This is Busted Pencils.
Fully Letted Education Talk.
Here are your hosts, Dr. Tim Slecker
and Dr. Johnny Lupinacci,
Educator's Talking Education.
Ah, yes.
Well, it's Friday, Busted Pencils.
Fully Letted Education Talk,
Educator's Talking Education.
No, it is not first downs in Friday night lights.
What?
What is it?
What?
Yeah, you know, hold on, I'll give people a second,
but, you know, coming out of the fall sports,
where we were really, you know,
enjoying Friday night football
and all of the other things that happened in the fall,
whether it's cross country, different things that go on,
coming into the winter sports, we thought,
you know what, we need a new way to talk about that
and Johnny Lupinacci, who right now is stuck in a meeting,
you know, being well, he's an educated,
he's an educated, educated, education.
Yeah, he's got those things, you know,
his responsibilities for being that person
and he's there right now,
but we are moving into,
Johnny actually came up with this idea is we're talking about
winter sports, the idea of free throws
and face-ups.
Yeah.
There we go.
Let the listeners think about that.
What would that mean?
Well, you know what, in fact, though,
we're going to our old standby.
Well, he's not necessarily old himself.
Chad Holmes, though, civic media's own, you know,
extraordinaire bringing him back in to kind of talk
about what's happening in the winter,
as we really talk about, again,
all the essential curriculars, not just sports,
but the reality is is that, you know,
we are making a shift,
free throws, face-offs, Chad Holmes.
Welcome back to Busted Pences.
How are you, my friend?
I'm doing good, but I am actually older
than the last time we talked,
because earlier this week,
the number went up another stop.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
I don't know if you can say that when you say that.
Oh, I'm getting older and older and older.
It's better than the alternative.
But when he's have the number of echoes,
you hear the click?
Well, it's okay.
So we can say happy 31st birthday.
Oh, you're too kind to chat, Holmes.
He is there.
And man, if Justin, I would have known,
we'd have baked you a cake.
We're all good.
We've talked to him.
We'd have baked you a cake in Ohio,
and then you would have to go and get it.
Hey, you know what?
We figure these things out.
Well, Chad, though, so yeah,
we're making the transition.
You know, had a great fall with all of the fall sports
and the conversations we had with you,
but we're moving into winter.
And, you know, we're talking about this free throws
and face offs.
Obviously talking about basketball and hockey,
but there's a lot more going on.
We'll talk about the different things
that are happening in winter.
But, you know, we've got a special request, though.
So I'm going to move into, though,
talking about hockey, Johnny Lupinacci,
wants to know,
what are we making of this hockey?
What's going on?
In fact, is, you know, what is it the blaze?
No, we're the storm, the storm, oh, I'm sorry.
Yeah, I threw that in there just for a correction.
So the storm, the storm, Chad,
what's going to tell me more about the storm
and help us get people acquainted
with free throws and face offs?
Well, last time we were on, we were talking about,
I was getting ready for the first hockey broadcast,
which here in Central Wisconsin,
I cover sports around the Wasa area.
And for girls, hockey, we have a ko-op team
that involves Wasa West and Wasa East and DC Everest
and Moz and Ape.
And the Central Wisconsin storm has been a ko-op
for a little more than like 20, 25 years now.
And they've been very successful.
And they've won a handful of state championships,
including last year.
And had a chance to go in broadcast their first game
last week as they start the road again
towards a championship.
And I'm very happy to report.
They looked very, very solid.
They defeated Wisconsin Valley Union,
which is Steven's point Wisconsin rapids, ko-op, 5-1.
And the storm actually has a couple of new gold tenders,
a couple of freshmen.
I mean, it's really impressive to see freshmen out there.
And saw one of the freshmen in action
and she was just really calm, cool, and collected.
But the good news is, I think
for storm fans, this team has the potential
to be very competitive.
It's a long season.
I won't make any bold difference.
Yeah, but they looked very, very solid.
I thought for game number one.
So we're talking about the storm.
This is a high school team where you're talking about freshmen.
We're talking about freshmen in high school all the way.
And so yeah, the reality here is
that some of the school districts
and they would just say, well, you said a ko-op,
this idea that their own individual schools
may not have the resources or the numbers
to field their own hockey team.
