Debating Finals 2024, Tübingen

Last weekend, from July 5th to 7th our juniors, accompanied by Ms Fix and Ms Kurz, went to Tübingen to compete in the Debating Finals this year.

With the previous five out of six debates won, we went in with optimism, as we had scored 4th place and succesfully qualified for this weekend.

On friday we met up and took the train into the city of Tübingen and registered at the venue. Our first debate took place soon after, the motion being: " THBT humanity is incapable of learning from it's past". Our team defending the motion as proposition. Unfortunately we lost our first debate, but that meant that we could only go up from there! Throughout the evening, we divided, some watching the football game while others had fun outside, as our youth hostel was right beside the Neckar. Saturday was a bit more eventful than Friday. We got up quite early, ate breakfast and then already, it was time for the motion announcement for our next debate, an impromtu one. We were once again team proposition and the motion was: " THBT people should shop in inner cities and not online". This time though, we won and scored our first success during the finals.

Just around an hour later the next debate commenced. This was the counterpart to our debate on friday, with the same motion but different sides. So, as team opposition, we competed and won once again. Unfortunately, our efforts weren't enough as we didn't pass onto the semifinals, even with two out of three debates won. But on the other hand they were not entirely in vain: our juniors are ranked 7th place in the DSG (Debating Society Germany) 2023/24 this year!

While some took the news better than others, I'd say that the weekend was quite the event for everyone and the semifinal debates and final debate were very exciting to watch, as we could witness the talent of Germany's most skilled juniors debate...

Next year, most of our club will be seniors, so until then we will improve even further and score even higher rankings, until then! until then!

Daria Müllender