From NSW captain to a World Schools grand final: coach Maya Garg
Jehiel Pather, NSW State Team
· 4 min read
The short answer
Maya Garg, a coach at DebateBetter, captained the NSW Schools Debating Team in 2025. The same year she reached the grand final of the World Schools Debating Championship and was ranked 9th best speaker at the tournament. Now debating at university, she reached the semi-finals of the 2026 Australasian Debating Championship.
Maya Garg joined our coaching team after one of the strongest runs a school debater can have. In 2025 she captained the NSW state team. Later that year she reached the grand final of the World Schools Debating Championship and finished ninth on the speaker tab, out of every speaker at the tournament. In 2026, now debating at university, she reached the semi-finals of the Australasian Debating Championship.
The path she took
Maya's route is the one many of our students are working towards, so it's worth setting out.
- School and interschool debating. Competitions like the Premier's Debating Challenge and the independent and Catholic schools' competitions are where students learn the 3-on-3 format and build a record.
- NSW state team trials. Each year the NSW Debating Union runs trials for students in Years 10 to 12. Selectors pick a squad, which trains before the final state team is named. We explain the whole process in how the NSW state team is selected.
- The National Schools Debating Championships. The state team debates the other states and territories. Maya was captain in 2025.
- The World Schools Debating Championship. The international schools championship, where countries send national teams. Maya reached the grand final.
What a ninth-place speaker ranking means
Grand finals are team results. The speaker tab is individual: every speech gets a score, and speakers are ranked across the whole tournament. Ninth, at a championship drawing the best school debaters from dozens of countries, means Maya's own speeches were among the strongest there, round after round.
Coaching with us
Maya coaches DebateBetter's online classes, which run in groups of six or fewer. She isn't the only coach on our team to have captained NSW: Michael Kwak was NSW captain in 2024 and debated for Australia the same year. You can meet them both, and the rest of the team, on our coaches page.
Common questions
- What is the World Schools Debating Championship?
- It's the international championship for high-school debaters. Countries send national teams, and debates use the World Schools format, which has three speakers per side plus a reply speech.
- How do students get from school debating to the NSW state team?
- Students in Years 10 to 12, and some Year 9s, trial with the NSW Debating Union each year. Trials involve a debate in front of the state coaches and selectors and a general knowledge quiz. A squad trains before the final team is chosen for the National Schools Debating Championships.