by Aidan Shelton
Cal Poly Humboldt is set to send debate team students to a tournament for the first time since 2019, continuing a long and proud tradition of Humboldt debate. Two students, junior Sylvia Seay and sophomore Oz Kimble, will travel to Denver, Colorado, to compete in a debate tournament at Metro State University. Despite many on campus not being aware that a debate team existed, Humboldt debating has a roughly 100-year history according to Aaron Donaldson, advisor to the debate team.
“When I came here, not a lot of folks knew much about the team, but we have Lumberjack articles going back to the 1930s, the 1940s,” Aaron Donaldson, advisor to the debate team, said. “We have articles in local paper[s] going back to the 1920s.”
Donaldson actually remembers Humboldt as a strong debate team in his college days. The stances that they took could be argued as anti-capitalist or pro-legalization arguments. Like most other forms of competition, debate has many categories.
“There’s several different kinds of debate: there’s 2v2 debate and 1v1 debate,” Donaldson said. “We do something called world’s debate or British Parliamentary debate. You go to a tournament, you get assigned a side first… and once you get that side, then they announce the topic, you have 25 minutes without the Internet to prep your arguments. At the end of the debate, the judge will rank the teams in the room [first, second, third and fourth].”
Growing up with congenital issues, Donaldson always wanted to represent his school in a competition, but his body’s physical problems limited him. He discovered debate as a senior in high school and it gave him a space to nurture his competitive side, be a part of a team and continue to learn. As he’s grown as a debater, he’s learned that one of the most important aspects of the craft is being able to admit you were wrong and change your stance when presented with enough evidence. He’s incredibly happy for the opportunity to send students to a competition and the chance for growth it provides.
“I’m excited to hear a different set of people debate who come from different backgrounds, and see if that changes the way they argue in the issues that frame their argumentation, and to hear from many different judges,” Seay said.
As the debate team’s oldest member, Seay brings a lot of experience to the table and was a shoo-in to be selected to travel and compete. She was always interested in politics and did debate in middle school. Seay got back into it when she was recruited from a public speaking class. Kimble, on the other hand, could be described as more of a wildcard. With a background in Esports and comment section arguments, he brings a fresh perspective to the table with a unique ability to argue for stances he doesn’t necessarily agree with.
“I have spent far too much time online playing devil’s advocate just for fun to get reactions and stuff like that for me to have too much of an issue doing it in front of people,” Kimble said. “I’ve been [debating] pointless arguments since middle school. So, now that I have a point, it’s even easier.”
A debate that is often brought up is the legitimacy of non-physical competitions like debate, chess, or Esports as sports. The definition of what makes a sport is growing and evolving — at the end of the day, many would argue that it isn’t the physicality that makes the sport, it’s the spirit of competition. Sportsmanship is defined by how you interact with your opponent, not physical capability. Even still, debate will physically take energy.
“I would say that debate is deeply physical, that it is very exhausting, that most people cannot muster the attention to listen to a single debate all the way through let alone to participate in one,” Donaldson said. “It is competitive, the questions of how you use time are everything in debate. Each person has seven minutes to speak, and the amount of time that you spend on any particular argument can ultimately determine how competitive you are.”
Debate is a great example of a sport that exists outside the traditional guidelines of athletics. It proves that not all sports are physical or require a ball. Even though debate may not be a sport in the traditional sense, it shares many of the core beliefs, such as waking up every morning and committing to put in the work to pursue perfection, even when the body and mind are exhausted. The drive to compete and perform at the highest level is what makes something a sport. Putting everything on the line in a competition against the best, coming up short and still committing to stay on the path is what makes an athlete.
Aidan Shelton is a journalism major with a minor in environmental ethics and the Sports Editor of the Lumberjack. A writer, sprinter and Arcata local, he understands what gives Humboldt its identity and wants to see it flourish. He hopes to encapsulate the uniqueness and diversity of Humboldt sports in his work. In his free time he enjoys being outdoors, going to the gym and travelling. For any sports inquiries contact azs10@humboldt.edu.
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