Ball State University's speech team is getting in all the practice it can as it prepares for a long day Wednesday. At 7 a.m. the team will load up and leave for Nationals in Akron, Ohio.
The team put on a showcase Monday afternoon in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center to display its talents and get some extra practice.
Although the entire team cannot make the trip, 11 members will be compete.
Most of the Speech Team's members graduated since last year's competition and is now made up mostly of freshman.
Because the team is so young, six of the 11 students going to Nationals have never been before, Team Director Mary Moore said.
The team was able to qualify for the competition in 50 events, but only six types of speech performances were sampled during Monday's showcase: informative, prose interpretation, impromptu, poetry interpretation, persuasive, after dinner speaking and duo interpretation.
Last year the team came home with almost 40 trophies, but not everyone had one in hand.
Although Lea Brustkern, the team's only senior, didn't bring one home, she is hopeful for this year.
"This year I think I've got my best chance in the duo," Brustkern said.
The duo interpretation consists of two participants interacting with each other during a speech. Although the performers stand side-by-side and stare straight ahead, they have to perform as though they are facing each other.
The hardest part of duo performance for Brustkern and her partner, Abby Norman, is the blocking and making time in their schedules to practice together, Brustkern said.
This year's nationals will be Ball State's 35th annual trip to the contest.
"We helped to found it so we've been to them all," Moore said.
The tournament consists two parts spread out over six days.
The first round is a preliminary round and the second will consist of four elimination rounds.
Last year, Brustkern came in third place in persuasion, poetry and prose, she said.
After spending eight to 10 hours a week working on Speech Team projects, Brustkern said her last national competition will be bittersweet.
"I will cry, I know I will," Brustkern said. "When you spend as much time with these people, they kind of become like your family."
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