Wednesday, February 13, 2008

previously, in 2007 (part 2)

As the holiday ends, SEF were busied with preparation for OpenHouseUnit 2007, which went well and there were as many as 200-something people signing up. Talents were spotted and hopes were grown. The air of optimism leads to decision to send newbies as part of ITB contingent to Capital Market Debate at STAN, with Danti leading the newbies, Tizar and Azi to form Team ITB A while the more familiar faces of Uphie, Elfa, and Masyhur joined team ITB B. ITB B managed to advance to Grand final, having defeated team UI B at semifinal, and were defeated by UI A. However, in addition to being Runner-up, Uphie and Masyhur succeeded to seize the 1st and 3rd Best Speaker trophies as well.

Considering into account that talents in newbies should be developed, we arrive at conclusion that more tournament experience is vital, thus sending two teams to UI’s Newbie Tournament was more than fitting. Although the participation was unyielding, it was definitely a good way for Pandu, Gilang, Raisa, Nik, Eling and Nogi to grasp the experience of a varsity-level debate tournament, particularly given the coaching sessions that comes part and parcel with the tournament.

Aside from minor activities like adjudicating in some high school debate tournament and national polytechnics English debate competition at poltekpos, the last major tournament available was Founders’ Trophy at UI, where team Emil-Pandu broke to the Quarterfinal round and team Uphie-Elfa progessed to Semifinal. Pandu was awarded Best Novice Speaker of the tournament.

At last, year 2007 was concluded with participation in Worlds 2008 that starts at December 27th, 2007. As events progressed, team Uphie-Masyhur collected 13 VPs of 9 preliminary debates and broke to ESL Octos. While none all four Indonesian team who broke the ESL round advance to ESL Quarterfinal rounds, it was a remarkable achievement, nonetheless.
Hence ends part two of year 2007, a mere stepping stone. Vivat, crescat, floreat.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

arguendo, omnibus formosior

It's been awhile since I looked up my name in the Google. And this evening, out of boredom, I Googled it up in a different combination: my first and last name only. To my surprise, it listed the page from smoothtournament.com as its first result. This is definitely a good change.

As far as i can remember, the last time I Googled up my name was in 2005, when my friends at astronomy got curious. It was pretty embarrassing, I don’t know why. Perhaps it's the way those journalist and reporters wrote about me, the whole 'from zero to hero'-thingy, simply because i came from a little town where science, let alone astronomy Olympiad is no-one bothers. However, during the course of the events, I was not special; in fact I merely go with the flow. This is why i never listed that achievement as The One.

Rather, I’m more fond of debating, where it's not a one-man show. Naturally anti social, I was forced to forge a solid group; hence the socialization. And to some extent, it worked. The little clique that I formed at high school with several others may have its origin traced to debate. And the ESL breaking, as much as I like to downplay it, I bear it to certain significance.

However, it should be noted that I’m not the star, and even in debating I have had my ups and downs. My initial participations surely can be categorized as downs, where i score a persistent no-good-single VP. It changed at NED, with Wiliam and Ella as my teammates, we broke the single-VP curse. In retrospect, I can see the miserable result as a learning point now. But it was not until AUDC that we come to a relatively stable performance, which can be classified as ups. Breaking to AUDC EFL semifinal, ITB double break at JOVED, breaking to semifinal at PIMNAS, advancing to grand final at CMDC, and lastly, breaking Worlds ESL Octos.

While content with that list, there's one undeniable fact: I always had the best teammate in the pool. As demonstrated by being in a team with Uphie 5 times, who constantly grabs all best speaker awards in sight, and Aino (4), who had endured zero VP at her first tournament with me. Special note also goes to Tyson (3), Wiliam (3), and Ella (3), all three of them were the best available in 2005 debating pool. There are also numerous others who helped in the practice, to list them here for the sake of my debating track record will be simply demeaning. This also applies for my training buddies at high school. I humbly thank you all.

