Through Mr Bassie, we entered the Cape Town Debate League for the 2026 season, competing in Division A (Grades 10–12). This was a considerable step up, as we’d be facing schools with dedicated debating coaches, lessons and far larger pools of students to choose from. Our humble squad consisted of Fynn, Jesse, Nsuku, Grace and me. We looked forward to six rounds of debate, despite never having competed in six full debates ever before!

Our first opponents were Parow High School, so naturally, I did some research to find out what we were getting ourselves into. I regretted this quickly upon discovering that they’d lost only one of their previous twelve league debates in the past two years. The calibre of opposition began to dawn on us, and we realised we wouldn’t have an easy ride at all.

With a unique combination of fear, excitement and half-preparedness, we entered Round 1. We greeted our opponents and duly informed them that this was our first league debate ever (for damage control). Fynn opened as first speaker, followed by Jesse and then me. After the debate, we waited outside while the judges deliberated for what felt like an impossible amount of time. Upon re-entry, we sat down with anticipation to hear the final verdict.

Miraculously, we’d won! Our first league debate, against a team that was virtually unbeaten, and we’d come out victorious. We were walking on air for days, having finally proved that we were, in fact, capable of debating. We awaited the announcement of our Round 2 opponents with a newfound anticipation and taste for victory.

Unfortunately, Round 2 could not have tasted much worse, as Rondebosch Boys gave us a harsh reality check. In many ways, this loss was one of the best things that could have happened to us in the course of the season. It urged us to bring down our confidence, identify the holes in our skills as a debating team, and to do our best to patch those holes up. We picked ourselves up and marched on.

What followed was an unstoppable run in Rounds 3, 4 and 5, defeating Fairmont High, Edgemead High and Wynberg Boys with conviction! At this point, our record stood at four wins and one loss, placing us 11th out of 56 teams in our division. This meant that a victory in Round 6 could secure us a top-eight finish and qualification for the knockout stage. What had initially seemed like a pipe dream was suddenly within reach.

Our final opponents were Norman Henshilwood High, a formidable debating school with a strong reputation in Cape Town. We knew this would be our toughest test yet, but we entered knowing we had in fact earned the right to be on the verge of qualification, and fear was unnecessary. Unfortunately, Normies came out victorious over us, showing their experience and prowess as a debating squad. We had come agonisingly close to reaching the knockouts, and our season came to an end.

Nevertheless, if you’d told us back in 2023 that Michael Oak would come anywhere close to qualifying for the knockout stage of a formal debating league, I doubt many of us would have believed you. We also earned individual recognition, with Fynn taking Best Speaker in Rounds 1 and 5, while I earned the same accolade in Round 3. 

We also had our first dedicated junior team (Classes 8-9) compete in an event against Constantia Waldorf in term 2, with Mpilo, Talia and Arya securing the win! This year, we’ve made huge progress as a team, building stronger relationships alongside our individual skills. 

One thing I’ve noticed about our team is that we always seem to enjoy debating a thousand times more than any of the other teams! During our hour of preparation, other teams are often completely zoned in, furiously writing pages of notes while barking facts and statistics at their teammates. Meanwhile, our bench seems to be the only place where people are laughing, making generally irrelevant and unserious jokes and actually enjoying the pain of having to come up with three clean, logical arguments on a subject you barely know anything about in less than an hour. Following our dilly-dallying during prep, it was those same serious teams that we’d go on to beat, while most certainly having more fun than they were.

In terms of a first year in formal debating, I truly believe we’ve outdone ourselves and can be extremely proud of our hard work and performances. I’d like to give special thanks to Mr Bassie and Coach Declan, who have kept our passion for debating going and allowed us to step up to the next level, both individually and as a team. I also must share my pride and reverence for my teammates, especially this year’s squad of Fynn, Grace, Nsuku and Jesse. All of you have helped make debating this year one of the highlights of my high school career 🙂 We’ve grown together as a unit, and I can’t wait to see how we’ll do in 2027!

Haidr Booley
Class 12 Student