As we shuffled out of bed before the sun rose on a brisk Saturday morning, we prepared for a long day ahead of us, on the road before many were even out of bed. Not lwtting the early grogginess and grey skies dampen our moods, we were all buzzed up and ready for the experience ahead. Luckily for us debating newbies, there were two of us who knew the ropes of debating, and their guidance definitely helped calm any doubts, giving us that extra boost of confidence. We were greeted by a historical figure at the gates of the Senior Campus of James Hargest College, but we were in a whole new world at the colourful and diverse library, the meeting place for the competition.
The rules were simple: learn the moot for the debate, find whether your team is negating or affirming the topic, and go! We had 30 minutes to discuss the topic as a team, and No Devices meant no chat gpt, so we really had to get thinking about not only arguments for our topic, but counter arguments for anything the opposing team might come up with. The goal was to try to sway the adjudicator’s opinion of which team was the most convincing, with 3 speakers and a leader’s response to try and take the win. Points of Information were also available from the 1st to the 6th minute of each speaker, which allowed often essential movements of information.
Despite only taking one win between the two teams out of six debates overall, we all had a great time, learning new skills and gaining confidence in public speaking which will serve us all well. Learning to think on my feet was one of the new skills I had to engage. As a lover of preparation, it certainly was a new thing having to come up with a quick rebuttal!
There were lots of laughs, and I strongly believe we showed St Peter’s awesome character, with our light-hearted personalities and of course, our great sportsmanship. We luckily got to round off the day with some delicious kai and even got to try some quote ‘crazy’ spicy chicken. Invercargill was at its drizzly finest and we got to watch some of Southland debating’s finest. Despite not being the winners, we won the real prize of showcasing the school spirit (and the ice cream at the end was pretty sweet too)!
Special shoutout to Mrs. Kortbaoui for transforming her car into a school bus, shouting us drinks (not alcoholic) and being a great cheerleader. Lots of cheer for Matilda Macleod who was selected from that day to be part of the Southland development squad to prepare for the regionals, and a hope she’s recovered from absolutely carrying the team.
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