Feature Story

Talking to walls, character pops, hilarious voices, and suits; these four things may seem out of place to many people, however they are commonplace for every speech tournament. There are various things students go through to prepare themselves for their competitions, and many of these practices are strange and awkward. However, this never stops the members of the speech team from doing what they do best – tell stories.

Eastview High School’s Speech Team has been competitively successful for over five years, and much of this success stems from the involvement of students and faculty. To do well, every student is required to attend a couple of practices each week. While certain categories, such as discussion and extemporaneous speaking, require group practices, others require much one on one time with coaches. This time is spent anywhere from finding a “cutting” for a performance
to going over character pops to make sure they are seamless.

Warming up for each speech has become a ritual for many of the “speechies.” For any speech to be given properly, each student needs to make sure that they are fully awake and excited for their upcoming rounds. Right away after arriving at a tournament, the team captains scatter to look for empty rooms to be used for team warm-ups. As the team files into the room, the excitement in the room constantly rises. The captains begin with their usual repertoire of warm-ups, and the room erupts in the chat-like phrases.

“A Big Black Bug Bit a Big Black Bear…*clap*…A Big Black Bug…”

Each student has these tongue twisters memorized, and they try to come up with new ways to say them. Some have extremely serious faces as they are practicing for their drama pieces, while others are almost jumping around the room trying to wake themselves up for their humorous pieces. Nevertheless, there is a sense of unity among these students as they do each phrase.

It seems as if each warm-up exercise is designed to accomplish something different. Facial stretches, during which the captains each say something funny or something that will make the students angry, are used to, well, stretch the face. Team members react differently, and this helps them prepare their faces so they can be completely into their speeches. This is especially useful for the members in categories like storytelling and humorous, where there are various characters they need to portray.

If an outsider walked in on these people dancing around, he or she would definitely think it was a room full of crazy people. This is mainly because of the “Let me see your funky chicken” warm-up. It starts out with one of the captains making something up, like “Let me see your crazy cab driver,” and the team members will pretend to drive around like maniacs. The funky chicken is always saved for the last phrase, and the job of saying the phrase is passed down to a new member of the team each year. This year, it is the job of captain Lindsey White, who leads the chant with as much enthusiasm as anyone could possibly have. During this part of the warm-up, members are clucking like chickens, and just having a good time.

After the team warm-ups, members go back to their tables in the cafeteria. Here they partake in their own warm-up traditions and rituals. For senior duo member Barbie Close, that means going through a specified plan.

“In the morning, I put on my suit, making sure to lint roll! The basic routine in the morning it similar to a school day except for I'm putting on a suit instead of jeans and a t-shirt. Before every round, I comb my hair, refill my water bottle...basically make sure that there will be no little problems or distractions during the round.”

As Barbie points out, lint rolling has become a favorite pastime for students. Whenever there is free time in-between rounds, there will be at least one team member trying to get every “fuzzy” off of their suit. This has even lead to some creativity, as some students now have expensive scented lint rollers or extra sticky rollers. Needless to say, these students like to stay classy.

Speaking of which, Eastview’s Speech Team is known for its class. Emphasis is put on every aspect of the team’s appearance, from suits to etiquette. Each student is required to wear a suit of a normal color (black, grey, navy blue), and the coaches check off the suits of every member in the beginning of the season. Wearing school gear and jackets are a tournament faux pas, as anything that reveals the identity of the school go against the best wishes of the performers. This is mainly because certain judges hold grudges or have preconceived notions about certain teams, so every precaution is taken to keep those out of the way.

The strangest aspect of speech in general is the habit of talking to walls. Without fail, when a novice speech member walks into a tournament and notices people talking to walls and being completely serious, they rethink their decision to be on the team. This is the most common way for students to warm up, as they can give their speech as many times as they want to a wall, without causing a major distraction.

Along with this, Senior Oratory member Divya Reddy points out that there are a lot of other aspects of the team that are a little different.

“We rant about speech for hours and don't seem to care how annoyed everyone is listening to us, we CHOOSE to wake up at 5:30 on saturdays, we think people who don't wear suits are not classy...we use the word classy (and are completely serious), [and] we can usually tell what category a person is in after they have said two words.”

Divya also points out that speech is different in that it is a group led individual event. Although the team takes pride in everyone’s accomplishments, students are sometimes forced to compete against their own teammates. Head coach Jim Fedje explains that unlike other activities at Eastview, speech focuses on being effective and powerful communicaters. In the long run, it does not matter how one is dressed or what your piece is, though these things can always help, it matters how one says whatever it is they say.

The team has had many changes in the past few years, including different head coaches and the size of the team. Though there are some people with mixed views of this, overall the team has been able to adapt to it very well. While leadership has been different from year to year, the veterans on the team have kept it going. Captains have organized many team bonding parties and practices, and morale has been high. In this way, the team has always been a tight-knit community.

Throughout each tournament, this team bonding shows through in the form of friendships and support. While team members are waiting to see who makes it to finals, other teammates are always supporting them through the stressful time. Once a category has been posted, there is always an outpouring of students going to watch each final round, making sure to watch their friends’ performances. This has helped many members gain the confidence they need to perform to the best of their abilities, which has boosted the team’s success.