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Junior Debating League
2008/2009
The finals of the Junior League 2008-2009 took
place in Chemnitz, organised by our Saxon representatives, Petra Allert-Löwe
and Raka Gutzeit between 28th to 31st May. There were 5 teams from Baden-Württemberg
(Parler, Schwäbisch Gmünd; Hölderlin, Nürtingen; Taus,
Backnang; KOSt, Stuttgart and St. Agnes, Stuttgart) and one from Saxony
(Kepler, Chemnitz). After 5 hard-fought preliminary debates, the final
saw KOSt pitted against Parler on the topic of home-schooling in Germany.
The result of this exciting debate was a 5:0 win for Parler-Gymnasium,
who retain the cup for the third year in a row. Thanks to all the teams
for participating and to the Saxon schools and teachers for organising
and hosting.
Hi everybody,
We can now tell you where the debates on 4th April will be held!
Group West 1 is at Karls-Gymnasium, Stuttgart, West 2 at Friedrich-Abel-Gymnasium,
Vaihingen and the East groups at Johannes-Kepler-Gymnasium, Stuttgart-Bad
Cannstatt.
The quarter-finals for the teams which come top of their groups will be
on Saturday, 25th April and the semis and finals in Saxony from May 29th-31st.
Best wishes,
David & Jana
dates, venues & motions (pdf)
results (April 2009)
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Dear debating colleagues,
There can scarcely be anyone in our region, maybe
now not even in the whole world, who has not heard of the tragic events
which unfolded in Winnenden and Wendlingen yesterday. Even one day
later, we are still totally speechless about what has happened. I know
from speaking to the children via Facebook, Skype or ICQ, that they are
all traumatised by the events. However, we cannot of course even begin
to imagine how it must be for the people in Winnenden, and especially
our friends and colleagues at the Lessing-Gymnasium, which is right next
door to the Albertville-Realschule. Our thoughts and prayers go out to
the parents, relatives, staff and people who have lost loved ones, but,
in particular, to the children whose young lives have been scarred by
this.
Our lives, though deeply affected, must go on, and it is our firm belief
that debating, which supports the clash of ideas without violence, will
help guide us through these difficult days and ensure that the children
stand together to face this adversity. So far I have seen a huge amount
of solidarity between debaters from all over Germany and throughout the
world, showing that, whilst enemies in a debate, they are friends and
supporters of each other when the debate is over.
The Lessing-Gymnasium was due to host the East Groups on Saturday for
Rounds 2 and 3 of Junior League Baden-Württemberg. You will no doubt
fully understand that this is now not possible. Having spoken to Angelika,
the atmosphere in the school, surrounded by the media, police and those
providing psychological assistance, is one which, even in our wildest
dreams, we cannot imagine. Klaus-Peter Heil of the Parler-Gymnasium,
Schwäbisch Gmünd, has kindly agreed to host the East Groups
on Saturday and so we would ask the teams affected by this to go to
Schwäbisch Gmünd, not Winnenden. In addition, we, as organisers
of Junior League, would ask you to provide him and his team with any assistance
possible, in the form of cakes and refreshments and any other assistance,
such as chairpeople or timekeepers. We are very, very grateful to the
Parler-Gymnasium for helping us here and would ask you to help us at this
difficult time. The West Groups will be hosted at Ferdinand-Porsche-Gymnasium,
Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, as originally planned. We would also like to hold
a minute's silence at the beginning of the event, in memory of those who
lost their lives yesterday.
Also, please understand that the JL debaters from Lessing-Gymnasium will
NOT be attending the debates on Saturday. They do not feel able to debate
after the events and so the Rounds 2 & 3 for Lessing will be moved
to another date. It would be unjust to let the Lessing team lose the debates
for not attending and so we would ask the opponents involved to respect
this decision and be flexible about meeting to hold these rounds.
Thank you for your support and understanding at
this difficult time.
Kind regards,
David & Jana
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Hi again,
OK, we now have venues for the 14th March. The West groups will
be going to Ferdinand-Porsche-Gymnasium in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen (thanks
to them for hosting!) and the East groups to the Lessing-Gymnasium in
Winnenden (thanks to them too!).
Still looking for people to host on the 4th April....
David
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Hello!
OK, we have now received 23 registrations for Junior League in Baden-Württemberg
for 2008-09! One more may be added to that, we are still waiting for a
response...
We'd firstly like to thank you all for registering and would particulary
like to welcome three brand new schools to Junior League (Grimmelshausen-Gymnasium,
Offenburg, Hans & Sophie-Scholl-Gymnasium, Ulm and St. Agnes-Gymnasium,
Stuttgart) as well as teams who are returning to JL (Heidehof-Gymnasium,
Stuttgart and Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium, Ludwigsburg). Welcome to you all!
