Full Show - 4/26/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, April 26th, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Varsity Blitz high school sports show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores
on Fox Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app coming
live from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios.
I want to thank those guys. I want to thank Jake.
Jake from Donovan Jorgenson Heating Cooling came over on Monday

(00:20):
to our house and our driver was now working, cleaned
out the event. The driver's working like crazy, and my
wife very happy, very happy with Jake over at Donovan
Jorgenson Heating and Cooling. Hey, for today's show, we're going
to talk summer camp opportunities. We're going to talk to
a number of people that do summer camps, not only
in the world of sport. We're going to talk a

(00:42):
little hockey, Tako, little basketball, but we're also going to
talk to the director of education at Milwaukee County Zoo.
And we're going to talk about with Melissa Barton from mcguanago.
They do an invention camp for kids on mcgwanago. Had
no idea if it was in sports. When I was
a kid, I was on the plant Bartlett Avenue playground,

(01:03):
we do, you know, basketball camp. Then the next week
we do a chess camp, and then we do yeah,
baseball and all of it. And then I start looking
at different camp opportunities. The one at the Zoo. I
can't wait to talk to Christa Marlow because for my
grandkids who are at the Zoo all the time, they
get kind of like back stage kind of stuff. Right,
you can go in the back and and christ is

(01:26):
gonna explain a little bit about that, and then Melissa
Barton's going to talk about camp invention. But anytime I
talk camps, I'm a big Jeff Tricky guy. And I
called coach Tricky and I said, look, you got You're
still doing all these camps, doing a great job. And
then can we have you come in studio for a
couple of segments talk about the quarterback receiver camp. And

(01:47):
Jeff and I talked for about a half hour the
other day and we talked twenty five minutes on golf
and five minutes on this And I gotta tell you,
Coach Tricky, how are you?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
I'm wonderful.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
I gotta tell you. I played eight team yesterday at
Songbird with my friend Brian Kleisman. He's been my best
friend since fifth grade, the best man in his wedding,
the best man at my wedding? Was I the best man?
Maybe his brother Allan was the best man, but I
did all the best man duties. I should have been
the best man in Himah gotcha whole three at Songbird

(02:20):
Part three down the Hill, all right.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
We got a golf story.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
My friend Brian Kleisman, who's a good golfer. He yes, no,
he put one in the cup. Man, I've never seen
it in person. And it was not the prettiest shot
I've ever seen, doesn't no. And he was yelling stop, stop, stop.
And when he yelled go in, it hit it and
dropped right in. And I am telling you. We looked

(02:47):
around and he goes, you're my witness. I go, yes,
I am. There's nobody around, and I'm telling you, it
was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. And
is it to see my friend with a small is
on his face like you couldn't believe? And three, four
or five holes later, we're still smiling about it. And

(03:07):
I was so happy for him. We get it. We
go in in the clubhouse. We were done with eighteen
and and I said I think we're supposed to tell somebody,
And so we went up and told him he's going
to get his name on this, and he gets a
little plaque. And but I have never one of the
coolest things I've ever seen.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
That's great. You don't get to see many. I know
I've seen two. Have you had any, never had any?
We've all you know, got those stories about being close
really close.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Ye, But hey, years ago, I had Bobby Bowden on
Faith in his own a show that you've been a
guest on, and thank you for that. And right near
the end of the show, I said, Coach, hey, I
did a bunch of research before the show. I just
have to say congratulations on something. And you know, Bobby
Bowden back of that, what what what do you saying

(03:54):
congratulations to me? For Mike? You know that Southern act.
I said, hey, you had your first hole in one?
He said, I don't want to talk about that. I said, Coach,
he had a hole in one. He said it was
one hundred and thirty yard Part three. I used his
seven wood and I rolled it. Doesn't man, I rolled
it up. And then they told me that I was
supposed to go to some bar and buy a bunch
of drinks. I'm not buying people drinks. I don't drink it.

(04:16):
I'm not going to a bar. It was so funny,
but he said, look, he used a threewood. I used
a threewood from one hundred and thirty yards and I
had to roll it up. He said, I don't want
to talk about it. I said, coach, I do because
I've never seen one, but I have now, and I
congratulate Brian Kleisman, I do. And look me playing as

(04:38):
much golf. I either give him credit or I blame him,
and I don't know which one it is yet. But
all of a sudden, I'm addicted to this game and
I love playing. And he'll call me and say, hey, listen,
I had a meeting, cancel, I've got you know, All
of a sudden, I got an hour and a half free.
Do you want to get nine? I'm like, I'm in.
And I yelled at my wife, Terry, I'm going to

(04:58):
play nine with Brian. She's like, have fun, see you,
and off I go. And I don't know. I don't
know if I want to yell at him or I
want to hug him and say thank you. Yet I'm
thinking I'm saying thank you, but I was so proud
of him, and it was so good. It was so
fun that I was there to see a coach. You
play a lot of golf, huh.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
I enjoy golf. I think, you know, I could never
afford golf until I was about thirty five or forty
because as a young educator coach, right, you don't have
time or money. And I did pick it up and
you know, during the mid thirties, and now I really
enjoy it now that I have a little more time

(05:38):
in the off season when it's not camp season, I
love it.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
You know, winter time, you're down Florida a little bit,
are you able to you know, at five o'clock just
kind of grab your clubs and go out and get
you know, six seven, eight holes in or you know,
you does rond to play?

