GPS Debating Round 7 vs Newington Report
J. G. Nicholas
Premiership secured, Bridge, Defended
LAST FRIDAY, NEWINGTON HOSTED SHORE on topics related to ‘International Relations’ and the boys defeated their opponents in 9 of 12 debates in a dominant final outing for the boys.
The Year 7s went three for three, scoring decisive victories negating ‘That developed countries should be forced to donate some of their environmental budget to less developed countries.’ The A’s debate was a masterclass of Shore debating, with the boys’ excellent speeches typified by Richard Zhang’s insightful 4th speaker speech. The B’s capitalised on their opposition’s poorly defined model and bolstered their substantive with some eloquent examples. In similar fashion, the C’s displayed how much they’ve improved over the season in a convincing win over a clearly weaker opponent.
The Year 8 boys also debated the negative, on the topic ‘That voluntourism does more harm than
good.’ The A’s missing coach most definitely impacted their performance, and they went down in the first of only three losses for the Shore boys.
The B’s rebutted and used the comparative well, whilst the C’s cruised to a win with their solid performances down the bench.
Negating the same topic, the 9A’s picked up a storied win as Yukai Yan stepped in for Jono Loy with a headache at 3rd. All speakers showed their class as the boys rounded out a successful season of GPS debating. Unfortunately, the B’s missed too much substantive early in the debate and despite a strong speech at 3rd from Henry Black were unable to pull out a victory.
A fitting conclusion to a GPS season characterised by left-of-field topics, the Year 10s negated the topic ‘This house, as Joe Biden, would want Trump as our political opponent.’ In a tough debate the A’s went down to a strong opponent despite Daniel Liu’s strong 3rd speech. The B’s however were able to capitalise on their superior knowledge of US politics, and solid speeches down the bench, particularly from Connor Fung at 3rd, clutched a good win and a great finish to the season.
Yet another dominant opens performance rounded out both the night and the season with dominant wins from the 4ths (debating the Newington 3rds), 2nds and 1sts over some varied opposition, all negating the topic ‘That Latin American countries should not cooperate with the US on the war on drugs.’
Aaron Rucinski spoke fluently at 2nd with some nice comparative analysis as the 4ths displayed their class with the win over the Newington 3rds. Strong structural reasons provided by the 2nds gave them the win as starboy Ramon Zhang dominated at 3rd. The lads ultimately proved that a cooperative war on drugs was worthwhile, and the win capped off the 2nds’ late season resurgence.
45 years…
The blue and white defended the bridge against Newington and secured the GPS Premiership for the first time since 1978, tying Joeys at 6-1 and defying what anyone thought possible at the start of the season. In a rather convoluted debate dictated by the attempts at ‘muddying the waters’ by their significantly weaker opponent, the boys were able to reframe the debate through the lens of the actual topic and ultimately cruised to a final ever victory debating in white and grey. Congratulations boys.
As my last report, I’d like to thank every teacher, coach and the boys for making it such a successful and memorable season. In particular, our two wonderful MICs, Ms Wolsely and Ms Melville, and 1sts coach Liam Graham, who contribute so much to Shore debating.