And this is a way to bring that together
so that these are girls from multiple schools
and school districts in the Wisconsin area
that you pointed out coming together
to form this team, the storm.
Exactly right.
And there's challenges.
I've seen this in multiple sports over the years
where we have, I think we've seen a lot more of in football
in recent years.
And sometimes some of these ko-ops can
give you a bit of a shot in the arm for a year or two.
And then some of the same challenges
start to go into play.
But I think when you do have a ko-op, obviously,
you have some more travel because just to get the practice
from the storm team, they have what are called
Moles and E Mondays.
They practice in Moles and E on Monday.
They often then practice at DCM versus in the middle of the week.
They sometimes practice at Marathon Park here in Warsaw.
So I mean, they have three different ranks
that they practice at.
And it's a challenge.
Obviously, it's much easier if you're going to school
and then you just walk to the practice field
and the practice rank wherever you are.
And we've seen that, I think, often in football
where you have a couple of schools
that are struggling for numbers.
They come together, all of a sudden,
a much bigger team.
But after a couple of years, some of those challenges,
rear their ugly head because you don't want it to be that hard
to get the practice.
You don't want it to be on Friday night, you travel.
But you don't want to be traveling every day as well.
Exactly.
Yeah, you think about that because when I lived in Verona,
Wisconsin, right there was the hockey rank, you name it.
If you were doing something in Verona,
it was right there.
And so going to practice was not a big deal.
So pointing out that even just the fact
that traveling for practice.
And but I think what that does,
those points out the commitment
that these student athletes really, again, show.
And we've talked about, you know,
what are the importance of these essential curriculars
here, very particularly sports?
Boy, it really shows and helps create this kind of commitment
to really pull this off.
Because on top of them now practicing
in three different ice areas
and making those travel arrangements,
again, two, these are student athletes.
They're also, guess what?
They're still going to school all day long
with all of those homework assignments, exams.
And even the other essential curriculars
that they also might be involved into,
where they're playing hockey
and they're also part of the choir.
Or they're, you know, they're doing this band
and just realizing this.
And so how these things all come together.
You know, you say, these are really great opportunities
for students that we'd like to see every student
in Wisconsin, all actually across the nation,
if you're listening to this anywhere else,
that the essential curriculars play that essential role
in creating an experience that is beyond the academics.
It really creates this whole citizen,
this community member, this person that gets to participate.
And we do this by making sure
that they have those opportunities
to really develop in that way.
So Chad, a lot of hockey going on.
Girl's hockey now, I'll ask a naive question.
I'm assuming men's hockey too.
Yep, the boys are underway as well.
I do also West hockey here on our station.
And they're underway.
They, I think, are a solid team.
But in fact, as I look ahead to all my sports coverage
and we talk about, you know, the basketball and the hockey
and everything else.
And I do a weekly show for a couple of hours
where we talk to coaches and players and look ahead.
And in fact, the big game in the next week
will be Wastowest and Stevens Point.
And Stevens Point is considered if not one of,
maybe even the number one ranked team in the state.
And I think Wastowest is a very solid program as well.
So coming up next Tuesday,
it's a very big early season of showdown.
So it's got me going.
It's going to be cool outside,
but it's going to be very warm in the arena.
When West and Stevens Point get together
over the years, they've just been fantastic games.
And frankly, really quickly, I mean,
over the last number of years,
Stevens Point, in the game next Tuesdays
will be here in Wastowest.
They've had a very good job of some of their kids
speaking in a, I think it's an octopus,
but some sort of biped little frozen piece of,
from the local seafood department.
And when they would score their first goal,
they've been able to throw it onto the ice
and it would go, because it was frozen.
And like an actual octopus?
I think so.
Oh my goodness.
Some sort of seafood.
And then they have to stop the game
and bring out a shovel and get it off the ice.
But I know the folks that are at the front doors
are going to be even very,
per-check in pockets for,
keep the frozen seafood.
Okay, because if we come a little bit of a pattern
in recent years,
it's become a very, very intense rivalry
and some of the students are taking it to that next step.
Man, it's just going across.
It's thinking about this if you're listening right now
to our new segment.
You know, it's still Fridays,
but free throws and face-offs.
Love to hear from you, 608-557-8577-608-557-857-8577.
That's the number for the mailbag.