Speaker 2 (05:55):
She does not. She tried, and it just wasn't.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
For I still use one of her lines that she
gave me. We did a Coach's Wives show, yes, and
we had some coaches wives.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
In studio of that site.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Do you know a couple of the coaches wives we
had were basically saying, I know more about football than
my husband and Ronda said, look, let me be honest,
I'm still not really quite sure what first and ten means,
but I really can throw a great pregame party and
a great postgame party, and I'm really good at that.
I'm not kidding. And I told her this. I love

(06:30):
my wife. But Ronda that day was a close second.
She she would roll her eyes at the women that said,
look when I one coach's wife said, when we go
to see our boys play, my husband doesn't say a word.
I'm on the sidelines pacing, and I'm yelling at the coach.
I'm yelling. And Ronda just kind of rolled her eyes
and said, look, I'm still not sure what first and

(06:51):
ten means, but boy do I throw good parties.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah. Those of us that are in this coaching arena
for our lives, our wives are the vps. There's a
special place.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
There in heaven for coaches, and they're going to.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Be there to put up with those of us that
are passionate about coaching and teaching. There's Yeah, they're incredible.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
He coached these camps and if you google Jeff Tricky
or go to Jeff Tricky qbcamps dot com, one word
Jeff Tricky qbcamps dot com. You can go to the
summer dates, the two days Quarterback Camps, the three day
Quarterback Receiver Advanced Camps, the one day Quarterback Receiver Youth
Camp that my grandson Beckett, he doesn't know this yet.

(07:36):
Son in law John does, but we're gonna be back
and we're doing some things the day before that, and
Beckett's going to be at the one in Brookfield, and
I appreciate it, appreciate that he's going in the sixth
grade and he's going from he played for Brookfield East
Youth Group youth football. He's going to Lake Country, Yeah,

(07:56):
Luther now, and we need to get him a little
bit of confidence and how to spin the ball a
little bit. And then the leadership part of it, Jeff,
that's the part that and that's the reason I bring
in every week or every year because I just feel
like that's there are quarterback camps, and there are football
camps that you can go to. There are, but because

(08:17):
of the mission statement that you've always had. And look,
I tell my Jeff tricky story. I just do. I
have heard I had heard for years when I was
doing this show from Tony mccutten, and from Steve Roux
and people that I just put up on the pedestal
as far as their servant leadership part and how they

(08:38):
coach and how they want kids to understand what being
part of a team is about. Jeff Tricky and I
had you up on this pedestal and we were in
mcgwanaga for a walkshow West game on my twenty four
and I was like, Oh, there's Jeff Tricky. That's Tricky.
And you were walking and in my mind, I'm like,
I'd like to meet this guy. And you were walking

(09:00):
right towards me, and you walked up and you said,
Mike mcgiver, I've wanted to meet you. I'm Jeff Tricky,
and I'm like, coach, I've wanted to meet you too.
And we you know what. You and I are friends
and a lot of the things that you believe in,
not only sports, but in life. You and I are
on the same page. Not all but most, and some
we won't. We talked about it the other day. Some

(09:21):
people we won't have conversations with certain parts, and that's
okay with both of us. But I look at the
effect that you've had on so many kids and so
many parents and so many people's wives. Jeff, I hope
that you understand. I would love to find somebody talking
bad behind your back. I haven't found that person yet,

(09:41):
but if they're out there, I think to have the
conversation with them.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
There might be some out there, you know, I'm sure
there are.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
Where did you Where did you learn this process? Because
as coaches, we don't come up with anything on our own.
We steal from other people, right what we want to
run offensively, what we want to run defensive in football,
what we want to run when it's third and eight
compared to third and nine or third and four. You
know all of that, but you have taken it, I

(10:09):
think to a different level where you want to talk
about the leadership part and the lessons kids can learn
through a game like football that you absolutely love. Where
do you think a lot of that came from for you?

Speaker 2 (10:22):
You know, that's great points, Mike. I know. My father
and my parents are the are the foundation as all parents.
I tell parents and many come to our camps and
they ask if they can stay. And we have as
many parents and coaches at camps sometimes as kids. But

(10:42):
the parents, they are the number one role models in
every young person's life. And we talk to kids about
number one before we even talk about the elevating your
skill set and we're going to make you a better
player and so forth. We really believe, like I have
always believed, you be a great son first, or you

(11:06):
be a great daughter. For the daughters and an audience
there too, you be a great son first, and then
it evolves into when young people as a mature and
being an education. I'm very proud of it. Taught for
thirty eight years and so forth. You see the evolution
of young people and how they are looking for a

(11:27):
fit factor when they are five and six and seven,
they're looking how they fit in kindergarten who's my friend?
And then it evolves into the high school level, and
the journey continues. And now that experience and with the
evolution of multimedia and so forth, now the fit factor

(11:50):
is even more complicated because it's held in your hand
a lot. And then it goes.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Hey, Jeff, a year ago and I have told maybe
one hundred people this story. You you you told on
the area a year ago and we were talking about
camps and you said, look, and when I asked you
about the leadership part and quarterback. Being a quarterback is different.
It just is that that leadership. And I think we

(12:17):
would agree. You can't be undisciplined all day in the
classroom and then come to practice and be disciplined. And
you talked about how you stress, and you talk to
these kids. When you go into the lunch room and
there's a kid sitting off by himself and nobody's around,
go sit with that kid and introduce yourself and sit
and have lunch with the kid because of things that

