Fremd Speech Team Enjoys Success, Camaraderie

Each Saturday from October through February, students show up ready to play, however, there is no ball and there are no bleachers.

At Fremd and other high schools around the Chicago area, students trade gym shoes and jerseys for suits and ties to compete in a collection of 14 different speaking events.

"I make the comparison to track because people understand with track, that you have all of these different events that go together towards a team goal," said first year head coach, Katie Dau, a 2003 Fremd graduate and former speech participant. "Speech is the same way, except with speaking and acting events."

From prose and poetry reading to drama, impromptu and original comedy, students have a wide variety of events to choose from, and with more than 70 students across four classes participating many perform multiple platforms.

Fremd, which claimed the Mid Suburban League and Hoffman Estates Regional championships, qualified two students – junior Hannah Lee and sophomore Renata Wettermann – in three events at next week's state meet at the Peoria Civic Center.

At Fremd coaches have stressed the importance of "family," implementing a big-sibling-little-sibling program to encourage members to support one another.

"We have a phenomenal program," said senior co-president Asha Bazil. "Every new member is paired with a returning member – he or she is the person the younger kids would call if they needed a ride or any information about a tournament."

Even the coaches become members of the family, thanks to their ability to work directly with individual students.

"We have the amazing privilege to be able to work with kids one-on-one," Dau said. "Our coaching sessions are me with the student and practice becomes talking about life and knowing what's going on. Because of that, you become really close with the students and you're able to understand where they're at."

Former coaches Henry Sampson and Maria Mungai, who largely are responsible for building Fremd's speech program, were named back-to-back MSL Coaches of the Year respectively. Now retired, the husband and wife duo remain heavily involved in every day operations. Mungai, who replaced Sampson as head coach after 34 years, said it is satisfying to watch kids grow throughout their speech careers.

"You stay interested in helping people get better at what they're doing" she said. "All of the coaches have their niche and they're very good at what they do. We have a very diverse group so it's fun to come together and watch these kids find a home. It's a safe place and that's what makes it work. It's safe, it's crazy and it's fun."

"I think the fact that our former team president [Dau] is back here teaching at the school and is now the new head coach, that that's been the biggest success of all. To have created this thing that can live way past Henry and my tenure and it keeps going and it keeps getting better," Mungai said.

Dau is quick to credit her coaching staff, a collection of seven teachers who all have prior speech and theater experience.

"Oh my gosh, my coaching staff is amazing," Dau said. "I would not have been able to do this without them."

For students such as Bazil, the credit also comes back to the camaraderie built throughout four years of interacting with friends, coaches and even opponents.

"I'm comfortable in my own skin because I've built up my confidence through speech," said Bazil. "If it wasn't for the skills I've developed from being on the team, I wouldn't be taking the same path or considering the same majors as I am for next year."

After Lee and Wettermann compete in Peoria, the speech season will come to a close once again. While everyone is looking forward to added down-time, assistant coach Laura Marsh, speaks for the entire family: "We always miss it in the off-season."