A word from our editor on the

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4: A word from our editor on the importance of coaching

6: Regis grad Bill Wampler’s goal is the Big Dance in his senior year

10: Memorial’s Vincent Trapani using next-gen training to prep for the season

12: Posterized: McDonell’s Maggie Craker

17: UW-Eau Claire goalie Erin Connolly working closely with ECA Stars tenders

20: Local basketball players share why they chose their number

Don’t let a sports injury keep you on the bench this season

Dr. Berg and Dr. Crow combine their skills and expertise in Sports Medicine & Arthroscopy to offer the most comprehensive sports medicine coverage in the Chippewa Valley.

They work closely with their dedicated team of licensed athletic trainers to provide specialized treatment of knees, shoulders and sports injuries.

We’ll help you rebound — call us today!

Your dedicated Sports Medicine Team

Dr. Troy L. Berg Sports Medicine & Arthroscopy

Dr. Austin Crow Sports Medicine & Arthroscopy

Also serving patients in Cumberland, Rice Lake and Shell Lake.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

When people discuss coaching, it’s often about the X’s and O’s. Did Coach make the right decision? Should he or she have started someone else, or called a different play? But the lessons coaches are able to pass down are really just as important as the gameday strategies. Coaches possess years of experience, often times both as a player and a bench boss, that serve as a valuable resource for high school athletes.

Erin Connolly, who I spoke with this month for the magazine, takes that to the next level. She’s passing along the lessons she learned sometimes as she’s learning them, coaching Eau Claire Area girls hockey’s goalies while still serving as the starting goalie at UW-Eau Claire. The tricks of the trade she picks up as a player stay in Hobbs as she instructs Stars goalies Naomi Stow and Alesha Smith. Someday, perhaps these two young women will pass that knowledge down again.

As last month’s Buckshot showed us, lessons can span multiple generations. Aaron wrote in our January edition about former Ladysmith coach Forrest Larson, whose press defense permeated across the Chippewa Valley. One of his disciples, former Lumberjack Matt Siverling, has even brought the press up to the college level as the head coach at UW-Eau Claire.

Sometimes the lessons are technical, sport-specific, but often they translate to life beyond sports. Commitment and integrity help on the playing field, but also in life.

When heading out to prep events this winter, remember that each coach’s job goes far beyond winning and losing. As Connolly said about the goalies she’s working with, “They’re still kind of like sponges. They’re trying to soak up any information that they can.”