(12:39):
are happening in the schools that that you and I
I'm afraid of sometimes for my grandkids. If that kid
who was really struggling because he feels like he's by
himself or she's by himself and nobody knows. Look, I
dress funny or I talk funny, or I don't. I'm
not involved in sports, and.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
I don't like sports, right, I don't like sports at all.
That's seconal education. That is just perfect, you know.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
And quarterbacks, you stress into the receivers and the people
that come to your camp, go up and sit with
them and get to know them a little bit. And
I thought that that was such a great point, Like
get them if they don't want to come to the
football game. Who cares? You don't have to. Let's let's
talk about things that are important to you. And that's
what a leader does and have that kid feel accepted

(13:27):
and at least somebody listening to what they want to
talk about. And I think that, Look, there is a
line on your website from and this is what This
is why I love having you in because this is true.
There are camps that only want Division IE guys, and
there are camps that only want in different sports, and
they only want these certain parts for you. And this

(13:48):
is right on your website, so you're not running from it.
From a Division one recruit to the freshman just beginning
his jersey journey. As we camp, we are we are
to get better develop your game, your character, and your
potential as a leader. It's not develop your your you know,
your three step drop, develop your hands, it's develop your game,

(14:10):
your overall game, your character, and your potential as a leader.
I think that's what set these camps apart.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Chat Well, we take that very seriously, Mike, and we
always have since the inception of our camps, that that
we are there as an extension of not only the parents,
but the coaches that want to make these these young
people better, better people, and our life skill and leadership segments,
and that that part of our camp is very very

(14:39):
important because these the young people today are our challenge.
It's it's a challenge to be that person that inside
internally you are proud of and you can impart this
gift to others. That's the thing to be let other
people always be seen. And that was something that you

(15:02):
see those people in our schools and our communities that
maybe are alone and don't we have an opportunity to
allow them to feel seen by genuinely caring. And you know,
if kids hear that, they hear it from mom and dad,
right and grandma and grandpa, But if they hear it
from an extent another person or someone else or teachers, Yeah,

(15:26):
I think it's important.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Do you know out of my daughter in law teaches
in Mcguanago, My son in law is the assistant principal
at Monomini Fallows and my daughter teaches at Milwaukee Lutheran.
So they I listened to their conversations. We had them
all over for Easter, and I listened to their conversations
about trying to reach kids that that are that kid

(15:49):
in the in the lunch room who's sitting on their own,
feeling like they don't have anybody that wants to know
what they're thinking. And how to reach those kids and
the importance of making them feel like they have people
in this school that will will will, We'll sit and
have lunch with them even though they're not coming to
the Friday that football game. And and and Jeff, I've

(16:10):
told that story a hundred times from a year ago,
and and I think it it sets what you're trying
to do with these camps. Apart from anybody else there's camp.
When you go to his website, Jeff Tricky Quarterback Camps,
you can look at the dates. A number of dates
here in the state of Wisconsin. But this thing is Illinois, Iowa,
South Dakota, and North Dakota, Minnesota, a lot of places

(16:34):
throughout the Midwest. You've got a lot of traveling coming
up here.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
You do, and it's it's people think I'm nuts, but
it's so much fun and we can work hard, but
then we can.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
I don't think you're nuts. I know you're well. I
thank you for what you do with this, and we're
gonna get to a break. Craig one of the best
high school athletes you ever coached. Played basketball at Marquette
for Kevin O'Neill, then went to North Dakota.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
North Dakota State.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah the Bison, right.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yes, player of the year there in their conference. He
was and unplayed quarterback his fifth year after all of
his basketball did he really? He started at quarterback wow
on North Dakota State and they went to the third
round of the Division two.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
You know, he's one of the coaches you got. And
your staff is unbelievable. These are really good and you
want to talk when we talk about that servant leadership
Hart as we talked about different guys on your staff,
that's really important to you and you have to they
have to understand that that you know what they're they're
going to get more out of it than the kids

(17:44):
that they're given at the camp and and that's really
important to you.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
We're getting themselves.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
We're going to give Craig a call. Where's he at?

Speaker 2 (17:51):
By the way, he's a Texas State University and he
is the you talk about the they say Craig is
He is an associate professor of choral music. I've read
that at Texas State University and one of the most
often requested performers at Texas State for you know, trustees,

(18:18):
and they want Craigs choir. He's a gifted, gifted young
man and his parents are both gifted choral directors. His
brothers at Montana.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, I don't get a lot of people on my
high school show that that that look. I'm tone deaf,
so I can't. I've got nothing to say in that space.
We'll talk to Craig about being a one of the
coaches in the Jeff Jeff Tricky camps and guys, if
you have son and is this all boys.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, it is, it is. We've had female athletes that
are played in that female league as quarterbacks that come
to camp. Now, the Green Bay Packers have asked us
to head their NFL initiative for girls Flag. We're gonna
do a full camp up in Green Bay in August

(19:12):
after our camps are over. I can it's gonna be fun.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
You got to make sure that you keep me in
a loop on that and we can promote it here
and and if once everything gets settled, if you'll come
back in and we'll just do a segment or two
on that camp to get some girls here because it's
getting to be big. Brion Stratton as a flag football
team and I talked to their coach and he said,

(19:37):
we're going to get better because the girls in this
area are starting to play. Excited about that. He is
Jeff Tricky again. If you go to his website, it's
one where Jeff Tricky QB camps all one word Jeff
Tricky QB Camps. Get an idea. All the information you
need on sending your your your son to these camps

