It’s been ages since we’ve come back but I thought I should write something about the experience we had at the Asian Schools Debating Championships held in Manila Philippines (organized by the De La Salle University : Manila) in September 2010….before I go into the details…I think it’s really important that I thank a couple of people who helped make this happen. On top of the list is our Principal Dr.Shanti McLelland who gave us the go ahead and most of the financial support that was necessary for this trip. A very special thank you goes out to Mrs. Niroza.Gazzali without whom I’m sure none of us would have gotten far…and of course our vice principal and a whole load of old boys including our unofficial but defacto coach Dilshan Boange. Also I must thank Mrs.Uyangoda the teacher in-charge of the Ladies College debating team for all the help she gave us.Also a special thankyou to Shamalie Jaytunge coach of the LC team ..and all the members from the LC debating teams who made this trip so much fun.
Wesley broke 4th out of around 60 odd teams that participated from all over Asia. We were unbeaten through the preliminary rounds but unfortunately had to depart the tournament at the Octo final round loosing with an extremely close 0.5 margin to the opposition. I am personally very proud of our team. Sithira Gunesekara and Chrisjit Xavier did exceptionally well throughout the tournament all gaining high speaker scores at every debate.
What we all realized after participating at this tournament is how much our horizons had broadened in all aspects specially in terms of debating. Although our team has been debating for almost 4 years we learnt a lot in the past 7 days, the reason being in my opinion the exposure to a lot of different cultures of debating and discourse. Precisely because of this reason, instead of the same recycled comments and criticisms that we always hear from adjudicators back in Sri Lanka....we were exposed to new ideas, new styles, new techniques, new philosophies and different methods of judging, all of from which we have gained something to add to our team. In addition to this we made many friends and contacts in the true spirit of cultural exchange. Therefore although we had very high expectations and feel very very disappointed about not being able to win the championship...we also feel that we have gained a lot as a team (as the saying goes....what cant kill you can only make you stronger!).
_M_
