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Steamboat Springs — The Steamboat Springs High School forensics team hosted an event Tuesday night dubbed "Speak Easy," but team members stressed that competing in speech and debate matches is anything but a breeze.

At a typical competition, team members register at 6:45 a.m., begin competing by 7:30 a.m. and often don't conclude the match until 8 p.m.

"It's not like a game that is done in a couple hours - it's all day," said senior Ashley Lopez, who competes in extemporaneous speaking. "Basically, we are in an intellectual battle from sun up to sun down."

Coach Lisa Ruff said she is amazed at the time and effort team members put into competing.

"The physical and mental stamina they have to have to keep up over an entire day is quite remarkable," said Ruff, who is in her first year as coach of the forensics team. She succeeds longtime, award-winning coaches Marty and Shauna Lamansky.

After a long Christmas break, followed by a week off for final exams, Ruff organized Tuesday's "Speak Easy" event to let team members practice their competition pieces. The team traveled this weekend to compete on the Front Range at the Cherry Tree Chop Tournament at George Washington High School.

"We had two weeks where we couldn't practice, so the pieces were a bit stale tonight and they really needed to be dusted off," Ruff said.

Lopez, who took first place in the International Extemporaneous Speaking category at the team's Dec. 8 and 9 meet at Niwot High School, didn't present a piece Tuesday night because the team wanted to showcase those who compete in humorous interpretation events.

"There are eight different events in competition, and it's not just debates or speeches like most people think of," she said.

Parker Stegmaier presented a dual interpretation of Randal Cook's short play, "Shrinking," in which the high school junior played the role of a psychiatrist and patient.

"It's really intense, and you can see how engrossing it is," he said. "But this piece really spoke to me because I was able to do a lot more acting than I've previously done."

Ruff said part of the rules for competition in dramatic or humorous interpretation is that team members don't change the selected pieces and they maintain the author's integrity.

"That is quite difficult to memorize these pieces, and I'm in such awe of their dedication and I'm very proud of them," Ruff said.

Other presentations included juniors Josie Pacana and Rianne Marr's interpretation of Shel Silverstein's children's book, "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

Lopez's events are much different than what her teammates presented Tuesday night. She doesn't know until 30 minutes before she speaks what topic she'll present - an argument that is generated on the spot.

"You pick three out of an envelope and you choose the one you think you know best," said Lopez, who recently tackled the political climate in Pakistan following the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The Iraq war also is a recurring topic of debate.

"The Greeks felt that debate, discourse and dialogue are really important in not just talking about crime, and how it is committed, but also about everything from government to social issues," Lopez said. "I like that debate and being able to be part of an intellectual competition. : It's also cool because you meet a lot of intellectual people you would not normally meet."

- To reach Mike McCollum, call 871-4208

or e-mail mmccollum@steamboatpilot.com