(19:59):
is right there in front of you. And Craig i'm
on is going to join us on the other side
of the break and we'll talk to him about being
part of this camp and working with Jeff Tricky. This
is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores on
Fox Sports ninety twenty in your iHeart Radio app. Welcome

(20:21):
back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.
I'm Mike mcgiverern coming live from the Donovan and Jorganst
and Heat and Cooling Studios. We're talking summer camp opportunities.
For you and your kids, for your grandkids. And most
of them are the ones I'm going to talk about
are sports, but not all of them. We're going to

(20:42):
talk with a lady from the from the educational side
of the zoo that's going to come on a girl
that a woman that teaches out in mcguanago. They've got
a camp invention that your kids' grandkids that want to
invent things. And I didn't know any of that. Yeah,
I'm not sure I would have been at that camp
as a kid, but I don't think they would have

(21:04):
invited me. Who knows no. And in studio with us
Jeff Tricky, and we're talking about Jeff Tricky and the
quarterback camps to technique leadership camps that they do. And
we're now joined by one of the coaches. How long
has he been on the staff?

Speaker 2 (21:18):
By the way, Craig has been on the staff since
the inception of our camps in nineteen eighty nine. He
was an All state player in two sports, basketball and football,
and and has been the cornerstone with me and the
key guys as far as one of our coaches. And
now he's a he's an owner with me, and that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, yeah, well you had said during the first segment
before he went on, one of the greatest athletes you
ever coached.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Well, I mean that's not a me.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
And he can sing. He's got a little music stuff
to him.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
I like that. We add that to the brochure.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Hey, I should. I should be your agent.
I can get him to give you a raise if
you need it. Rag you can sing, we gotta man.
That's awesome. Hey, coach, how you been.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Great? Coach? Hey, thanks for having a son and thanks
for that that walk in music. Bon Jovi's a great
choice then it.

Speaker 1 (22:17):
Yeah, I was gonna yeah, Spencer's like fish Pump and
he thinks he's the best producer. I got to knock
him down a couple of times, so don't tell him that. Hey, Craig,
when we talked about these camps and and what I
had said to Jeff prior to have and you come on,
I I just think that that when you guys are

(22:38):
talking about things other than just you know, a three
step drop, you're talking about leadership and character and all
the things that that I think are really important when
you want to play high school athletics, especially at a
position like the quarterback position. That that's something that Jeff
I think taught you when you were in high school
and you've carried that on. Just really important part part

(23:00):
of these camps is is not just how to spin
the ball, but everything else that comes with that, correct.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
No doubt, and I think you're absolutely right. And the
older we get, you know, some of us, like Coach said,
it's a little bit scary to think I've been with
them for thirty six years, but I'm proud of it
and also a little freaked out by it. It's a
long time to be working. And part of the reason we,
you know, so other guys still come back, I think
in our thirties and forties is just that, you know,

(23:27):
the the sharing of the skill set is fun. We
get to fly around fields all over the Midwest now
still and that's great, but that's if we're just doing that,
I think we missed a real opportunity. And just the
older we get into different roles, you know, still sons
and brothers and professionals and fathers. We know for sure,
without a doubt with it that we're still pulling on

(23:49):
these core values and lessons that were distilled in us.
That we were lucky to play like I was lucky
to play for a guy like Coach t Some guys
are less lucky than that. But we still have a
shot in eight hollars or twelve that we had with
these young men to make that kind of an impact.
So if we just stopped at the physicality of it,
we've just missed a real opportunity. So we take that
really seriously. We think that's one of the things that

(24:11):
I think sets us apart, and we get that feedback
a lot.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
I agree with that one hundred percent. Craig. Do you
still remember some of the lessons that that Jeff Tricky
taught you as far as that side of it, And
did you come into Walkshaw South as a freshman kind
of having that servant leadership hard and knowing how to
be a leader or was that part of the learning

(24:36):
process under under Coach Tricky?

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, for sure. You know, we were lucky if you
were in the Black Shirt in the nineties, you had
Jeff Tricky come into town and you had Mark Christiansen
come into town both about the same time, and I
happen to be a basketball and football player. So it's
just I just feel so fortunate to have these guys.
And I can go back for five seconds a little

(25:02):
earlier than that, because I saw you had Billy and
Julian I guess a couple episodes ago. Well, their father
was actually my first coach and my sixth grade teacher,
so talk about learning from the learning from the best.
Coach Swartz was probably the start of my altic career.
So I'm just super lucky to have these centers.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
And how'd you like how'd you like a dollar for
every time he talked about triple threat and you know,
weak shot help and sliding over and and and getting
the pistols out, because Coach Schwartz is all about fundamentals, right,
and and I love the fact that you brought him
up and having Billy and Julian in studio twice in

(25:42):
the last couple of months. Billy's son was one of
our current electric superheroes of the week, so really active
in the school, about a three nine or four point
grade point average and had and does a lot of
volunteer work in the Walkshot area. And I can tell you,
you know, Billy Shwart's one of the tougher guys I know.

