Much like any professional sport, the player and team are only truly tested in a competitive match setting. At Vocalize, we believe that debating is no different. All the skills learnt in the classroom are stress-tested when facing other debaters from various parts of the world each having their own unique styles. There is a dearth of opportunities where young minds can get the right impetus to learn and inspire while participating in a competition.
We took the onus and organised the Vocalize Schools Debating Championship 2021 to give the debating community an opportunity to partake and experience a global level competition. It was an exciting 2 days, buzzing with intellectually stimulating debates and discussions.
We hosted over 35 teams, with debaters joining us from South Africa, Taiwan, and Australia to name a few. This tournament had a fantastic pool of experienced judges from all over the world joining us from the UK to Malaysia. These judges were carefully selected by our dynamic chief Adjudication Panel, who are renowned coaches of various national teams.
This was a unique opportunity created by Vocalize especially for our club debaters to experience the thrills and challenges of an international tournament. It was gruelling schedule of over 12 hours. Our debaters sparred with other teams over four different debates, to break into the quarters and semi-finals. Even our youngest debaters participated with great energy and enthusiasm. This tournament is a true testimony of our promise to go the whole nine yards with our debaters, engaging, coaching and mentoring them in classrooms and also providing platforms such as these to practice their skills.
It was an experience second to none for all our debaters who competed with national squads. They were judged and mentored by well-experienced debaters giving them invaluable feedback and tips on how to get better.
Team SA Junior clinched the title in the senior’s category and GMG in the Junior’s category.