Die gute Nachricht gleich mal vorneweg: Reinhold Koch vom Debattierclub München hat das Turnier beim International Debate Camp in Porto, Portugal, gewonnen. Lest hier den Bericht von G. Rhydian Morgan, der als Debattiertrainer schon die ganze Welt bereiste – diesmal das westlichste Land Europas.

It started as an idea, back in November 2010, when the first Portuguese participants attended the renowned IDAS training held annually in Slovenia. Impressed and encouraged by the quality of instruction and the intensity of the programme, a group of debaters from the University of Porto Debating Society (SdDUP) headed by their President, Ary Ferreira da Cunha, decided to see if they could do something similar in their home country. Emails were sent to prospective faculty members, and the difficult task of sourcing funding began. And still no-one knew whether this would even be possible.

There followed months of administrative work – where to host such a camp, where and how to feed the debaters, what social programme to organise, how to market the event… all things which required dedication, determination and a small amount of stubbornness and refusal to believe that this could not be done. Ary was able to call on other members of the society to help, and the team of Ary, Luisa Taveira, Hugo Volz Oliveira, Tiago Laranjeiro, and Joana Carrilho worked endlessly, tirelessly, and at times what must have seemed thanklessly, to pull this all together. Faculty was chosen from a number of applicants, the event was publicised, debaters showed their willingness to come, venues were sourced, support from the university canvassed – slowly, things began to take shape. And so it was that in July this summer some thirty participants gathered in Portugal for the first IDC Porto, and what is hoped will be the first of an annual event.

The setting for the camp was a dream – the training and instruction through the week was held at the fabulous Parque do Rio resort, located on a small peninsula some forty minutes from Porto, with a river and sea coast on either side, a beach close by, and wonderful facilities – in fact the only complaint was that there was never enough time to enjoy the luxury of the on-site swimming pool. Fully catered, the Parque provided full, cooked lunch and dinners with a traditional barbecue one night, and also provided plenty of amazing venues for seminars, workshops and debates. Also included in the programme (and a departure from the norm of other camps) were team games for which points were awarded, including tug-o’-war, archery, kite-building and more – either on the nearby beach, or at the Parque itself, which greatly enhanced the feelings of teamwork and togetherness in the camp as whole, and provided a focus for the social programme too. All in all, it was a busy week, with seminars, workshops and debates (usually two of each) throughout the day, plus those all-important team-building exercises, but the debaters, faculty and organisers threw themselves into each and every activity with enthusiasm and passion, ensuring that there was maximum enjoyment for all.

The debaters came from across Portuguese institutions, from Spain, France, Germany and Slovenia (with one Portuguese debater making the trip home from her studies in the UK), most of them new to either WUDC debating, or debate as whole, and with varying degrees of English proficiency. The faculty comprised of Maja Nenadovic, who has done more to help establish new debate societies in Europe than almost anyone, Filip Dobranic, one of the world’s finest debaters and coaches, and G. Rhydian Morgan – all of whom have a number of years experience in coaching debate – and all were struck by the marked progress made by every single member of the camp. As Filip said at the end of the event, the progress was noticeable not just from the start of the week to the end, but from morning to afternoon, as every debater worked incredibly hard to take on the feedback from each member of faculty after every session, and every debate, and improve their performance thereafter. Special mention must go to Gonzalo Alonso from Spain who was the top speaker during the practice rounds, and Claudia Freitas from Portugal who topped the speaker tab at the end-of-event competition (and who, with her team mate Rita Caldas, finished first on the team tab). Also, congratulations are due to the team of Rita Tavares (Portugal) and Rheinhold Koch (Germany), who won the Grand Final.

And so a week that consisted of intense training, high-class seminars (and special thanks goes to Miguel Prata Gomes for coming to talk to the students about conflicting rights), good quality debates, and some amazing social events (the karaoke will live long in some people’s memory, as will the midnight swims of a few participants, but none will ever forget the guided tour and especial tasting of the fine port wines of Sandeman) drew to a close with a wish, the will and the determination to make next year’s event bigger, and better. Look out for news of the IDC Porto 2012, and come and be part of Europe’s newest, and one of the most enjoyable, debate camps around.

G. Rhydian Morgan ist ein weitgereister und gern gesehener Coach bei Debttiercamps und -workshops. So ist er etwa seit Jahren als Coach der International Debate Academy Slvenia mit dabei. Im Internet gibt es ein Video von ihm zum Thema “points of information”. Sein Bericht über das International Debate Camp in Porto erschien zuerst auf dem Global Debate Blog.