(26:02):
When I'm talking to Morgan and Billy's got tears coming
out of his cheek. I thought that a boy, he
definitely gets it. Hey, hey, Craig, how about what's the
different in today's quarterback position compared to twenty twenty five
years ago when you're handing it off a lot and
you know, three yards and a cloud of dust. That

(26:24):
the days of that are over. And I think even
at the high school and grade school level, you know,
the idea of playing that position is different than I
think when you were playing probably right.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
For sure. Absolutely, That's that's been a fun part of
this is you know, not only watching that evolution, but
being right in the middle of it. One of the
things that you know, really respect about coach t is,
you know, at at his young age of fifty nine
years old here, he's still every every year as we're
getting ready to get back to it, we're talking, he's

(26:59):
tweaking and he's looked at the you know, the newest,
latest kind of not only does trends in offensive football,
but skill sets and burbage, and you know, he could
easily have been rolling out last you know, a few years,
just kind of doing it as we've done it. But
we love that challenge and kind of staying current with it.
It's certainly multi dimensional. It's certainly more shotgown and spread.
You know that's been around now for a while. But

(27:22):
you know, and also and also I think we can
say at the same time, the core skill sets running
through it. Really when you're talking about the basics of
delivering the football with the past, the base footwork of
drops and run get it shifts a bit over time.
But some course stuff for these young guys, especially the eighth, ninth, tenth,
eleventh graders that are really meeting that foundation, I haven't

(27:44):
shifted a whole lot. And so I know it's there's
a lot of what's the newest way to say it
and what's the newest way to post it? And you know,
put it on Instagram. But we we really we really
anchor ourselves in some of that time tested technique as well.
It's always staying current with all the trends. So it's
that's going to do.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
Hey, Jeff, do you guys get together this time of year?
Your first camp that I see is June first and
second in Illinois. Do you guys get together now and
start putting because you have your template and do you
tweak it. If there are kids that came to camp
last year, we want to encourage them to come back again.

(28:21):
Is there different Will they learn new things this year
or just kind of re establish some of the things
you've put in already.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
That's a good point because we meet continually all year
between Ryan bingenheim Er, Craig Amett, myself and then Robbie
Slaven's and a few of our really key guys my
son Matt Tricky. But we meet continually to upgrade, update thoughts.
How can we tweak, as Craig said, how can we

(28:49):
make this segment a little more meaningful or uptempo. So
we're always trying to improve and trying to make it
more meaningful because we've got so much we want to
share with these kids. That every minute is planned, every minute,
there's no downtime and so forth. So yes, we we

(29:09):
love to do that. We're always trying to be students
of the game, and we Craig speaks at clinics for us.
I speak at clinic. We do it together and get
to you know, talk with coaches. It's it's that's a
great time to prepare.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
How do you choose the locations? If I can, how
do you choose, Like you're going to be in Petersburg, Illinois,
You're going to sue Fall, South Dakota, You're going to
be in Jamestown, North Dakota, Minnetaka, Minnesota, and then Wawatosa
and wash On Brookfield into Forest and and to peer
a number of camps here in the state. But how

(29:47):
do you pick where you're going to go?

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Well, you know, Craig and I we've gone through this
where we we're all over the country for many years,
right and then our camps for five years were purchased
by another correct player and he decided to take all

(30:09):
these long distance camps away. We did it more as
a great place to go, you know, Scottsdale and San
Diego and San Francisco and Vegas and Denver. Just you know,
it'd be great to get away from Wisconsin if we
could for a weekend. And so anyway, now we're really
focused on the Midwest. And these are coaches that are

(30:31):
in these locations that are directors for our camp. And
these are highly motivated coaches that really have been with
us for many years and they feel very, very very
you know, strongly that they would like to market it
at their high school and so forth, and so they

(30:52):
are hired by us as on site directors and then
they help us market it in their region actually, and
they're all a one Hall of Fame type guys, wonderful
teachers and that you know they are.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Yeah, I can add to that. Yeah, tack on to that.
Coach he you know, Coach has always said I can
hear him saying when we were younger, to surround yourself
with good people. You know, it's not that complicated. It
surround yourself with good people. So I will say the
primary thing that kind of haves us looking more closely
at a new site is the person. And we start
there and it's not just a coaching reputation, it's a
man reputation. That's the guys that are respected in their

(31:29):
ury and their state, and they're as far as we
can tell, they're in it for the right reasons, all
the things that Coach t would would need us to
be connecting with. So there's that, and then I just
that last point that Coach made about returning campers. That's
one of the most rewarding things for us to see
year in and year out, is the number of guys
that come back and not just for two years, but
three and four, and that means a lot to us.

(31:51):
I mean, we we do our best to provide something
meaningful and valuable, but you know, we don't know and when.
The biggest sign that I think phil is on these
names that are showing up again and again, and the
family is believing that the coaches believe it. So that's
probably the biggest measuring stick for us. It's if we're
if we're getting it kind of right, and we'll see,
we'll see quite a bit of that.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Hey, Jeff, you talked about we don't want like a
coach out there f bomb, and well, thank goodness that
none of us ever played for a coach that did that,
like maybe Kevin O'Neill or somebody something like that. I
went to one or two of his practices. I learned
a whole bunch of new words, by the way, and
that coached a guy over at Dominican, Shannon Smith, that

(32:33):
played for him, and Shannon said, coach, he uses a
whole different language than you, and coach Wallershaw and said,
I know, I know, it's okay. You'll be all right
over there. Hey, hey, Craig, you bring that up.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
You bring that up on purpose or did you did
you realize I played with.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Oh, I did a whole bunch of research on you.
I know you played for him, and I got to
believe that that your your vocabulary. At least the words
you heard changed a little bit from going from Jeff Trickey,
you know and Christiansen over to Kevin O'Neil. That had

