Yasmin Younis

Seniors Noreen Webster and Yasmin Younis tackle freshman Aditya Buddi after their paintballing social. The team makes bonding experiences a priority so that everyone on the team gets to know each other well. “The atmosphere of speech and debate is literally the greatest. The people are kind, social, and always there for each other,” varsity debater Naomi Kodama said.

With conventional sports having just begun, and traditional games and tournaments starting in the next few weeks, another activity has risen to the surface: Debate.

“Even though most people don’t know about it, debate is an awesome community. Within our team we are all like a family, and that’s why I love it even more than sports,” varsity debater Naomi Kodama said.

Although it may not seem like it, debate is comparable to other sports. Instead of hour-long games, they hold weekend-long tournaments, and instead of tryouts, informational meetings take place. But the biggest difference is that instead of physical exercise, debaters employ mental rigor.

“It’s not exactly a sport,” senior Yasmin Younis said. “It is competitive, and it takes dedication to be good though. Debate is a mind exercise, and we compete with people from all over Missouri, not just a certain school or district at once.”

Speech and debate is a club where high school students compete against other students in two separate categories: speech events or debate events. In debate events, students research a topic and then argue about the pros and cons of this topic. In contrast, speech events involve acting.

“I love the idea that if you can choose the right words and say them in a certain way, then you can change the minds of people. The power of words are incredible, but when those words are spoken, they become a whole new creation,” Kodama said.

Along with attending tournaments, they are also similar to sports in that debaters attend camps and have rivalries with other schools.

“This summer I went to a camp at Bradley University, which is the #1 speech college in America. It was neat because I got to see people from other schools, like Ladue and Clayton, and everybody practiced together no matter what their skill level or age,” sophomore Nick Chiu said.

Aside from competitions and practices, those in Debate Club spend time together outside of school. The club stresses team bonding activities.

“After every tournament, we go out to eat at Red Robin. We are also going to hold a team-wide scavenger hunts, spend a day at the ballpark watching the Cardinals play, and this year we went paintballing!” Younis said.

These activities help everyone to get to know each other and make debate a big family.

“Debate rocks, and I think everyone should join. There’s space for everyone, and nobody I’ve ever heard from has regretted joining,” Younis said.

In the end, the main thing that separates debate from other sports is their view of success. While other teams may associate success with the number of wins or losses that the team accumulates, debate coach Cara Borgsmiller looks at it differently.

“Of course everyone wants to do well and place highly in tournaments, but along with the rest of my team, I view a season as successful if everyone enjoys themselves and learns something about the rest of the world and about themselves as a person,” Borgsmiller said.