It's been a month since I've updated this blog, and the reason for that was the 2006 World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) held in Cardiff, Wales, from July 5th to the 14th.
I spent the past month training the Korean national debate team, first in Thailand (for a week) and then the succeeding two weeks in Wales. This past week was merely my "detox" period, so my body could rest.
First of all, let me proudly announce that Korea is a Quarterfinalist at this year's WSDC, the first time it's ever achieved that distinction, and the first time, if I'm not mistaken, that an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) team has ever made it to that point in the tournament. Add to this the fact that we beat the no.1 seed, Pakistan, in the Octofinals (round of 16), which is the first time it's ever been done in WSDC history, and you have a very successful tournament indeed. The fact that one of the Korean debaters, Seo Hee, was named the No.1 EFL speaker was the icing on the cake.
I'm proud of all the team members this year (Bo Kyeong, Hye Won, Jihye, Seo Hee and Suhyun), and am also grateful to all the people who supported us and helped make it possible (Joshua, as team manager, Jiho and Jungwon as judges, and Bo Yun, Hoon Ik and Sang Jin as observers and valuable researchers). Thanks also goes to our middle-school observers, Christine and Jay, who flew all the way to the UK to witness our historic triumph.
I'd also like to publicly appreciate the tremendous help offered by our friends in Thailand, such as Amp, Billy, Praew, Tanya, Pat, Namwan, Rut, TJ, Sara, Nico, Sabiha, Peter, Suree, Saurabh and everyone else. Thanks to you, Team Korea had a very fruitful and enlightening practice week leading up to the WSDC. I'm truly grateful.
Lastly, to everyone from Korea who helped to support the team, in training and elsewhere, I'm also sincerely thankful. Thanks, especially, to Ah Young, Jumin, Jong Min and everyone else who went to trainings and helped the team learn, either by debating against the team, or providing valuable input and feedback.
Now that I've reached the end of this Oscar-like litany of thanks, I only have one more thing to say: British food is good, but Korean food is sooooooooooooo much better. ;) So, for that matter, is practically every other food in the world. =)
