Once again Vic has come back from Thropy tired but full of joy and excitement and plans for Palmy North 2010 and Ahmed Zhaoui’s new kebab stand in the PN square. Vic sent a very strong squad, and broke two teams. Julia Wells, Nicola Wood, Cassandra Shih broke first as they only unbeaten team in the rounds, and Asher Emanuel, Jasmin Moran, Jodie O’Neill broke third. Unfortunately both teams lost in close semi-finals, giving Auckland two teams in the final.

On the individual front the squad had huge success, including taking three of the top four speaker awards. Asher Emanuel blew people away in his winning of the Chalice of the Future for the Best Speaker at Thropy. He and Jodie O’Neill were named in the North Island Debating Team, and Campbell Herbert was the first reserve to that team. Julia Wells and Jasmin Moran won Highly Commended speaker awards.

In terms of judging Seb Templeton, Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna, Hugh McCaffrey, Richard D’Ath and Ihaia Tichborne all broke to the semi-finals in a very competitive judges break. Seb, Clodagh and Hugh judged the Grand Final also. Philip Belesky had a fantastic tournament as a trainee became an officially qualified NZUDC accredited adjudicator with ease. The other Vic trainees performed very well, and some came extremely close to accreditation.

While sad to lose our beloved Thropy, the squad should be proud of themselves. The Victoria competitors were outstanding and the break and speaker prizes made it clear that while Auckland have the Thropy for this year, it was an extremely close run thing. Their persistence has paid off, and there was always going to be an inevitable Auckland win some time very soon. The strength of our squad says great things about our level of adjudication skill, and bodes well looking forward to some great novices entering Easters and Joynt Scroll teams in the near future.

A massive, massive thank you goes out to Ihaia Tichborne for leading the squad and sorting out everything; to Seb Templeton for chief adjudicating the tournament; and to Johnny Crawford, Campbell Herbert, Jodie O’Neill, Ashleigh Bennett, Emma Smith, Alex Sinclair, and Hugh McCaffrey for driving us to the ‘Tron.

Posted in External Competitions, Thropy | No Comments »

Guess what? It was a Vic vs Vic final. This is getting mental.

Winners – Vic 4 (Holly Jenkins, Paul Smith, Frances Ratner)
Runners Up – Vic 2 (Johanna McDavitt, Peter McCaffrey, Doug McIntyre)
Best Speaker – Holly Jenkins
North Island Novice Debating Team – Holly Jenkins, Paul Smith
2nd Reserve to the team – Daniel Wilson
Highly Commended – Frances Ratner
Accrediting adjudicator – Udayan Mukherjee

It should also be noted that team Nik bruce-Smith, Campbell Herbert, Daniel Wilson and team Rob Carr, Aidan Kang, James Hurndell came away with three wins, and were extremely close to breaking. Yogesh Patel was the co-CA, and Hugh McCaffrey was the Convenor, and in the biggest Thropy ever (and now the biggest NZ tournament there is) they did a fantastic job to make it an awesome weekend. Plus they were our two van drivers, so many thanks to them and the other drivers.

Posted in Thropy | No Comments »

The teams

Vic One
Rob Carr + Aidan Kang + James Hurndell
 
Vic Two
Johanna Mc Divitt + Peter McCaffrey + Douglas McIntyre
 
Vic Three
Lauren Brazier + Molly Woods + Alex Sinclair.
 
Vic Four
Paul Smith + Holly Jenkins + Frances Ratner
 
Vic Five
Nik Bruce-Smith + Daniel Wilson + Campbell Herbert.
 
Vic Six
Guy Finny + Simon Vose + Nick Conroy
 
Vic Seven
Brent Perry + Adam Goodall + Cassandra Shih

The trainees

Udayan Mukherjee
Philip Belesky 

The shadows

Ben Moore
Matt De Witt
Nigel Smith
Michael Flaus

The judges

Yogesh Patel
Hugh McCaffrey
Seb Templeton
Ihaia Tichborne
Richard D’Ath
Sarah Wilson
Polly Higbee
Stephen Whittington
Jenna Raeburn
Kathy Scott-Dowell (Sat avo onwards)

Posted in Thropy | No Comments »

If you want to go to Thropy as a judge, shadow judge / trainee, or debater – email in asap to register your interest. Thropy is the weekend of the 23rd May, we head up on the Friday afternoon and back on the Sunday evening. Flick an email to vicdebating@gmail.com with your expression of interest and, if you’re fussy, anyone you’d like to debate with.

Pro-Am is this Saturday 9 May. Again, if you’re interested, flick an email in by the evening of Wednesday 6 May. Add your debating experience too so that we can work out teams. Pro-Am is simply the best  way to get much much better at debating, by being paired up with a pro for the whole day.

