Playoffs Galore- Free Throws and Face Offs, with Chad Holmes

This is Busted Pencils, fully-ledded education talk.

Here are your hosts, Dr. Tim Slecker and Dr. Johnny Lupinacci,

educated educators talking education.

Yes, it's Busted Pencils, fully-ledded education talk,

educated educators talking education happy Friday.

Oh, man, it is, can you believe we made it after?

It's just like, oh my goodness, you know,

what a, every day is kind of like you gotta be kidding me,

except I'm almost thinking I'm starting to get to the point

where the shock, there's no more shock left

and I worry that because I'm not shocked as much anymore,

that's the point.

Tim, what the heck are you talking about?

You know what I'm talking about.

Come on, right?

You know, it's just like I can't,

I find myself instead of looking at news and commentary,

I'm watching on YouTube how to build a survival shelter.

And I'm watching video after video after video about,

and I'm enjoying that.

So I don't know, Johnny, Jess, what are you guys thinking?

Johnny.

Oh, I was going to say, I'll send that one to Jess.

I mean, it's, you know, it was a while long,

winded evening of listening last night to my best

to breathe into my nose and cool the soup,

breathe out through my mouth and just kind of chill

and take in the information we had to, you know,

listening to all those long, long winded speeches.

But, but you know what, it's not what today is about.

Today is no, you know, all the great ways

that, you know, we can celebrate the extracurriculars

that hear it buzzed in pencils, we call essentials.

And I'm excited to get a little recap on how things are going

and, you know, in the state of Wisconsin

and all these great sports that are like wrapping up

and coming to, you know, state championship times.

So we got our guy with us.

Yeah, we got our guy Chad, you know, free throws,

face-offs, face-offs and free throws, winter sports,

winter essential curriculars.

Chad, welcome back to us to pencils,

how you doing, our friend?

Doing terrific, it's a fun time of year.

Really?

Because, okay, so Chad, we have been, you know,

with you now all through, you know,

well, the fall sports too, but now the winter sports.

You know what, jump right in there, what's going on?

What's happening?

Playoffs, you name it, you know, injuries, fighting.

We'll give us all the dirt, man.

Well, I'm packed up and ready to head

to the state hockey tournament this weekend.

So it's always a wonderful trek

and I was very fortunate this year

to have both our hockey teams that I cover

on a regular basis.

Make it to state, which is a surprise.

Wasa West, on the boys side,

make it for the first time in six years

and able to win a sectional championship

and our central Wisconsin storm girls back at state,

looking to make it back to back state titles.

So it should be a lot of fun with the storm

and the state semis on Thursday night

and then wasa West in the boys division

once semifinals on Friday afternoon

and then the state championship games

will be played on Saturday.

So obviously just a lot of excitement

and ready to roll.

Johnny, I saw you light up when Chad

talk about hockey, man.

Well, you know, I'm big storm chaser.

I love the storm.

So, and you know, we get to listen to Jimmy K call those games

and pretty excited, even though from a distance,

but following the storm and rooting from

for it to do another repeat.

So always excited about that team.

So chat, go ahead.

Yeah, chat, please say there are number two seats.

So they got a shot.

Number one seed.

The Green Bay co-op is really, really good.

There have been number one all year.

So obviously there will be a big test.

That's who they played in the state championship game a year ago.

And I think I would not be shocked

to see them play again on Saturday for the title.

Oh, man, that would be great.

And I know he said the number one fan, Dr. Johnny Lupinacci.

He'll be cheering it on.

Chad, okay, basketball wrestling, girls wrestling.

Let's start with what's going on in boys wrestling.

Well, they had the state individual wrestling meet

at the Cole Center last weekend

and was both the boys and the girls.

And to be honest with you, the only one

that I kind of kept an eye on was I'll last

because I had some kids that made it to state on my program.

They had three girls who made it to the state

individual tournament and then one boy.

It was really cool to have them come in studio

and to see the, especially the young ladies

who are, that sport continues to grow really big.

But the state tournament for wrestling really is huge.

And I think there's at least a couple of hundred

different schools that all are part of it.

So they filled up the Cole Center

and there's this incredible energy and incredible excitement.

And it really is one of the more successful state tournaments

that we have in the WIAA.

And it was another fantastic event last weekend.

So Chad, how, if I'm at Verona High School

and I'm a wrestler, take me through the progression

of getting to the state tournament.

Is there a regional?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because it's like one of the schools.

Yeah, when I used to wrestle back in the 80s,

it was like we had our little 12 team conference.

But essentially though it would start with,

hey, guess what?

Doesn't matter what your record was all season.

When it comes to the end of the season quote tournament,

every wrestler gets an opportunity to continue winning

and or placing high enough and then to move on to the next round.

We always had sectionals, regionals, and then states

is how the progression went.

And if you were, you know, typically one through three

in sections, you advanced to regionals

and then the same regionals and then the state.

So just, you know, for anybody out there going like,

how do all these kids get to the state finals

in the Cole Center?

Yeah, it's similar.

They start with the regional tournament

and then sectionals and the state tournament.

