Trinitityhouse Glenvista’s debate team shines at championships

Trinityhouse Glenvista’s senior debate team recently clinched victory in a debate competition at the Atheneum Central Championships held at St Andrew’s Girls School.

The competition ran from the first term of the school calendar in February to the second term in various high schools throughout the province, with the final round taking place on May 26.

Approximately 20 schools participated in the competition with several schools having numerous teams.

The competition was attended by Pretoria Girls High School, St Dominic’s Catholic School, and St Stithians Girls College, among others.

Trinityhouse Glenvista’s master in charge of debating, Theo Mendlula, said: “This isn’t our first time taking part in Atheneum. Our very first interaction with the competition resulted in us losing in the quarter-final but we had the debaters receive awards for their purposes.

“This year was our redemption arc where the focus was to at least make finals and possibly win the competition. Fortunately, we achieved both. The school began preparing for the competition as soon as the academic calendar began, and they had many tough sessions, with the debaters working incredibly hard throughout each training session.”

Mendlula mentioned that there were a few challenges that they faced when preparing for the competition but that did not stop them from their main focus, which was making sure that they were well prepared for the championships.

“Getting into the groove of things after long holidays where the debaters were relaxing and enjoying the holidays was not easy.

“Some of the other challenges we faced were understanding the content that was being taught and its applications across different topics, not performing at the level they knew they could and that resulted in them being upset as they lost rounds, they shouldn’t have lost.

“The feeling of winning is always great. As every member of the coaching and mentoring staff, we feel over the moon about our winning. But we know that this is only the beginning. We celebrate for two seconds then we start preparing for future competitions as we would like to be a dominant force in the space of debating. Winning brings us an urge to win more competitions,” said Mendlula.

Mendlula passed heartfelt gratitude to all the teachers involved in their development processes.

“The various coaches give all that they have to make sure that winning is possible. Thank you to Trinityhouse Glenvista for allowing us to have such a programme and offering it at a very high quality and standard.”