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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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Confidence the name of the game
A debate is a war of words. Less harshly put, it is a formal argumentation contest in which two opposing teams or persons defend and attack a given proposition; compromise is not expected. In other words it is a contention of words and arguments. by Rikaza Hassan The school, under the banner of the English Literary Society is also in the habit of organising a debating competition between the teams whose performance in the past year put them into the top ten. D.S. Senanayake College itself does not participate as they do not wish to see the question of bias and partiality raised in any way. The ten schools chosen for this year's competition are St. Joseph College, St, Thomas College, Ananda College, Royal College, Wesley College, Bishops College, St. Bridget's College, Ladies College, Musaeus and Holy Family Convent. The competition consists of two categories. In the four man debating competition in which the teams are split in two, each of the five teams battle against each other and the finalists are chosen according to the number of points that they have scored. The impromptu debate, is a two man contest in which the participants receive forty-five minutes to prepare from a list of topics for a thirty minute debate. The finals of both competitions are to be held very soon. The judges for the competition are those with a debating history themselves. Speaking to Sashen De Silva, President of the Literary Society and member of the debating team (he won two awards for best speaker at competitions last year), "you always get jittery while debating, every single time. I just try and transform the nervousness to useful energy. The other guys have their own ways of dealing with it as well." When asked how he got into debate he claims, "I was never into this stuff. I used to play cricket in year 8 and these bigger guys sort of forced me and the others to come for practises. We really didn't have a choice."He is however extremely glad that by whatever means he did get himself into this. Debating is as difficult as it sounds but also holds a wealth of rewards. It builds your confidence, drastically improves your fluency in the language and makes you better at expressing yourself. It also gives you the ability to speak in public without falling into a swoon and of course teaches you team work. "The guys in the team are like a bunch of best friends." The secret to debating success, to be known as a 'good' team is to be consistent in your performances. What makes a team 'good' is to keep on doing well and not necessarily win, at a lot of competitions with their different judges with their various views, prejudices and experiences. A good team is also able to handle both victory and loss in a gentleman-like, or lady-like manner. And of course watch out for misquotations, "the judges nowadays are quick to spot if you make a mistake." The career paths open to those with a history of debating is wide and diverse. From a career in law to an ambassador to the UN to even a convincing sales person. Or even a politician for one does learn the art of bluffing, only this time in a sensible and logical way. Generally speaking though debating gives you the edge at whatever career you chose as it not only makes one better at handling situations but also forces you to make split-second decisions, trust in your instincts and take responsibility for your actions. All in all, while debating does make you endure a lot of pain, the gains you reap from the toil of the seeds you've sown are more than worth it. So next time you are cornered into coming to debating practises why not give it a shot instead of running for cover? You will not know how much it helps you as a person until you give it a try. |
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