”  They won their fourth debate against Thailand in a 3-0 decision, arguing against the motion that “This House would place restrictions on rural to urban migration.”

New Zealand is now one of 6 teams to remain unbeaten after four rounds.  Well done!

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team has had an excellent first day at the World Schools’ Debating Championships, winning both of their debates. 

They won their first round against Botswana in a 3-0 decision, negating the motion that “This House would ban alcohol.”  They won their second debate against Israel in a 2-1 split decision, arguing in favour of the motion that “This House believes that newly democratised Arab nations should not allow religious parties to participate in elections.”

We will be updating the website with results every day.  Good luck for the coming rounds!

The Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team has left New Zealand for the 2012 World Schools’ Debating Champs in Cape Town, South Africa.

The team comprises Nick Orr (Captain), Thomas Simpson, Rayhan Langdana, Edward Foley and James Penn.

They are coached by Udayan Mukherjee and Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna.

NZSDC President and Vice-President Christopher Bishop and Desley Horton are also attending the tournament as adjudicators.

The draw for the team is below. Results will be posted on here as soon as they are to hand. You can also follow the NZSDC twitter account for up to date news: @nzsdc

Round One: Thursday 19 January
Negating against Botswana (impromptu motion)

Round Two: Thursday 19 January
Affirming against Israel
Motion: This house believes that newly democratised Arab nations should not allow religious parties to participate in elections

Round Three: Friday 20 January
Affirming against Slovenia (Impromptu motion)

Round Four: Friday 20 January
Negating against Thailand
Motion: This house believes that developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration

Round Five: Sunday 22 January
Negating against Wales (impromptu motion)

Round Six: Sunday 22 January
Affirming against Sweden
Motion: This house believes that the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography

Round Seven: Monday 23 January
Affirming against Swaziland (impromptu motion)

Round Eight: Monday 23 January
Negating against Greece
Motion: This house believes that states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights

The octo-finals are on Tuesday 24 January, the quarter and semi-finals on Wednesday 25 January and the Grand Final is on Thursday 26 January.

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 2011 Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team for the World Schools’ Debating Championships in Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2012.

Clodagh coached the 2009 New Zealand Schools Debating Team which reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Schools’ Debating Champs 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) and in 2008 a team were runners-up. Clodagh is a former winner of the New Zealand Schools’ Debating Championships herself (in 2004).

Udayan has most recently been the assistant coach of the 2011 NZ Team which competed in Dundee in August this year. He has coached regional teams at the National Champs for the last three years (Hawke’s Bay in 2009 and 2010, and Wellington in 2011), and was an adjudicator for New Zealand on the Russell McVeagh International Tour earlier this year. He won the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships in both 2010 and 2011.

The Council wishes Clodagh and Udayan and the NZ Team all the best for the World Champs in Cape Town.

The NZ Schools’ Debating Council has opened applications for the position of coach of the Russell McVeagh New Zealand Schools’ Debating Team for the 2012 World Schools’ Debating Championships in Cape Town, South Africa, to be held from 17 – 27 January, 2012.

The incumbent coach, Steve Hind, who was originally appointed for the tournament, has unfortunately had to pull out.

The 2011 NZ Team recently attended the 2011 World Champs in Dundee, Scotland, winning all eight preliminary debates before losing 3-2 to the eventual champions Singapore in the octo-finals.

Applications close on Friday September 23 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.

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 September 23 at 5pm. Emails should be sent to 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 September 30.