(33:10):
to be a little eye opening for you.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Wide open, yes, and when the door closed for the
first time, you know that the recruiting KO.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
I love coaching Neil.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
I appreciate everything there, but the recruiting KO was a
little different than the door closed. His practiced are KOs.
It was an immediate education for sure.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
After coaching Channon Smith, I would always tell other kids
who are getting recruited, go to a practicer too. If
you want to know what you're getting into, go sit
into a practice and understand so that you have both
eyes completely wide open when you go there.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
That's great.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
I'd like if we could, yes, we have just a minute.
I'd like Craig to share with We were asked to
write an article for the State Football Coaches point after
and we do it as much as we can. And
one of the things that Craig did wonderful research on
and believes in, and it's really read up on and

(34:06):
we've talked about. But he authored a beautiful article that's
in the point after for any anybody that's in that
football arena. There you can go to the point after,
but I'd liked him to just if you could, sure,
Craig just share a couple thoughts of what we really
feel is important with young people right now, is that

(34:29):
their ability to understand that wherever they are in life
is great. You're in a great spot and you don't
have to be compared with others. And Craig can you
can you share your thoughts because he just did an
incredible job in this article.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
He is, sir, you know there and getting back to
your the way we started here. It's no different than
the messages in the heart that I was hearing at
sixteen and seventeen with these guys, but putting a little
bit more research around it, just understanding it better is
in later life. But these are things that our kids
need to hear, you know, And like I said, if
we have them for eight hours and then we can
carve out time to sit them down and quiet them down.

(35:11):
And let them know because I think increasingly there's so
much research now about what social media is doing on
our mental health situation. If you're in education, you're learning
a lot about what we're learning about here and what
our kids are struggling with and what they need support with.
In the quarterback position, I think is just such a
huge laboratory to learn about and work on these things.

(35:33):
If you're helped, it helps if you're helped with it
and kind of guide it through it. So you know,
we talk about the same thing we talk about learning
you know that you are not the outcome. That's one
big thing is our kids compare. They measure up, they're
better than they're worse than each other. They walk in
they're surrounded by fifty other quarterbacks, and they're wondering if
they're good enough. And that's a NonStop question that our

(35:56):
kids are asking themselves. Am I enough? And so we
try to share with them, yes, you are. First second
of all, your self worth is not on the line
on Friday night. This is not you. You're not your
jersey or your stats or your scores. And these are
things that we think are kind of obvious, but we
need to say them out loud, and our kids need
to hear them. The idea that this idea of presence

(36:18):
I've been more in. You can cut me off here anytime,
because I could go on for a while, but this
idea of bringing a young man back to where he is.
There's so much research out there right now on this
high performance and what our best athletes and artists in
any arena are learning about coming to just a job
at hand, which takes you out of a lot of
anxiousness and to worry and sadness and regrets and all

(36:41):
the things that run through us. And on the playing field,
it means you forget about last down and you're not
worried about next down. It's just this down, and it's
just these guys in the huddle, And that kind of
really like Razor's edge of the tension and presence is
super powerful, not just on the playing field, but off
because if you can be present, you have a better
chance to connect to others as well. And that's the

(37:02):
last thing I think Coach T's teams always had this,
this this ceiling in the locker room that we actually
cared about each other and we're okay speaking about that
and communicating it and our young men especially need to
hear that it's not okay sometimes to say that or
communicate it or feel anything. And so all of these
things I think, and I explored these a little bit

(37:24):
in that article and enjoy sharing it. But I'm just
super interested in how we can support where our young
guys are.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
So man, I appreciate that guys when when anytime I
do a show on summer camps, I want Jeff Tricky
with me, I want Craig with me. And it's not
because you know their their their total goal is to
you know, measure your kids hands and see if they
can they can throw the ball forty yards on that
back shoulder throw or something like that. There's so much

(37:52):
more to these camps, and they they again when when
Jeff says, look, every minute we have planned. This isn't
like this is a daycare where they're gonna, you know,
bring your own football and I don't know, you go
play over there. You go play over there and you
play catch with him and see if he can catch it,
and then we'll get you back home here in an hour.
That's not what this is. And I'm so excited for

(38:13):
my grandson Beckett to go to this camp in Brookfield,
the youth camp that they're gonna be doing, and he'll
be there June twenty first, And because I'm a helicopter grandfather,
I'll be there yelling at him somewhere in the parking lot.
And Tricky knows that, and he's tell him.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yelling at him in the state.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
I'm gonna have fake nos and glasses. Maybe you won't
recognize me. Hey, Craig, thank you so much for your time. Jeff.
It's always good to see you, sir, And you know
how much respect I have for you, and more of
it as a man than a coach. And you're off
the charts on the coach side. I don't know how
many strokes you're gonna have to give me on the
golf course. We'll find out. We'll find out a lot

(38:52):
of them, a lot of them.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
And if I can, I want on behalf of all
of our coaching fraternity throughout the Midwest in the state.
We want to thank you for what you do, for
what you do for kids and coaches and are are
an arena of trying to teach kids. We need ambassadors
like you, and you've been the front runner for many years.

