They're kind, relaxed, humorous sitting round the picnic table at school – but when they get behind the lectern to argue the negative or positive of the motion, they're critical, analytical, cut-throat – even mean!

Meet Saad Aamir, 17, Shiana French, 17, and Luca Ririnui, 16. The trio are the Bay of Plenty's regional debating team heading to Parliament to take on 13 fellow school teams for the national title late-May.

They've just secured their regional team positions from the competition's BOP round in Tauranga on March 26. And they've got an excellent training opportunity in-store at home ahead of the nationals– The Great Debate in the Bay on Saturday, May 13, at Classic Flyers Museum.

The Great Debate pits three teams of students against three teams of adults. The adult teams are split into three categories. Political is Team MMP featuring Labour's Jan Tinetti, National's Sam Uffindell and Act's Cameron Luxton.

Then there's Team Local celebs and Team Local business leaders, all squaring off against their junior equivalents, vying to win the Rotary Cup across three strong debates on the night.

The Rotary Club of Tauranga Te Papa has partnered with the NZ Schools Debating Council to rebuild and reenergize school debating within the Bay's colleges. The Great Debate is part of this work to support youth ahead of the 2023 New Zealand Schools' Debating Championship from May 26-29 with the grand finals hosted in Parliament's Legislative Council Chamber.

So why debating? Shiana, Year 13, and Luca, Year 12, both from Mount College, have been debating since Year 9.

'Debating is really fun and enjoyable,” says Shiana. 'You get caught up in the energy of it. And it's really good for anything related to public speaking. It definitely helped me build up my confidence more to speak publically to larger crowds.”

For Saad, who is Year 13 at Tauranga Boys' College, the regional competition was his first gig – and he won Overall Best Debater of the night. 'You have to kind of be really mean. That's why I did it,” says Saad, jokingly.

'I just really enjoy being argumentative and debating is an awesome way to engage in discourse.”

So what skills do you need? 'I think critical thinking is the big thing,” says Saad. 'Kids who are into reading and the humanities they love it.”

Shiana says: 'I wouldn't say you have to be mean – it's being assertive. And you have to keep on thinking ‘Why?' so your points are fully developed. You tell the other team ‘our points are great and yours suck'.”

Luca says it's about analytical thinking. 'Lots of people go surface-level but you need to break topics down and go deeper and deeper. I also think confidence is key – you can have good points and know what you're saying but if you're not confident up there it's hard to get that across.”

No jitters onstage? Saad: 'I do – yeah, all the time”. 'At my school I have to talk sometimes and especially when it's in front of my cohort, it's scary.”

Luca says speaking in front of peers is the hardest. 'But in general seeing heads and heads of people is always a bit nerve-wracking.”

How do you steady the nerves? 'I make intense eye contact with two people in the audience,” says Shiana. 'Ahhh...” say the boys. Saad: 'I just start laughing – no, you just don't think about it”.

Luca: 'You get in the zone, get really wrapped up in what you're talking about and forget everyone is there”.

For all three this is their first time in the BOP regional debating team. The first time they'll take on politicians, celebs and businesspeople in The Great Debate in the Bay in their work towards the nationals.

Their thoughts? A shout-out to Melissa Connolly. 'Melissa is our main coach, she's great and we're lucky to have her.”

The trio also want to thank Aylish Waldron and Ella Mitchell. Ella was in the BOP team for three years before starting university. 'They've already been really helpful and are setting up training for us.”

Shiana, who wants to go into law, says debating is aiding her path there. 'It's not the reason I want to get into law but it definitely helps.”

Luca, still considering career choices, says debating is another way of keeping options open. Saad, who aims to be a secondary school teacher, just enjoys it. 'I'm pretty disagreeable as it is – and I think a debater needs to have an opinion everything. It's fun.”

To see the trio debate live, get to The Great Debate in the Bay on Saturday, May 13 from 5pm-10pm Classic Flyers Museum, 8 Jean Batten Drive, Mount Maunganui. For individual tickets, visit: https://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2023/the-great-debate-in-the-bay/mt-maunganui or phone 0800 BUY TIX (289 849). For tables of nine, email: enquire.youthdevelopmentbop@gmail.com