And to be honest with, I should know more of this,

but I really don't follow wrestling that closely

with my other sports.

I believe it's the top two who make it

from the sectionals onto the state tournament.

It may be three, but I do think it's two,

but it's the wrong, the same lines.

I mean, it's kind of along the same lines of all the sports

where with the exception of football

where you have to qualify with a certain record

to get into the playoffs, most of the other sports

everybody starts a new.

Basically, you can be 0 and 24 in the regular season.

And, you know, the odds are not with you

that you're all of a sudden going to turn it around

and win six games in a state championship,

but everybody does get the opportunity.

And I think that is one of the things that is good.

I also understand it as well, like with football,

because if you've struggled and you are not able to be

at that level, it can be a little bit more

of an injury factor.

I mean, sometimes with a physicality,

if you have an 11 and an old team taking on,

an old 11 team in the first round,

and it can be really at the same time

that issue with injuries, but know what the wrestling it is.

I mean, if you're able to get hot at the right time,

if you're able to get through the regional and the sectional,

and even, you know, just get to that level

where you advance, you're able to get to the state tournaments.

Well, you kind of revealed my strategy

that I used to use during the season.

I would spend the entire season on my back.

And then when it came time for sectionals and regionals,

watch out, I'd explode and nobody knew

where the heck I was coming from, man.

Just laugh.

That's explaining a lot for Jess and I, Tim.

We're understanding some of the origins and the natural,

you know, the origin story of the Tim bombs.

We knew they came from somewhere.

Oh, you know, I mean, no, actually, it was an incredible thing,

too, to watch again, that that tournament at the end,

you know, my brother actually was a, you know,

an exceptional wrestler.

And from that, you know, that start of the,

when it came time for sectionals to regionals to states,

you know, I mean, those guys, at that time,

it was just guys who make it to that state tournament,

they have, as you said, Chad, really caught on fire

in that tournament.

And, you know, it is, it's an amazing thing to see.

What about hoops?

What's going on with hoops?

Yeah, at the girls level right now,

they did the regionals last week.

So now starting this weekend, Thursday and Saturday

are the sectionals.

So we're down to the final four in each of the brackets

for the sectionals and whoever gets through the sectionals

then advances to the state tournament next week

in the state tournament held at the rest center

in Green Bay.

So basically Thursday night sectional summits

then on Saturday afternoon, the sectional championship

rounds at this level, there's neutral sites

last week during the regionals.

The higher seed would be the whole school.

But now at this level, they play the neutral sites

and it's usually very exciting because they usually try

to get it somewhere, you know, within driving distance

and you have one half of the crowd that's packed in

for one team, one half packed in for the other team

and it really does have a lot on the line.

And then for the boys, we just started the regionals

this week, the first regional games were last night.

That was regional quarter finals, a number of teams

had buys and now we will have regional semi-finals

Friday and then they come right back on Saturday

for regional finals with the sectionals next week

and then the state tournament at the cold center

in Madison in two weeks time.

Basically, it's like state individual wrestling

one week in Madison, then you have hockey this week

in Madison, girls, states in Green Bay next week

and then boys state the following week.

So big four weeks span in Wisconsin high school sports.

Johnny Lupinacci, lock on on, man.

Oh yeah, it's that time of year though, it's a great time.

I mean, and pretty soon we have a pretty exciting spring

stuff turn in the corner, right?

We got lacrosse coming up, track and field,

all kinds of exciting things, you know, the weather's turning

so are the sports, but we're going to be cheering

for those hockey state finals and for all the, you know,

great, healthy closures to winter sports

and also all the cool stuff that everybody

affiliated with that does, right?

We've had some episodes recently

where we talk about like team managers

and social media teams and all the different ways

that, you know, people in the education world,

even students are getting extra education out

of those activities, but also it's kind of like,

I don't know what to call it, like a town gown kind of thing.

It's a close relationship between our schools

and our community with events that everybody loves.

So that's my favorite thing when public education

interfaces with the community in a way where we all enjoy

these things and our students are learning even more

to compliment their excellent educations.

Hey, you know what Chad, as we're kind of talking about things,

I love curveball, Tim loves to throw a top,

what we call a Tim bomb, but any surprises this season,

any like, any big, whoa, that came out of nowhere.

Well, the biggest surprise was in hockey

because it's part of the conference

that Wastall West is in, Steven's point is in.

Just down the road here in Central Wisconsin,

and Steven's point was by far the number one team

in the state all year long.

They went 24 and 0 in the regular season.

They beat every other ranked team.

So they, it was not a case of they played a soft schedule.

They were by far the number one ranked team in the state.

So everybody was thinking, Steven's point,

make it to state tournament, maybe win the state championship

and they lost their first playoff game.

I mean, to a team with that, they had beat eight

nothing earlier in the year.

So you talk about playoffs where it's a brand new season.

And that was the case.

I mean, they had played triple falls earlier in the year,

eight to nothing, dominant.

So triple falls goes to this point for the first playoff game.

I think Steven's point may have thought eight.

This is just to warm up before we get to sectionals.

Regional game, they lose.