You know, can you ask us questions?
Jesh, you had commented.
Well, I mean, if you have something strange
that you've seen thrown on the ice at a game,
let us know.
Have you seen some frozen seafood make its way onto the ice?
We would love to hear it.
We would absolutely love to hear that.
I'm glad you pointed that out just to it.
And this is also the time, too.
You know, we would love to hear from any of the athletes
that are out there competing.
You know, if you're hearing about the show,
you know, come and talk to us, 608-557-8577.
You know, we'll do a feature on your team
and the work that you're doing.
You know, put that out there for every student athlete
that is engaged in a winter sport right now.
We'd love to talk to you here on Busted Pencils.
So it is so Chad Hockey.
Now, the other part of winter sports, big winter sports,
free throws.
Basketball.
What do we know?
What do we need to know?
What's happening?
It's very interesting.
Actually, it's always, you know, we have Thanksgiving weekend
and there's always a lot of tournaments going on.
There is a lot of teams are playing on Friday and Saturday.
Kind of getting the season going.
The girls that started a week earlier,
but the boys really just got going Thanksgiving week.
And you learn a lot.
It's sort of a bonding as well because some of these teams
go off for a weekend and face some really good competition.
So right now, we're just sort of getting the feel,
I think, for a lot of these teams.
So just as you well know, I mean, every year,
there's a group that graduates.
And then there's a group that comes in.
And it's not a case where,
if a team is outstanding leader before it necessarily means
they're going to be great again this year.
There's still that coming together.
And and it's something that I think people don't kind of realize
is the interpersonal community aspects of teams
is very important.
I've seen so many teams that ultimately have a lot of talent.
But if you don't get along well,
if you don't have that connection,
you just don't perform as well.
And I think especially for kids,
I just think that that a lot of folks say,
oh, these kids are really, you know,
they can do all the,
all the, you know, the shooting and the dribbling defense
all exceptionally well.
But boy, I mean,
I'm very lucky because I go off and I watch them practices.
I get a chance to talk to kids every week on the show.
And that's one thing you find out.
I mean, you hear that, you know,
hey, I love my teammate.
And then the group is better than the individual pieces.
But on the other end,
there's sometimes teams that have wonderful individual pieces,
but they don't connect as well.
They work, they ain't working together.
And you say, I mean,
and there again,
great example, though, too,
of going, you know,
what are the,
the, you know,
the, you know,
the assets that,
that student athletes are able to get, you know,
it's, yeah,
they can get the skill set that they need for the individual sport.
But then the reality here's a team working together.
And how does that then contribute to further success in life
because actually working together in the team?
Boy, that's going to be one of those things.
It's going to, you know,
serve you incredibly well in the future.
So pointing that forward,
you know, basketball,
thinking about this,
Chad,
sixth grade, you know,
bad memories for me.
My first opportunity to become, you know,
team sports we were in middle school,
and that was the first time where there was a,
an opportunity to try out for a team.
And, you know,
I think in sixth grade,
I don't know,
I mean, I'm only five,
six now.
I'm pretty sure I was under five foot at the time.
I couldn't do a layup.
And guess what?
I didn't make the team.
Oh, I know.
I was devastated.
I went the following year.
And this is one of those things that inspired me.
I went to all these little basketball camps to try to make myself better
to learn how to do a layup because Darnit,
I was going to make that team the following year in seventh grade.
And I did.
But that goes forward,
though, here.
And this is all leading up to the story.
However, during that sixth grade year,
when I didn't make the basketball team,
the wrestling coach found me and brought me on to the wrestling team.
And I wrestled my whole first year is sixth grade.
And then seventh grade,
I made the basketball team.
And my wrestling coach then came and said,
okay, great,
you proved you can make the basketball team.
Now are you going to come back and do wrestling the way you're supposed to?
Because guess what?
You're short,
you're fast and you're strong.
You're not going to be a basketball player.
And he was right.
And so I went into wrestling.
So wrestling now, right?
This is also a winter sport.
Absolutely.
And it's very much.
And it's all interesting to see.
Because like during the fall,
we talked a lot about football.
You see some of the guys that go on to play rest,
we'll become wrestlers in the,
in the winter,
some can play basketball,
some play hockey.
It's always interesting to see.
