[CX-L] Intl Debate Academy Results and thanks

[Alfred C. Snider]

The 2005 Intl Debate Academy ended last Saturday, departure day from lovely
Slovenij Gradec amidst a snowstorm. It was lovely with the snow covered
mountains and the streets and houses of this quaint little town looking almost
holiday-like with winter's white carpet of snow.

Spela has put some photos online at
http://www.ljudmila.org/debata/forum/album_cat.php?cat_id=18

The training sessions seemed to be a huge success. There were many opportunities
to expand beyond just the basics and provide some real advanced training for
the students, even those in the intermediate group. I know that I, as a
trainer, was challenmged to teach new and innovative advanced techniques
because the students were very serious and very sophisticated. 17 nations were
represented at the Academy.

Each student received a CD-ROM with many relevant materials, including:
The exercises used in the small group sessions, exercises you can do in training
back home;
Lecture notes from many of the instructors;
4 lecture videos (the rest will be on the web soon -- watch for them);
Resources that debaters might find useful, such as a glossary of legal terms,
textx of major international treaties, a listing and description of major
international organizations, descriptions of major USA supreme court decisions,
materials about UN peacekeeping missions, as well as other instructional
materials.
An extensive teacher section with materials for coaching in general, debate
classes, parliamentary-policy-LD debate, public speaking, media literacy and
tournament administration.
A video of the USA ambassadors question and answer session, where the debaters
really asked difficult and pointed questions (a challenge he seemed to enjoy,
even if people didn't like many of the answers).

I will ask Bojana and Grega to post the speaker awards because they calculated
them from the spreadsheet that I produced. I do know that the top speaker was
Ivan Velev of Bulgaria. Simon Grabrovec of Slovenia was second. Primoz Karnar
of Slovenia was third. Jake Meany of the USA was fourth. Congratulations to all
of them.

After five preliminary rounds, with the last three being power-paired, the
standings to enter semifinals were:
1. Primoz Karnar-Ivan Velev***
2. Jake Meany-Simon Grabrovec***
3. Leslie Keller-Nick Landsman-Roos
4. Spela Kranjc-Spela Kunej***
5. Branka Marusic-Crt Podlogar
6. Filip Popovic-Urska Derganc***
7. Stefana Karevska-Jure Planinsek
8. Peter Mesarec-Sintija Dobrotinsek

Two teams from each semifinal advanced, and I have indicated the advancing teams
with ***. Both semifinals were, apparently, very close.

In the final round, with seven judges, on the motion, "This house believes that
the UN should replace the USA in Iraq," the results were....
1st - Jake Meany-Simon Grabrovec
2nd - Primoz Karnar-Ivan Velev

I want to thank the trainers at the Academy for their fine work...

Sam Grenland, Hong Kong
Jason Jarvis, Korea
Loke Wing Fatt, Singapore
Branka Josimov, Serbia & Montenegro
Maja Nenadovic, Croatia-Hungary-more
Joe Zompetti, USA
Sam Nelson, USA
Jure Pozgan, Slovenia

And of course, the overall organizer of the evnt, Bojana Skrt and ZIP. Special
thanks to Grega Gostenchnik, Primoz Karnar, Simon Grabrovec, Peter Mesarec and
other Slovenians who worked so hard to make the program a success. Also thanks
to the World Debate Institute for planning help, the USA Embassy in Slovenia
for funding, the Government of Slovenia, and the town of Slovenij Gradec.

Bojana says next year will be better....

Thanks to all,

Alfred C. Snider,
Head Trainer, IDAS 2005
University of Vermont, USA