Neuqua Valley Speech Team

Please make sure you read ALL of the announcements, so you don’t miss anything!

So, returning from break, I hope you find yourself rested and ready to kick it into gear as we make our dash towards regionals. This week the coaches are hoping to give you eyes to shake off some of the cobwebs, but we are also starting to look towards who may be reaching the end of the competitive season. With this in mind, there are some things I want you to consider.

Coal City and Streamwood

Coal City: Kudos to our Varsity who showed that we are a team to watch. First off, we placed in every category, often with more than one person, and usually taking the championship or 2nd place medal. Keep in mind that we placed over Wheaton Warrenville South, an extremely competitive (and usually State placing) team. Additionally, the tournament held the toughest competition we’ll see at Regionals, and we won by a large margin. I don’t want to jinx us, but I’m getting a sneaking feeling that this is a great sign for us defending our Regional title.

Streamwood: My poor, poor babies. Can I just say that I am so sorry you all were subjected to such a long and rigorous tournament? It was new, and I would never have sent you had I known that you would have been stuck there so long. I cannot say enough how proud of you I am that Blanchard said that you all kept your spirits high and were wonderful, despite not coming home until 8 pm on the Saturday after you had already been let out for holiday break. On top of that, there were several people who placed to semis and then to finals. You all are my geeks of the week!

Rehearsals

This is the week to refresh. Please make sure that you do have your critiques from the tournament. Again, with the tournaments coming up, please keep in mind that you MUST sign up for the correct coach. Every week, the number or rehearsals are changing as well. Keep your eye on the schematic. If you mess up, then you miss out on rehearsal time! As a reminder, look to the right to see how many times you rehearse. Then, look up the column to see who you are with (ie: 1 under C = 1 rehearsal with Carreno). Please remember that if the schematic isn’t up or not opening, that doesn’t mean that you should just sign up or post a bunch of times. Contact a captain who will contact a coach.

Changes that are coming down the pipe:

As we are looking towards regionals, some changes are going to be made.

1. We’re going to be doing some shuffling. Depending on how everyone is doing in rehearsals and at tournaments will determine a few things.

• We are deciding if some will be moving either to or from Varsity positions. This will affect how many rehearsals you get and what tournaments you attend.
• We are also going to be discussing if you are continuing at all in your category. As we are watching there are some that would be valuable double entered or perhaps we will take some out of the second category. This is where your rehearsals are just as important as the tournaments. If you are coming unprepared, then we will just save time by having you focus on one event. Conversely, if you are working your tail off, we may reward you by putting you in a second event.

2. Coach Freidhof and I are starting to look for PIR cast members. In the past, we have given it specifically to JV members who are not going to be Regional representatives. This year, that is not necessarily the case. Here’s what we’re considering and what you should consider:

• How dedicated and hardworking the JV AND Varsity members who we can trust to work hard and in a short amount of time will determine who is in the cast. The cast will probably only have about 2 weeks to get it all together for Conference. We’re looking for people who can work after school every day and who can memorize quickly. We’re not looking for someone who cannot be there or will let the cast down by not coming prepared.
• If you put yourself into the cast, that means that you are definitely out of the running for Regionals. However, we are looking to become more serious contenders for State, which means that we will possibly hold an open audition. That all depends on the interest shown from the team.

3. We are hosting Regionals this year, and we are looking to those who are not competing to help work and run the tournament. While you do not know which category you are in yet, keep that weekend open and expect to be there no matter if you are competing or not. While those who are our representatives are important, they are not as important as those I depend on to make sure the tournament runs smoothly and successfully.

Now is the time to show us what you’ve been working on. It’s also a time for some to show us that they are more serious than perhaps they were before break. From our success, you can see that this team is extremely competitive; however, the success doesn’t come without the hard work. Please continue to communicate and continue to push through on the second half of our season. Check the tournament schedule and continue to email me if there are concerns, conflicts, or questions.

I’m looking forward to seeing how everything shakes out and what you have in store for us coaches!

See you soon,

Mama C

To see pics from the holiday party, just click “Continue Reading”

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Make sure you know where you’re going this weekend!

Here is this week’s WildChat!

Monday 12/14

2:45-3:15

3:15-3:45

3:45-4:15

4:15-4:45

Tuesday 12/15

2:45-3:15

3:15-3:45

3:45-4:15

4:15-4:45

Wednesday 12/16

2:45-3:15

3:15-3:45

3:45-4:15

Thursday 12/17

2:45-3:15

3:15-3:45

3:45-4:15

Friday 12/18

NO REHEARSALS – TEAM MEETING

All of you have one session with me.  Good luck on finals this week.

Brigham/ Caduto

Michelle Caballero

Krusinger/ Brigham

George Luke

Thomas Luke

Hannah Krusinger

Monica Shridhar

Kat Birkenbeul

Janelle Brooks

Brooke Schuster

Rachel Feddor

Zach Hersh

Joy Dhar

Abigail Hanneman

Monday:

2:45

3:15

3:45

4:15

4:45

5:15

5:45

TUESDAY

2:45

3:15

3:45

4:15

4:45

5:15

5:45

WEDNESDAY

NO REHEARSALS

THURSDAY

NO REHEARSALS

FRIDAY

TEAM MEETING

What a fantastic weekend for everyone! You know, at the beginning of the year I was extremely worried about all of the young and new talent. To have so many novices is a difficult thing for a team. However, both Varsity and JV are doing a fantastic job. And for those who did not place, know that every rank you take in is points towards team placement. You are all are indispensible.

For this week, I think it’s a wodnerful time to take a step back and put priorities in order. First and foremost, you need to take care of yourselves. During the stress of finals, please be sure to try and eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, and worry about what’s most important — your health and your grades.

Having said that, don’t forget that we still have tournaments on Saturday. Therefore, we will be having one rehearsal per student, but we are going to have a break between finals and our time slots. That should give you time to rest, study, and get some lunch. Please make sure that if you’re sticking around until your rehearsal, it’s important that you are considerate to teachers who are trying to get work done or students who are taking exams during the make-up sessions. That means, try to keep the volume down in the B hallway.

As well, there is a manditory meeting on Friday. This is where we’re going to exchange our Secret Santa gifts. If you all are interested in bring snacks for us to have a little holiday gathering, I’m all for it! Contact me if you’re interested, and we can organize. If that’s not something you’re interested in, that’s fine. Here’s what I suggest, those who are with Freidhof and Baker, bring things like chips and dip. Mehta and Blanchard, bring sweets. Carreno, bring drinks and cups. Sound good? If that’s too much to worry about, then we can nix it. Just go ahead and in your sign up post, put what you’re bringing…then we can see what we have and what we need.

Again, I’m proud of you! I couldn’t ask for a better team, and I look forward to spending time with you on Friday, where we can bond and not worry about talking speech!