(39:14):
So thank you.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Thank you. I appreciate that a lot. Jeff trickyqbcamps dot Com.
Jeff trickyqbcamps dot com is where you're gonna want to go.
We're gonna get to a break. The other side of
the break, we're gonna talk hockey. We'll do hockey camp.
John Brimmer, who is Primetime Hockey's got camps coming up
and we're gonna talk to John. On the other side
of the break. The second hour of the show, we're

(39:36):
gonna talk to coach Paul wallershot coach is they're doing
some basketball camps at Martin Luther but he is retired
now and the best basketball coach I've ever been associated with.
We'll talk to him about that. We're also going to
talk to about some summer camps outside of the sport

(39:56):
world in the second half of this of this show.
And I look for or did that as well. Jeff.
It's good to see us. Say hi to round it
for me. Thank you, thank you, Mike, you got it.
This is the Varsity Blitz high school sports show, presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores
on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app.
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz high school sports show

(40:17):
presented by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores,
coming live from the Donovan and Jorgans and Heating and
Coolian Studios. I want to thank Jeff Tricky and Craig
I'm not for coming on talking about the Jeff Tricky
quarterback camps and today's show. We're giving you opportunities and
just kind of thinking about this summer and what we

(40:38):
get our kids involved in. Most of the things we're
going to talk about today are are our sport camps,
but not all of them. Not all of them. We're
going to talk a little bit to some camps they're
doing at the Milwaukee County Zoo, a camp that they're
doing out in Mcguantago for kids that want to get
involved in inventing things. These are camps I never knew existed.

(40:59):
And I love when I do a show like this
and I start doing research and I get to talk
about things I don't normally talk about on this show,
and one of them is is youth hockey camps. I
don't get a chance to talk to youth hockey camps
too much. And I reached out to John Brimer from
Primetime hockey and they've got it. They've got a great
uh summer camp youth summer camp schedule ready for this summer.

(41:24):
And if you've got kids that that our hockey players
are wanting to try hockey or be a part of hockey.
John Brimer and his group do a nice job with
this thing. John, how you doing today?

Speaker 5 (41:36):
I'm great? How about you?

Speaker 1 (41:37):
I'm doing really well? Thank you. Hey, this time of year,
you guys start putting together all the summer camps that
that you're gonna do. Talk a little bit about if
parents or grandparents want to get their kids, both boys
and girls involved in hockey, or they're playing hockey and
they want to get better and they want to they
want an experience on how they can get better or

(42:00):
in the game of hockey. Can we talk a little
bit about kind of your mission statement with primetime Hockey
and and and how you go about what you're gonna
do as far as summer camps.

Speaker 5 (42:13):
Yeah, I mean, we firmly believe that, you know, our
kids work hard all year in season, but they're not
always getting the skills that they need to be able
to facilitate and grow as a player. So we really
look at the skating aspect of our summer camp, and

(42:34):
then just the puck skills things like that that you
need to play the game. So our summer camps are
really based on you know, skate first, you know, get
the kids improving with their footwork, because if you can't skate,
you really can't play the game. And then and then
we look at the other aspects of puck handling and shooting,
and we really look to improve all kids. I mean,

(42:58):
we have kids from the Triple A, the highest level
players in our area on down to the AD and
C teams, and you know, we do a nice job
mixing the kids, and you know, we feel that that's
a really good dynamic for our better kids to have
an opportunity to work with work with kids like them,

(43:18):
but also work with kids that you know that they
have to work harder and and and make better. You know,
some of the D and C kids, you know, so
so their jobs out there are to you know, incorporate
and include kids with different skill sets, and then it
also gives the kids with lower skill sets an opportunity
to work with better kids. So you know, we really

(43:39):
try to mix our kids up and and give them
a foundation of gates first, fuck, skills and compete, right,
those are all the things you need, uh to be
able to play the game during the year. So, you know,
we let the kids take a little bit of a
break from hockey typically end and you know, February and March,
get the kids playing some other sports, and then you know, summertime,

(44:01):
we uh, we work with the kids for about eight
weeks from June, July and August and then give them
a little bit of a break, and then we run
some spring leagues as well, because what you what you
did in the summer camp and fine tuning your skills,
you know. Then we get them playing springlely or sorry,
fall leagues right before their tryouts, so they get that

(44:23):
compete and level of play and just conditioning things like
that that you need to kind of go into the
season with. So we we feel like we give our
kids a healthy mix of skills and then and then
compete and then they're off doing their in season tryouts
and getting ready for their their.

Speaker 6 (44:42):
In season teams.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Hey, John, I can tell you the reason I started
looking up different opportunities in the game of hockey to
talk about on this show. And I can tell you
why I called you on your website you talk about skating, passing, shooting,
stick handling and competition drolls, and that for me it look,

(45:04):
if kids want to get better, and you said it,
they need to improve on the ice right speed and
some of the lateral movement and agility when it comes
to skating, but then the passing side and the shooting
side and the stick handling. And then I like that
you say, look, we do competition drolls because I think,

(45:25):
as a former basketball coach, all of what you say
on your on your website and what you do on
your camps are exactly the kind of things when I
worked basketball camps that I wanted kids to get involved.
I didn't want us to roll the ball out, say
why don't you just shoot one hundred shots and then
we'll play three on three's. It's the fundamentals of skating,

(45:48):
of passing, of shooting, of stick handling. Now let's put
all that together and let's utilize it in some competition
drolls and on your website. That's the reason I called
you first, John, because I just thought, look if I
if I was a hockey guy, a hockey coach, and
I was gonna work a camp. These are the things
that I would want our campers to understand what we're

