Urmil Patel (12) and Liam Shoghi (11) deliver their congressional debate presentation.

Though the Talking Rams began their season continuing their search for a coach, the team can at last stop looking. Physics teacher Theodore Waterson and middle school English teacher Greg Schmitz have been respectively hired as the head and assistant coaches of the speech and debate team. 

The previous Talking Rams coach of more than ten years, Molly Beck, left the Ladue faculty team in March, leaving the team in the hands of the assistant coach from the 23-24 season, Casie Sambo. Sambo volunteered her time and guided the team through state and national tournaments at the end of last season, but has since returned her attention to teaching.

“Ms. Sambo was able to step up,” Chair of Communications for the Talking Rams, Liam Shoghi (11) said. “She allowed us to make all the preparation we had done and all the preparation that we will continue to do worth it. The state tournament would have been a disaster had it not been for Miss Sambo’s leadership and ability to step up. We’re really grateful to her.”

Despite not having a coach, the Talking Rams started this season as usual. The year began with a display at the activities fair, led and organized by Directors of Membership Addie Flintrop (11) and Sasha Prasad (10), as well as Social Chair Zoe Mei (10). Recruitment efforts continued with informational meetings led by Vice President Rex Zhu (12) and President Urmil Patel (12). This week, the team will continue with these start-of-season efforts, hosting more introductory meetings as well as their novice welcome party. 

“There’s a very short window where people are open to trying new things for the year,” Patel said. “I just hate to think that there are people out there who wanted to do speech and debate, but had never heard of it before. Then [they] joined the team and found a passion, but would have missed out on this opportunity [had the team not started recruitment].”

Even with their commitment to keeping the team running, the Talking Rams still felt an absence. In lieu of a permanent coach, the team relied on requesting temporary supervision from several different teachers, including social studies teacher Stephanie Bellville and graphic design and ceramics teacher Emily Hogan. Without a permanent practice space, the team has been holding meetings in the teleconference room, a situation which may prove challenging should it continue long term. 

“We try to separate every single group,” Prasad said. “Every type of debate, every type of speech. Someone might have a practice round going on while others are just working on their cases, so having one large space just doesn’t really work. There would be way too many things going on.”

However, these struggles are now over. Yesterday afternoon, the Talking Rams received an email alerting them that Waterson would be stepping in as the new head coach for the team. Excitement and anticipation had been building for a while, administration hinting at the possibility of a new coach. That all came to a head with the exciting announcement the whole team had been waiting for. 

“When the administration approached me I felt honored that they thought I could do this,” Waterson said. “I was always here after school, so this opportunity to be in the classroom space and work with an enthusiastic group of students seemed like a no brainer to me.” 

Further, the team discovered later that evening that Greg Schmitz, an English teacher at the middle school, would be the assistant coach. Despite how hard the team had been working, they wouldn’t have been able to function as a team or compete in tournaments without a coach. This reality has left the team immensely grateful for the hiring of a coach. 

“I know so many of the younger kids who are really passionate about doing speech and debate,” Patel said. It’s like something which gives them a voice, which lets them speak their mind, and not having that outlet would be devastating.”