Speakign of the Jesuits what are people thinking about the upcoming Jesuit Debating? I know it's technically outside of NSW but just spoke with an old mate from Xavier and he said that their team is looking mighty fit this year. Dan Vaughan who's the Xavier school captain is supposedly a force to be reckoned with.
btw who won last year and the year before?
Due to the relative strength of NSW as a state, and the effective tournament systems/structures that are employed, View and Aloys tend to dominate according to my understanding of it. It's an interesting tournament, and it's very Jesuit to foster a sense of cross-school friendship, which is probably the main aim of the comp. I am pretty sure Riverview won it last year, but I don't know about any other years.
I can't tell you much about Victorian debating, other than that St. Kevin's are THE powerhouse down there. I'd love to see a debate between them and Sydney Grammar, but my money would be on the latter. Xavier will surely be a strong side, who else competes? Keep me updated on results if you can - I suspect Aloys will be strong with the likes of Thorne and Benitez subjecting their opposition to intense Friedman-esque rhetoric on free markets. Apparently they pick a national merit side, I'd like to know who makes that.
Was just searching for Archdale results - very pleased to have found this discussion! We debated against Abbotsleigh a couple of weeks ago, and they were very impressive - I suppose that they'll be the frontrunner in the seniors. Can't really see them being beaten!
Welcome the forum - it's good to get a feminine voice on here to represent the Archdale comp. As you seem to have debated Abbotsleigh, I can only assume that you come from PLC, Wenona or Tangara - the three schools they've debated thus far, unless of course you're from Abbotsleigh and you're talking up your chances, which would be justified I guess.
Abbotsleigh, MLC, and SCEGGS are normally the strongest 3 independent, female schools - they all have great programs, with coaches like Evie Woodforde at Abbotsleigh; Subeta and Emma Johnstone at MLC; and Chris Bisset at SCEGGS.
[/quote]That's interesting, I've always thought Archdale had a bit of a higher standard than ISDA, so it would be interesting to compare Archdale and GPS.[/quote]
Hmmm, that's is an interesting take on things. My understanding of it is that MOST girls schools enter their top team into both ISDA and Archdale, which means that there's an element of comparison possible (exception is SCEGGS and a few others). MLC, who's currently undefeated in Archdale, failed to make it out of the pool stages of ISDA, while Abbotsleigh, who are supposedly unbeatable, were knocked out in the third Semi-Final by Knox (I believe).
From what I've gathered from people both in and out of Archdale (many of whom are reliable sources), ISDA is generally a higher standard, but it's hard to compare.
GPS and Archdale will debate each other in the rep. season, but as (I think) we've established, GPS should be a higher standard than ISDA this year (which is rare), so it SHOULD be the case that GPS is stronger than Archdale but these things are hard to call, so I might be wrong.
Actually, there is one other thing I know for representative teams. I happen to have a full list of the speakers who were called back for state trials this year - I only know a small number of the people there, but it does seem as though there's a strong archdale turnout! It would make sense for it to have a high standard, since so many schools do it - although someone said that many hundreds to CHS, which impressed me! (If anyone else is interested in the list please just message me - I think we'd all be benefit by knowing who the favourites for this year are.)
Generally speaking, 24 are called back from the initial 90, and then from there it's cut to 12, then 4 with 2 reserves. It's very likely that there's a large Archdale contingency, just as there's are probably large ISDA, GPS, CAS, FED and CHS groups. Remember, most of the debaters that got in from Archdale schools most likely also compete in the ISDA competition, so they're not exclusively Archdale.
One thing to understand about state teams is that they're done… well… interestingly. They people chosen are always great, but, while many people try out, I know lots of great debaters that don't trial. You do have to "be in it to win it", but I can't help but feel like there's a few names that people won't know because they haven't made certain lists. Further, according to my sources there are a few quotas at play, and they often pick kids on potential (e.g. it's quite hard to get in as a fresh year 12 that hasn't tried out before). Nonetheless, it'd be great to see the list, with commentary/added info. on school, region (Arch., CAS, etc.) and all that.
