The Impromptu Cup is over for another year – and proved to be a challenging and enjoyable tournament for all involved. Held on Saturday 20 September at the University of Auckland and hosted in association with the University of Auckland Debating Society, the Impromptu Cup brought 24 ASD teams together to have a go at a new style of debating (impromptu style, with just five minutes’ preparation team preceding 4-6 minute speeches!) over the course of four rounds, followed by two semi-finals and a final.
The university adjudicators that attended were uniformly impressed with the standard of debating, as students debated issues as diverse as gangster rap, aid obligations, school zoning and the lowering of the voting age. Particular praise must be in store for the four teams that made it through to the semi-finals: King’s, St Cuthbert’s, Rangitoto and Dio. These teams did very well to edge out a number of other teams that had debated well during the day. King’s proceeded through to the final in a 3-0 decision against Dio in a debate about compulsory organ donation; meanwhile, Rangitoto won their semi-final in a 2-1 split decision, negating a motion forcing smokers to pay for the costs of their smoking-related health treatment. This left a final to be contested between Rangitoto and King’s. Ultimately King’s prevailed in a 5-0 decision, negating the motion, “This House would establish citizenship testing for all new immigrants.” King’s, then, are the 2008 winners of the Impromptu Cup.
In addition to team awards, a number of individual speaker prizes were given out in recognition of top quality individual performances at the Impromptu Cup. Highly Commended awards were given to Peter Kim of Westlake Boys and Emily Adlam of Dio. An Impromptu Cup tournament team was named, which represented Auckland’s top impromptu debaters. The reserves for this team were Marianne Villaneuva of Westlake Girls and Ella Tunnicliffe-Glass from St Cuthbert’s. The team consisted of Sam Horner (Wentworth) and Ben Kornfeld (King’s). Ben Kornfeld was also named Best Speaker of the tournament.
Thank you very much to all teams who came along for the day, and to all the support we at ASD received from the University of Auckland Debating Society. Mark Tushingham proved to be a reliable and ever-helpful convenor, and Brad Ward (also a member of the ASD committee) gave an impressive speech at the beginning of the day about the merits of school students joining the Debating Society next year. Both Mark and Brad deserve our especial thanks.
Well done all, and see you again next year!