Posted in Pro-Am, Thropy | No Comments »

Thropy is often described as the most fun tournament on the debating calender, and this year promises to be no different!
 
The tournament is for novices. You are not a novice if you have 1) debated at two or more selected national tournaments (Easters, Joynt Scroll); or 2) debated at two or more Thropys. We compete against teams from Auckland, and this year we are looking to make it four Thropy wins in a row. The tournament also serves as a great way to get feedback from adjudicators and is a key development opportunity.
 
You do not have to trial for a team, rather you can make up teams with whoever you want to debate with, and currently there is no cap on how many teams can enter.
 
This year Thropy is being held in the bustling metropolitan of Palmerston North. Vans/cars will be driving up from Wellington on Friday 22nd May. Debating will take place all day Saturday, followed by a BYO break night dinner. The semis and finals will be held on the Sunday, with vans/cars driving back at the conclusion of the final and prizegiving.
 
Max Harris from Auckland and Yogesh Patel are co-Chief Adjudicators for the tournament and Hugh McCaffrey is convening. 
 
Teams compete in teams of three. Accredited adjudicators are encouraged to come, and those who want to shadow judge are also welcome. More details about the tournament format will follow, including information on the opportunity to trainee adjudicate.
 
We send this email to gauge how many people want to come either as debaters or as adjudicators, so we can look into accommodation options and van hire costs.
 
If you can send in expressions of interest by this Sunday 3rd May, it would be most appreciated. It would be ideal if you could put down if you already had a team in mind, or if you would like us to put you in a team and if you had a car that you were willing to drive up.
 
We will then email you all with a cost estimate and more details about the format, so you can make a decision if you want to come or not and finalise your teams.

Posted in Thropy | No Comments »

History has repeated itself at the second domestic debating tournament this year with two Victoria teams battling it out in the Grand Final of the North Island Novice Debating Champs, affectionately known as “Thropy.” Victoria Four (Jane Pring, Udayan Mukherjee and Tom Matthews) defeated Victoria One (Chris Blackford, Sarah Wilson, and Matt de Wit) in the Final to ensure the McLeod Trophy stays at Vic for the third year in succession.

Victoria Four broke 2nd and Victoria One broke 4th. Both defeated Auckland teams in 5-0 unanimous panels to make the final.  Udayan Mukherjee was named in the tournament team and Sam Ward was named as a reserve.

Posted in News, Thropy | 6 Comments »

Hey all,

 The Thropy teams are now finalised. Check below for your team and get in touch to vicdebating@gmail.com asap or Seb on 0274284172 if there are any problems. Everyone will get emails on Tuesday outlining the way to pay and how transport will work. The teams are ranked in no order other than the order that people emailed their registrations in. We’ll wait until break night to see the real order .

Vic 1 Matt de Witt, Sarah Wilson, Chris Blackford
Vic 2 (Team BMW) Sam Ward, David Meek, Kaspar Beech
Vic 3 Nik Bruce-Smith, Ben Moore, Phillip Claridge
Vic 4 Tom Matthews, Udayan Mukherjee, Jane Pring
Vic 5 Phillip Belesky, Corinna Howland, Nigel Smith
Vic 6 Adam Goodall, Alice Feslier Holmes, Marin Van Hove
Vic 7 Brent Perry, Harley Thorpe, David Adams
Vic 8 Peter McCaffrey, Alex Sinclair, Kate Muldrew

And Vic is, as always, sending a glorious group of judges:

Seb Templeton
Kathy Scott-Dowell
Hugh McCaffrey
Ihaia Tichborne
Richard D’Ath
Emily Bruce
Kathy Errington

Posted in News, Thropy | 1 Comment »

Thropy is amazing. It’s the weekend after Pro-Am, on the 17th/18th of May in Hamilton. Thropy is a tournament for novice debaters and is frequently decided to be the best tournament there is. Have a much better read up about it in the attached in the attached info sheet and the latest Squirrel. The key: to register for Thropy email vicdebating@gmail.com by Sunday 11th May (the day after Pro-Am). You can email with a team that you would like to debate with (three to a team) or else we’ll put you in a fantastic team anyway, don’t worry! People wanting to go as judges, please email in too.

 Thropy ‘08 Info Sheet.

Posted in News, Thropy | No Comments »

Thropy, this year in Hamilton, is scheduled earlier in the debating calendar due to popular demand. It’s provisionally set for the weekend of the 17th and 18th of May, although this is to be finalised. This competition is not to be missed, and if you thought Palmy was good fun in 2007, wait until you hit Hamiltron -City of the Future. As always there will be an amazing road trip on the way up. Auckland’s organising it this year, and Kate from up their will be convening Thropy. So let’s all head up and make sure they have a real tournament on their hands!

Posted in Thropy | No Comments »