I mean, just, I saw somebody from triple falls

who's covered sports there said,

probably in all of his years covering high school athletics,

never seen anything like that,

where it was such a big underdog team

with a losing record went into the number one ranked team

in the state and beat them in the first round of the playoffs.

It was just amazing.

I think, man, you hear that.

It's just like, what was it?

Was it was there an individual inspiration

that caught fire then through the team?

Well, you know, because think of what you just said, Chad, right?

You know, betting odds on that would have been,

hey, you know, what you got to do, right?

Right.

You know, but I just wonder are you thinking like,

where does this come from this?

Well, I was getting score updates from a radio guy

that was doing that game.

We were, I was doing the West game

and you're doing the Stevens Point game.

And at the end of the second period, it was two to one

and he added a comment goes,

Stevens Point is sleepwalking through this game.

It wasn't an occasion of injury or I think it's an illness.

It was a case, I think they came in overconfident.

And again, when you play a team the second time

when you beat them, nothing in the first time,

I think they just came in

and one thing over the years, I've noticed

with high school athletes, you can't turn on a switch.

It's one of those things where if you come out

where you're just dragging a little bit,

it's hard to turn on that switch.

If it's turned off, it is off.

And then all of a sudden in a playoff situation,

whether, you know, in hockey,

you're gripping that stick a little bit harder in baseball.

You're gripping that back a little bit harder

and basketball that rim starts to get really, really tight.

You realize as a high school athlete

that your season in some cases, careers are coming to an end

when you're behind in a playoff game,

you start to press a little bit,

you start to feel that pressure.

And I think that was a case where all of a sudden,

you know, you try to turn it on.

It's not there.

Wow.

Jess, you've got some comments blowing there.

I mean, it sounds like that's a pivotal learning experience.

And one of those things that we talk about here

that these isn't essential curricula,

this isn't an extracurricular.

This is essential curricula because in life,

sometimes you gotta get knocked down.

Sometimes you gotta be shown that overconfidence

can be as much of a killer as under preparedness.

So I imagine that the Stevens Point team

was doing some deep reflection after that loss

and sort of looking inside and going,

what happened here?

And what do we need to do in order to make this feeling

and not happen next season?

And one of the interesting things about it,

I was actually talking to my co-host on my,

I have a high school sports show every Wednesday night.

And we were talking because there were two teams

in our area that went the entire winter sports season,

24 games each.

Girls basketball team from our area

and the Stevens Point Pocky team.

And I asked them, you have the former coach, I say,

well, you go into the playoffs, you're 24 and all.

One of two things are gonna happen.

You're gonna finish off a magical run, undefeated,

which is very rare.

You rarely see someone go through the entire regular season

and the playoffs and the state tournament and win it all.

You'll be known as one of the great teams of all time,

your community will remember you forever.

Or you go 24 and all and you'll lose.

And it's like, it almost in a sense takes away

all the incredible accomplishments.

It's not easy to go 24 and all.

But in the end, you'll remember

then you'll lost in the playoffs.

So it's one of two things.

It either magical or it is the worst thing

that ever happened to these young people.

Man, say that like that.

It's like, oh my God, 24 and all.

And then we lose.

Wait a minute, my memory isn't of the 24 awesome win.

Right?

Yeah.

It's actually real funny, real quick.

I had a girl from the storm hockey team on the show.

And this girl is a senior.

And it's her fourth year.

Who are the years they won the state tournament?

One of the years they lost in a sectional game.

And I asked her, what game do you remember the most?

The loss.

Oh, she remembers that loss.

Sometimes the losses hurt more than the wins feel good.

It's really interesting.

Johnny, you look like you saw you were like, yeah, I get that.

Yeah, there's no no doubt about it.

Winning is great.

And you celebrate those moments with your team.

And you never forget them.

But losing can be so formative and can stay with you.

And you do remember those losses.

Sometimes more.

I mean, it's more of a heavy hit, a little impact

on our brains and hearts than those wins.

And the old motto is falling down is not the worst thing

in the world.

Then you just have to get back up.

That's right.

Why don't you get back up?

It's OK to fall down.

So much there.

So much to learn.

Chad, we enjoy having you on our Friday's, man.

Hey, Chad, thanks for busting pencils with us, man.

Absolutely.

When baseball and soccer start up, I'll come back.

Oh, yeah.

You got it.

And now for your moment of zin.

American exceptionalism.

I think that's something that young people need to re-examine.

I think that we need to have an honest view of our country,

not in order to put it down, but to see it

in the context of other countries in the world.

That's where history comes in handy.

Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Busted Pencils.

Free throws and face-offs with our guy, Chad Holmes.

And remember to grab great podcasts,

chalked full of more Busted Pencils content,

an Apple podcast, Spotify, or, of course,

on the Civic Media website, you can always find us there.

Hey, don't you be late for home room on Monday?

Be sure to grab next week's class and session on Wednesday.

And if you don't already know, well, I'm

going to remind you that you can catch Busted Pencils live

3 p.m. central every Saturday across all the Civic Media

Network stations for an hour of your favorite blue collar

scholars, Tim and Johnny, and keep Busted Pencils.