A debater’s journey in the world of debate

Doha – QatarDebate Center

After the English national debating team underwent an intensive preparation program by the former debater and current team trainer, Sheikha Al-Anoud Al-Thani, the team demonstrated to the world its competence and capabilities by participating in the Fifth International Schools Debating Championship in its virtual version, which was organized by QatarDebate Center – a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development – in April 2021, in addition to participating in the National University Debate Championship on March 27th via ZOOM, where Georgetown University was crowned with the championship title.

The team representing Qatar in international forums consists of young promising youth, and they are: “Wadha Abdulrahman Al-Hamidi – Al-Reem Al-Aqili – Dana Ziani – Iman Abdullah Al-Maraghi – Nasser Muhammad Al-Muhannadi – Sarah Al-Maadeed.”

Iman Abdullah Al-Maraghi – Team Qatar Member
My journey as a debater

The beginning was a hobby to go through the experience of debate and dialogue, and I thought it was a fleeting journey through discussion, debate, or dialogue on a stage that brings amateurs to spend some time in a frail adventure, but with time I felt that this experience touches the most important issues that I live daily, whether in my studies or aspects of my social and cultural life, as well as dealing with many issues that we live together in our societies, especially youth groups.
This experience earned me self-confidence, the skill to present topics, broad-mindedness in listening to others, flexibility in accepting the opinion of others, and building my own abilities to express my opinion.

The skills that I acquired through my participation with the Qatar team allowed me to see social, environmental and life issues in a different way, and increased my abilities for logical analysis of causes and a realistic understanding of everything going on around me and in society.
These skills that I acquired through the environment provided by QatarDebate Center for young people and trainers with high communication skills, were a motivation and an incentive to participate in the ISDC Championship, during which I lived with all the participants a beautiful atmosphere, which allowed me to apply all the skills I acquired in analyzing information and formulating arguments.

This championship was unique as it was held online, as part of the high precautionary measures in light of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to that it dealt with various and new topics, especially environmentally friendly technology.

I thank QatarDebate for providing an elegant environment for debating and opening the doors to new friendships.