The Revere High School Speech and Debate Team welcomed a new coach this year in hopes of continuing and bettering the program.

John Kerezy is a journalism and mass communication coordinator at Cuyahoga Community College and creator of the Speech and Debate Team at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School. He became head coach of Revere’s Speech and Debate team this year. Kerezy explained why he applied for the job.

“There were many things that attracted me to this job. First, Revere considers speech and debate an important extra-curricular activity. Also, Revere provides transportation to tournaments…there is no activity fee to participate in the club,” Kerezy said.

Kerezy is a member of Toastmasters International which is an organization to help adults improve their public speaking skills. He named some of the team’s goals this year.

“I want to get as many people on the team as I can, doing as many different events as possible,” Kerezy said.

Kerezy noted how he hopes to aid the team this year.

“We are all going to benefit from this experience. I want them to be able to take what they have learned and transfer it from [their mind to their mouth],” Kerezy said.

Senior Christopher Brandt, a four-year member, talked about Kerezy’s coaching.

“He is passionate about what he is doing, he knows what he is doing and he knows the theory behind why you do it,” Brandt said.

Senior Carl Joseph Apicella, a four year member of the team, mentioned how Kerezy is a committed coach.

“He is a very involved coach. He helps us get our cases together and [he] emailed us sources to use for the cases,” Apicella said.

Vincent Zhang, a three year member of the team, discussed how Kerezy’s past experiences are helping the team.

“Having past experience helps him to improve our cases and find flaws in our arguments,” Zhang said.

The next competition is November 23 at Mentor High School.