Sydney Boys High School Debating

Debating News, 1 July 2005

It has been a long few weeks of trials across each year group and, with such a large number of talented and enthusiastic students participating in debating this year, selections were very difficult. Coaches have been very impressed with the level of skill and confidence shown.

Selections for the 2005 Debating Season are now (finally) complete and I am pleased to announce the teams who will debate this season in The GPS Competition and the variety of other debating competitions in which we will participate this year.

Congratulations to all the boys who tried out, especially those who have made teams. We have a busy season ahead and I look forward to many successful debates and, hopefully, premierships! Thank you also to the coaches who have spent many hours conducting the selections and putting the teams together.

First Grade

1st Speaker: Gabriel McManus (captain)
2nd Speaker: Tom Kaldor
3rd Speaker: William Clegg
Team Adviser/Reserve: Dawei Qi

Second Grade

1st Speaker: Faraz Amin
2nd Speaker: Romesh Abeysuriya
3rd Speaker: Sriram Srikumar

Third Grade

1st Speaker: Philip Roser
2nd Speaker: Labib Rahman
3rd Speaker: James Morgan

Team 10A

1st Speaker: Kelvin Yu
2nd Speaker: Blaise Prentice-Davidson
3rd Speaker: Michael Coutts
Team Adviser: Samson Lou

Team 10B1

1st Speaker: Anthony Morris
2nd Speaker: Moussa Farhat
3rd Speaker: Raymond Roca
Team Adviser: Tom Hurrell

Team 10B2

1st Speaker: Si-Yang Wang
2nd Speaker: Eugene Stadnik
3rd Speaker: Arthavan Surendran
Team Adviser: Louis Yang

Team 9A

1st Speaker: Simon Lui
2nd Speaker: Dominic Bowes
3rd Speaker: Zid Mancenido
Team Adviser: Lucian Tan

Team 9B1

1st Speaker: Patrick Locke
2nd Speaker: Alistair Taylor
3rd Speaker: Jason Cohn

Team 9B2

1st Speaker: Albert Kim
2nd Speaker: Edwin Montoya-Zorilla
3rd Speaker: Muhammed Mehmedbasic

Team 9B3

1st Speaker: Richard Hui
2nd Speaker: Jun Dai
3rd Speaker: Alex Shapilsky
Team Adviser: Sean Lee

Team 8A

1st Speaker: Christopher Evans
2nd Speaker: Stephen Garafano
3rd Speaker: Beau Greenslade

Team 8B1

1st Speaker: Thomas Nguyen
2nd Speaker: Christian Katsikaros
3rd Speaker: Julian Byrnes

Team 8B2

1st Speaker: Edward Yu
2nd Speaker: Avish Sharma
3rd Speaker: Anton Jurisevic

Team 8B3

1st Speaker: Danny Lam
2nd Speaker: Razeen Ahmed
3rd Speaker: Darren Nguyen

Team 7A

1st Speaker: John Aclis
2nd Speaker: Anthony Paul
3rd Speaker: Max Phillis
Team Adviser: Declan McCrea-Steele

Team 7B1

1st Speaker: Ariel Gabo
2nd Speaker: Ricky Cohn
3rd Speaker: Daniel Paperny
Team Adviser: Justin Chan

Team 7B2

1st Speaker: Juan Castillo
2nd Speaker: Puneet Baweja
3rd Speaker: Rafat Kamal
Team Adviser: Rehan Sivasubramaniam

Team 7B3

1st Speaker: Daniel Smith-Light
2nd Speaker: Leo Gordon
3rd Speaker: Brendan O'Rourke
Team Adviser: Lachlan Chant

There is no set formula for selections, as a good debater and a good debating team are made up of a number of factors all in unique combinations according to the different students. Teams were chosen with reference to a number of criteria, namely the way in which debates are judged - Matter (how well they could use their general knowledge to back up an argument), Method (how well they could structure their speeches) and Manner (the level of confidence they have actually presented their speech). We also consider aspects of the student's commitment, ability and reliability.

As much as possible teams will remain set for the rest of the season, so as to allow the teams to develop together and settle into working collaboratively. A GPS "A" team has been set for each level (and will debate every week), with a number of "B" teams being included which will rotate through the competition. These teams will also take part in The Premier's Debating Challenge (PDC) and The University of Technology and Macquarie University Debating Tournaments.

Those boys who did not make the teams are encouraged to keep attending training sessions and to continue to develop their debating skills and general knowledge.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind boys about their conduct in training. With the large number of debaters, we have no time or patience for those who wish to be a disruption to coaching. Boys who create problems will be asked to leave the training sessions and not return. The boys who are in teams are not immune to this code of conduct.

The GPS Debating Handbook has been uploaded onto the website (thanks once again to Raymond Roca) and can be read at http://www.sydneyhigh.org.au/debating/gps-guidelines.shtml.

The full season calendar is also on the website. The season's results will be posted there as the weeks pass. Please check it out at http://www.sydneyhigh.org.au/debating.

The next meeting of the Debating Supporters Group (DSG) is on Tuesday August 9th at 18:00 in the Staff Common Room. All parents of debaters are encouraged to attend.

For any enquiries relating to debating you can email me at sbhsdebating@gmail.com or with our new phone system you can leave messages for me by dialling the school phone number and calling extension 266. We will also have a voicemail-box at extension 399, where you will be able to ring in and listen to recorded information about the debating locations and times etc.

Jocelyn Brewer
MIC Debating

SBHSDebating

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