We have now done the draw and it is, as in previous years, divided into
four groups by location and then by previous' years results. It doesn't
matter which group you're in, each team has an EQUAL chance of getting
to the quarter-finals and then on to the semis and finals. Talking about
that, let's give you some dates:
Round 1: 31st January 2009 (together with Senior League)
Rounds 2 & 3: 14th March 2009
Rounds 4 & 5: 4th April 2009
Quarter-Finals: 25th April 2009
Semi-Finals and Finals: 29th-31st May 2009 (in Chemnitz and Dresden)
Those of you currently checking your diaries will have noted that the
semis and finals are during the Whitsun Holiday here in Baden-Württemberg.
This is because the holidays are at a different time in Saxony and the
dates have already agreed with the heads of the appropriate schools and
with the Saxon Ministry of Education. Any teams qualifying will be expected
to participate on these dates, irrespective of holidays in Baden-Württemberg.
The Saxon teams have come to us in Baden-Württemberg during their
holidays and thus it is only fair that we are willing to do the same.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
What we also need are host schools! Because the 31st January is coupled
with SL, this means that the teams need to go to the same place (i.e.
the Juniors AND the Seniors). Anyone offering to host on that date must
expect to take both groups. Angelika has already said that this round
will be held in Ulm, Konstanz and Stuttgart and so we will need to coordinate
this.
After that, please let us know if you are willing to host. Ideally, for
Baden and the "West", there will at least be one debate in the
Baden area, i.e. Offenburg, Lahr, maybe Vaihingen/Enz. We cannot emphasise
enough the importance of hosting, as, without a host school, no debates
can take place. If you are willing to host, please let us (me & Jana)
know which date and how many teams (either just your group or the whole
West or East, or, as we had once last year - ALL the groups (thank you
again Leonberg!!!)).
Please remember to have paid the participation fee (20 Euros for the
year) to the Debating Society Germany e.V. (not to me or Jana!) before
Christmas also specifying the name of your team and that it is for JL.
The bank details are: Debating Society Germany, Baden-Württembergische
Bank (BW-Bank), Bank Sort Code 60050101, Account No. 820 46 64 or Deutsche
Bank, Bank Sort Code 600 700 24, Account No. 1320290.
Teams not paying will, unfortunately, not be permitted to take part. In
addition, school must carry their own costs for transportation and hosting.
We have attached the draw as a PDF file, so that you can see your opponents
for the coming season. We will give you the motions and the venues very
soon - before that, we need to think up some new motions for the competition!
This shouldn't take long though!!!
That's it from us for now! We'll be back in touch very soon....
Best wishes,
Jana Gilke & David
Whitehead
Welcome to Junior League 2008-2009!
Firstly, some of you may have heard that has been a change in the organisation
of the League. Michael Pates has moved on to introduce debating in other
schools and we wish him all the best with that. I will be continuing to
organise the League, both in Baden-Württemberg and for the DSG as
a whole, and my new co-organiser is *drumroll*.... Jana Gilke, twice Worlds'
speaker and recently of the Max-Born debating team, and now starting at
the University of Mannheim. Jana is an excellent organiser (and that is
not a phrase I use lightly) and she will, I'm sure, be a worthy successor
to Michael.
So, as you will recently have heard from Angelika, we're starting early
this year as there is a lot to get through. Junior League in Baden-Württemberg,
will start, not in December or January, but on the 15th November with
Rounds 1 and 2. Round 3 will be on 31st January, together with SL. Then,
Rounds 4 & 5 will be on 14th March. The finals will be in Chemnitz
at a date yet to be arranged but will either be in late May or in June,
directly after GSDC, before Saxony breaks up for the summer.
By popular agreement, the arrangements for JL Baden-Württemberg will
run along the lines of last year, with a two-tier system and West and
East. As Jana will be in Mannheim, she will be responsible for the West
Group. Those schools in that "region" should contact her on
all JL matters, as she will be able to provide more local help. I will
be responsible for the East Group. However, should too many schools apply
for the current system to be viable (and of course we encourage as many
schools as possible to take part), then we will need to rethink the scheme.
Please remember that being in the "lower" group does not mean
in any way that you don't stand a chance. We had some very strong teams
from the Group 2 in last year's JL, who even made it to the finals. The
key thing is that Group 2 is there to encourage those schools who are
either new or have a slightly less confident team, and to protect them
from being stamped on by the heavy mob of top debating schools.
So, what do we need you to do? Well, primarily, get a team together and
REGISTER! You can register with either me at this address or with Jana
at jana@dwtranslations.de. As we are starting much earlier this year,
we need your registrations by the 18th October at the latest. You will
be assigned the draw and the motions a week after that and will then have
three weeks until Rounds 1 & 2. The other thing we need is host schools
for the debates. We don't expect much from the hosts...if you are willing
to take just one group, that's fine. But we do need hosts, because otherwise
we can't hold the debates. We will try to ensure that the venues are evenly
spread, but can't promise miracles all the time!!! Again, please let either
Jana or myself know. Registration can be by mail - please specify a contact
person/contact people for the team, so that we can get you the information
quickly. Participation will cost €20 per school - to be paid to the
DSG in the normal way.
Right I think that covers everything. Hope to hear from you all soon with
your registrations!
Regards,
David & Jana
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