Tim is constantly asking us to think about who we are. In preparation for
debates, and I think in preparation for life. Tonight I want to turn the tables on
him and ask who Tim is.
In order to answer that question, I am choosing not to refer to the debating
successes of Tim, which are widely known and acknowledged as being
amongst the most impressive in the world, as it is not who he is, but a part of
his life. The real Tim is the person who inspires the best in others. He is
someone who through his sheer persistence, forces every one around him to
live up to his expectations of them, most often being much greater than their
own.
This process started for me at age 12. In the first debate I ever did in the DAV,
I was lucky enough to have the then 21 yr old Tim, who had just a year earlier
won Australs in the ‘Best MAD team ever assembled’, adjudicate me in a
debate about Australian politics. It has stayed with me so distinctively ever
since, because of the honesty with which Tim approached his feedback. On
our case Tim said “your points were shit!”. We managed to win the D-Grade
competition that year, and I maintain it was due in part to the fact that we
never ran such shit points again.
For the rest of my high school debating ‘career’ I spent days upon days
attending schools training, with the likes of Tim, reading Tim’s training guide
and being adjudicated by Tim. This gave me not only the basic knowledge of
debating on which all my development and success since has been based,
but it also gave me the passion for debating that kept me interested for almost
9 years now.
Tim gave a 1st principles session on a Monday early in my first year, at which
point I introduced myself and reminded him of this harsh adjudication. His
response, as you would expect from Tim, was to ask “Well were the points
shit?”. I knew at this point, that we would become friends. And we have.
My respect for Tim was initially based in the kind of hero worship and awe that
most people experience in Tim’s presence, especially when young. In the lead
up to Australs last year, that changed entirely. Tim could see that Meredith,
Melany and myself were in Struggletown. Classic underdog team, we needed
a lot of guidance. Tim became our mentor, not because we nagged him-even
though we did do that- but because he honestly cared about how we would
do. And whilst almost all of our questions were probably daft, Tim never made
us feel it. Tim gave up so much time to dedicate himself to the answering of
said random questions. Tim believed in us, and made us feel like we could be
successful, regardless of what everyone else thought, including ourselves.
While in the end that tournament didn’t go exactly to plan for us, Tim gave me
the support, guidance and belief to keep going, to build on the hard work I had
already done and to move forward to Australs this year, where it all paid off,
reaching the quarters with Dom and Chris.
This is my personal experience with Tim. But the thing that makes Tim
special is that so many people in the club, across so many generations have
and continue to have similar experiences with him.
Many of the people in this room have had similar experiences - Tim talked to
Ravi and Victor before they went to Cork Worlds about how to handle
speaking in the Grand Final. They laughed at him at the time, but his belief
meant a lot, and they were grateful for that advice when the unbelievable
happened. The dozens of practice debates he participated in for MAD teams
before Australs, and has for every one of the last 4 years that I have been
around. Yet another example can be found in the way he stood aside from
consideration for CA for Australs 2009, despite it being one of his greatest
dreams, to give someone deserving, but younger, like Jake the opportunity.
This is how Tim feels about MAD. For Tim it’s not just an obligation to give
back because of all Mad gave him. He gives back beyond any expectation.
Every success of MAD, Tim wears like a badge of honour, not because he
needs to take credit for anything else, he has all the achievements anyone
could want, but because he feels a deep emotional connection to all of you,
because MAD is Tim’s lifeblood, and what flows through him, flows through all
of you.
So hopefully that provides some of the context about why the executive came
to the unanimous decision to introduce a best speaker trophy for Freehills and
name it after Tim. Now I will say that there was a long and tense discussion
about this motion, predominantly surrounding who would have the privilege to
put their name to it and move the motion To be fair, there was legitimate
questions raised about naming a trophy after somebody still living.
The following is a summary of the executive’s discussion:
The first suggestion was that we could kill Tim and solve the problem that
way. Once we decided against that option, we moved on to the real
discussion, surrounding the issue of Tim being alive. We considered what the
purpose of naming this Trophy was; it was about recognising uniquely
exceptional service to the club. It was about inspiring future generations to
follow a path of greatness and service.
How much better to do while the person in question is still around to feel the
recognition, and to be a living breathing role model for all. We decided that
winning an award named after Tim would be so much more meaningful
because all of us have a connection to the successes of Tim and he is
someone that many club members aspire to replicate.
Then we were faced with the more difficult question of what makes Tim
different to the other living legends MAD so luckily enjoys. And this answer
was more difficult. There are many people who continue to do great work for
this club, people who have always been ready to come and help the club out
when we needed them. But even amongst this illustrious company Tim stands
out. There is nobody in the category of legend who so actively and of their
own volition offers their services to the club and it’s members. Tim is truly in a
league of his own, and Tim’s living legacy is one that we are proud to
celebrate.
And so it is with that, that I would like to announce the winner of the inaugural
Tim Sonnreich Cup, and congratulate them on the honour which so many
people will strive for in years to come.