As for now, adjudicating IVED grand final does mean something, and if any of you seeking an interpretation of it: I will cease my activity in debating, limiting myself in coaching and adjudicating, and concentrating on the very thing that brought me to ITB at the very heart: my academic life at astronomy.

I thank you.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Previously, in 2007 (part 1)

The first tournament of 2007 was IVED UnSoed Purwokerto, where ITB team of Uphie-Tyson-Masyhur finished 18th, while Aino was accredited B. Little did we know how the IVED encounter leads to one of many surprises revealed at JOVED. The tournament was so-so, and there's a large room for improvement at food and ceremonies department. However, we did found a place that served a very delicious grilled chicken. Deep fried chicken was also available at that restaurant, where it was surprisingly cheap. 

NTU Dorothy Cheung, as the debaters sought for more competitive yet affordable training ground. Norman was the DCA, Will tried tab for the upcoming AUDC, Bahana scored 4 at the accreditation test, and both teams performed poorly; Team Ella-Safir-Emil managed to steal a VP higher than team Aino-Elfa-Masyhur. The result did scar us. Lots of good debates to be seen, though.

Even so, it was not until the end of the tournament when we found ourselves re-enacting the amazing race, when four out of seven people who left Singapore earlier, all Industrial engineering students, misses the Citilink flight from Batam to Bandung. The three who made it, Ella-Emil-Masyhur were filled with survivor's guilt for at least fifteen minutes. We did have a taxi race, running breathless and lots of panting on the plane.

ALSA UI E-Comp: the plot thickens, some bans the others from being in the same team. Which lead to decision to acquire Dito SBM after Aino's endorsement, who then sent to ALSA E-comp as adj, along with Uphie, while Ella-Safir-Elfa represented ITB as debating team. Sadly, similar result with IVED was seen again.

Amidst the hubbub, along came a request from LPKM to debate and represent ITB at NEUDC Semarang. Fueled with hope of securing a seat at WUDC funded by Ministry of Education, confusion that follows afterwards should come as no surprises. Nonetheless, good surprises came when both teams of Wil-Tyson and Emil-Safir broke to the quarter finals. Rumor has it that the ITB teams, with Martha as adj had a lot of talk with teams from Jogja. UGM emerged as the champion at this tournament.

Finally, May come, and for the first time, an international debating tournament was held in Indonesia. Three teams for ITB finally were arranged: Safir-Ella-Dito for ITB A, Wiliam-Tyson-Elfa for ITB B and Aino-Uphie-Masyhur for ITB C. ITB C broke to EFL Semifinal and faced a five-love defeat from Nando-Engel-Novel from UGM. In addition to Bahana ,Martha and Norman who was the DCA, Faiz and Ragil also adjudicate under ITB umbrella. History was in the making as UI broke to the Octos and later Ateneo crushed NUS at the final in Gedung Merdeka. the T-shirt business, however, was a fiasco, and currently there's still some XS-sized female AUDC Slug T-shirt available. Interested? Contact us. 

As event progressed, more tournaments were coming, and we found ourselves busy preparing for JOVED UII, and eventually we sent two teams: Norman-Aino-Masyhur as ITB B and Elfa-Tyson-Uphie as ITB A, while Safir was sent as adj and Wiliam was invited as adj. Both teams advanced to the Semis, and unfortunately, UGM ruined the hope of all-ITB final. However, ITB A emerged champion, and Uphie stood[1] as the 1st best speaker while Norman trailed in 3rd position.

Rushing to PIMNAS, we--Aino-Uphie-Masyhur--were disappointed with the lodging, and most of all, the adjudicaton. more on the bizarre adjudication can be found here. We did manage to advance the semifinal, though, before we were defeated by UGM. 

Hence ends the first half of 2007 with three semifinals, two quarterfinals, two best speakers and one champion title. A good first half, that is. Appareo decet nihil munditia? 

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[1] or sit, actually. he was in the taxi to Tugu Station with me and aino when the results were announced.