By Bella Lucindo

The world often celebrates athleticism and physical prowess as the ultimate markers of discipline and human excellence — yet beyond the courts and fields lies a different kind of battleground: the mind. Within the ASHS houses numerous organizations that challenge a student’s skill in logic, strategy, and mental endurance. Chess, Debate, and Model United Nations (MUN) are just a few of the many organizations where students train to excel in both mind and spirit. If there’s one thing physical and intellectual competitions share, it’s passion; they differ not in commitment, but in the parts of the human body they push to their limits.

Training the Mind

Debate is a discipline that demands long hours of preparation that often replace rest, social life, and other academic work. Beyond that, debate provides a constant lesson in humility. “If you ask any debater, it is a ‘canon event’ [an unavoidable, identity-shaping experience] to have to go through the grueling process of learning to separate my self-worth from my performance, and to approach challenges with a mindset of learning rather than simply winning,” shared Dior Gothong, a veteran member of the ASHS Debate Varsity. Just like in sports, debaters fail, fall, and learn to get back up better than before.  

Though often compared to debate, MUN’s true focus is on diplomacy and solution-making, being collaborative rather than adversarial. Success in MUN is all in the preparation. According to experienced “MUNer” Keanne Pumaren, in the weeks leading up to a conference, delegates have to go over their study guides, research for hours upon hours on their committee, country allocation, topic, and possible solutions to create their resolution papers and speeches for the conference itself. On top of an academic workload, it can get difficult to balance. However, like in all pursuits, hard work pays off. The skills learned in the MUN Circuit: increased social and political awareness, better collaboration and communication skills, and more in-depth research skills, are all abilities useful in everyday life. While certainly less strenuous, academic competitions demand rigor in their own right. 

Chess occupies a unique position among these organizations, toeing the line between intellectual pursuit and athletic competition. For the members of ASHS Chess Varsity, training is measured not in sprints or drills but in hours-long matches that demand sustained focus. Aidan Mejia, Chess Varsity Captain, explains that tournament games often last between one to three hours, with longer events stretching up to seven. When multiplied across multiple matches, travel days, and tournaments that extend over weeks or months, the cumulative strain becomes unmistakable. Like other athletes managing long seasons, chess players learn to pace themselves, sustain focus, and juggle competition with academic demands. 

Despite differing in formula, these disciplines demand the same consistency, drive, and sacrifice expected of any form of competition. While the challenges may be less visible than physical exertion, the rigor and commitment are no less real.

What Defines An Athlete?

What defines an athlete? Is it the strain on the body, or the discipline behind the performance? Traditionally, it is physical exertion — the visible strain of strength, speed, and stamina. Yet this definition also shapes how discipline and effort are recognized in competition. When legitimacy is measured primarily through physical strain, pursuits rooted in mental endurance and preparation are often undervalued. As Keanne wonderfully put it: “People often think that just because it isn’t as physically strenuous as sports, intellectual competitions aren’t as important. However, they should recognise that both disciplines involve time and effort to excel. They can be recognised by taking the time to learn how these competitions work and acknowledging the hard work competitors put in.” What’s rewarded, then, is not always commitment itself, but the kind of commitment we are most accustomed to seeing.

For Chess, even when players compete in the same tournaments and earn the same medals as physical athletes, the discipline behind their performance is often met with a quieter recognition. “It isn’t held to the same regard or prestige, or given the same respect, so you really have to keep to yourself about it…Given that intellectual competitions aren’t as flashy as physical sports, it is inevitably going to be given less attention,” said Aidan. While he does hold these sentiments, he also recognizes and is grateful for the efforts made by the school and the student body to support and appreciate the sport. Yet even with support, the broader perception of chess remains muted compared with more physical competitions. The issue is not that chess is “nerdy,” but that “nerdy” has been treated as something worthy of dismissal. Chess players show that dedication, focus, and endurance are valuable — even when they don’t fit the conventional image of athleticism.

Just as athletes do, debaters dedicate themselves to constant practice and self-improvement, honing not only their analytical and speaking skills but also their mental endurance and focus. While athletes can often rely on muscle memory in the heat of the moment, debate requires an alertness that can’t go on autopilot. They learn to perform under pressure, to stay composed when stakes are high, and to persevere through setbacks — training their minds with the same discipline and rigor that athletes train their bodies. In this way, the commitment behind intellectual competitions mirrors that of any physical sport, even if it is less visible to the casual observer. Yet, surely, what any witness can see is the passion that ties them all together. 

A Different Kind of Endurance

“Doing it for the love of the game” is a popular saying that perfectly captures why people do all that they do. Why do we train for long hours, take hit after hit, or stay up late to make sure everything is done right? Certainly not just for a medal or a certificate. No matter how different sports and academics — or “jocks” and “nerds” — may seem, one thing is clear: it is passion that drives us, that keeps us striving and growing.

Appreciating the commitment in both intellectual and physical arenas highlights that passion and discipline are what truly define achievement. Intellectual and physical competitions are not opposing categories; they are parallel expressions of dedication, rigor, and excellence. How athleticism is defined ultimately reflects how society chooses to value different forms of human effort, and recognizing this shared devotion challenges old stereotypes while honoring the unique demands of each pursuit.