Who,
what they do the next season,
because you see a lot of,
you see often,
I see a lot of linemen in football
that hit the mats.
A lot of the,
a lot of the skills that you see
that are in the,
in the,
in the battle with the line of scrimmage during the fall,
they were able to use on the mats.
And you go from one tackle to another, eh?
Yes.
again,
the moves and,
and the one on ones that you have in the box on the football field.
And you're right.
I mean,
it's always interesting to see you.
What schools have.
The success in wrestling.
Because often,
you see the,
a lot of the same schools,
they just have that culture.
For many years,
Wisconsin rapids here in Central Wisconsin.
I mean,
they had decades of,
of dominance.
They have not been quite at that level recently.
But different communities seem to have,
uh,
a lot of their top athletes,
they'll move to the wrestling.
They're interesting.
Some of them are,
are more of a basketball school or more of a high school.
But,
I mean,
it's,
it's very interesting to see some of the kids
that,
I mean,
it's, it's,
it's very interesting to see some of the kids that you watch in the fall,
and where they go in terms of the winter.
And wrestling definitely here in the state of Wisconsin is one that,
uh,
a lot of people really do keep an eye on.
Keep an eye on that.
And then also,
it's a,
I learn.
Girls,
female,
women's wrestling.
Also,
and that's a winter sport also, right?
Absolutely.
And real interesting about the girls sport,
uh,
last year,
uh,
during,
because I do a Wednesday night high school show where we bring in a kid every week.
And I brought in one of the, uh, the girl wrestlers from us all west.
And the thing is,
she walks in,
you would never,
in a million years,
think of her as a wrestler.
I mean, she is,
uh,
the nicest young lady,
but boy,
she gets on the mat,
she has that same competitive fire.
Wow.
And I just,
I am such a fan
of girls sports generally,
because I just think that,
uh,
these young ladies
who work exceptionally hard deserve the same opportunity.
In fact,
in my life,
uh, my mom,
was a wonderful athlete in her whole life.
She played softball for years.
She played golf.
She was a champion at her club.
But, uh,
it was before girls had the opportunity to high school level.
And she would say,
I wish I would have had the chance when I was going to high school to play basketball,
to play any of these sports.
And I just think that
one of the greatest things that's happened was back in the 19,
early 1970s,
when,
when the decision was made,
that hey,
you have to be able to give girls the same opportunities of boys.
Boy, point now to the reality that that,
that, that whole,
you know,
that came out of the Department of Education Title IX,
right there,
the, the,
the equal opportunities.
And potentially that,
that might now be under threat with this new election.
Um,
and, you know,
the wishes of the current,
uh,
president elect
to do away with the Department of Education.
So something to be thinking about their shadow.
You know,
um,
glad you pointed that out,
because, you know,
what's we're talking about this,
that,
what you just pointed out in incredibly wonderful opportunity
for, for females and girls,
could be at risk here,
because, um,
yeah, no Title IX,
and school districts won't have to then create that equal opportunity.
Chad, I am,
you know,
again, always enjoy
when you come on and talk to us.
You know,
we've got a lot going on.
So we're just beginning these seasons.
I'd, you know,
want to thank you for all the work you do.
Johnny said,
you called an incredibly awesome game.
He loved listening.
He's like,
Chad is really good.
So I encourage all the listeners to,
when Chad is out there calling play by play,
you want to jump on that and listen to that,
particularly across the civic media,
application and network,
that's where you can find that.
Chad,
man, you know what,
though,
this is the time where
it's a moment of sin.
They have the guns.
We have the poets.
Therefore,
we will win.
Thanks, everybody,
for hanging out with us on the new free throws and face off.
Yeah, our Friday job.
Make sure you hang out to Wednesday.
Uh,
for Dr. Jill Underley,
our classes in session.
And,
oh,
I forgot, though,
to Saturday.
Big,
big episode.
Dr. Jonathan Gehrko coming at us.
And again,
giving us the opportunity to explore deeply the realities of,
what will it mean to have president and elect Trump?
And can we compromise and find some common ground?
And always again,
first downs.
No, not first downs.
Free throws and face off.
We're going to be hard for me to remember that.
But everybody, come back and keep busting pencils.
No, not first downs.
No, not first downs.
No, not first downs.
Still,
I don't believe.
You