(46:11):
gonna do. This isn't it's not a daycare for camp
for kids that want to be able to just skate
around and goof around with their buddies. It is a
way for us to get kids to have fun. But
we're gonna get after a little bit and we're gonna
go through some fundamental drills. And I have to tell you,
John to Primetime Hockey. That's the reason I called you first.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
No, I appreciate that. That is definitely what we're all about.
You know, ice time is expensive, and if you're gonna
come and you're gonna you're gonna pay the fees to
come to our camp. You know, I I am very dedicated.
I've been doing this for thirty plus years. I want
all the players to have a great experience and I

(46:53):
want them to get better. That's what they're here for.
You know, We're not just gonna throw the puck on
the ice and just kind of at them. Do you
know the fun things? I mean, there's there's stick and
puck and there's other opportunities, and those are great opportunities
for kids. But you're not getting the coaching, you're not
getting the instruction, and you're not getting the drills and
the compete and things like that that we offer. So

(47:16):
you know, that's that's kind of our motto. You know,
if you're coming to us, I time's expensive. I do
not like to waste one second of it.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
You know.

Speaker 5 (47:24):
We do have our fun and we do some you know,
some some drills that that definitely allow the kids to
have fun because that's part of the game, right, their
kids and they should have fun and they want it.
You know, we want them to come back to the rink,
but we also want them to have results. You know,
we want mom and dad to you know, say, hey,
look we dropped our kids off here in June and

(47:44):
then at the end of August and they go into
their tryouts and they see improvement. We we hear that
a lot, right, And there's kids that go out that
that we're on the B teams, they've never made the
A team, and then they go to their tryouts and
then they make the A team. And that makes me
so proud to see when kids do that because we

(48:05):
know we gave them a really good foundation. Uh to
get better, right, the kids have to work on their
own and we push them and motivate them to do that.
But you know, you you have to have the right
mindset and and that's what we're up. We're about and
we see a lot of that. You know, we're working
with the highest level kids do like I said, the
Triple A kids, and you know, we want them to
continue to keep their spots on Triple A teams because

(48:27):
competition is out there. There's always kids working hard. But
you know, again, it makes me extremely happy when I
see a B kid go to A or a C
kid make the B team. You know that that that
says a lot, right And and we do get those
mom and dads that that write to thank you email
and you know, just that's that's what we're about, right.
I have a full time job, you know, this is

(48:48):
this is fun for me and and you know, it's
not necessarily all about the business. So when we see results,
that's what we're about.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Hey guys. And and when I'm talking to John and
and we're talking about it, making you know, younger kids
better and getting them, you know, to fall in love
with hockey. When you go to their website, look up
the bio that John has because one of the other
reasons I called him is look, he is coached at

(49:17):
the high school level, he's coach at the college level.
He played for the La Jets, he played for the
Port Huron Border Catch, he played at UW Superior. He's
played college hockey, played a little professional hockey. He is
the WA Bob Johnson Coach of the Year, WIA Sectional
seven Coach of the Year coach at Marquette High, at
ketl Moray and Marrion University Guys. He has spent thirty

(49:39):
years giving back to the sport that he loves. And
I would feel very comfortable to having my grandkids go
to this camp and get better and learn more about,
you know, some of the fundamental Look, I don't like
wasting one minute of open ice time because it is expensive.
He is a good steward of your money because he

(50:00):
wants these kids to get better. And and that's the
whole goal. Primetime hockey. It's p r y Emmy time hockey,
Primetime hockey, John Brian john Thank you so much, man,
I really appreciate it. I hope that that a number
of kids are going to come to your camp. Hey,
before I let you go, where are all your summer
camps taking taking place in Brookfield, is that correct?

Speaker 5 (50:25):
Yeah, you know, we really try to focus in that
Waukesha County area. Ebel Ice Rink, we do some stuff
at the Ponds Ice Rink as well, Okay, and then
also Mullet which is on Arrow Ahead. You know, it's
it's a good kind of epicenter because you know, we
get kids from all over We get kids from the
East Side and the north Shore, you know, the Mechwan,

(50:48):
the Milwaukee area, and we get kids coming up from
beloitd We get kids from Madison, So it's a good
spot for us. And yeah, that's that's kind of where
we're we we really try to locate everything. Is that
you know, ebel Ice Ice Rank which Walkshaw County Ice Rink,
and then the Ponds and Brookfield and then also Mullet
Ice Center out on the air. Beautiful ranking.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
John, Thank you, I really appreciate your time. And I'm
telling you that you know, with those camps, when when
when when a retired basketball coach looks at your website
and sees the things that you're trying to accomplish and
you're willing to put them on the website. Skating passing, shooting,
stick handling, and then competition drills. It just rings out

(51:31):
to a guy like me, and I thank you for that.
Good hey, safe travels this weekend, and good luck with
with all of the camps you're going to be doing
this this summer.

Speaker 5 (51:42):
Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity. It
was great on your show.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Thanks, thank you, John Brimer from Prime Time Hockey. Get
to a break. The other side of the break, Christy
Marlow changing directions a little bit. She's the director of
education for the Zoology Society and we're going to talk
with her about some summer camp opportunities for your kids
and grandkids over at Milwaukee County Zoo. I'm looking forward

(52:06):
to talking to Krista Marlow and we'll do that on
the other side of the break. This is the Varsity
Blitz High School Sports Show, as always, presented by your
local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores on Fox
Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back
to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by
your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, as always,

(52:29):
coming live from the Donovan and Jorganson Heating and Cooling
Studios celebrating forty years in business giving back to our
community the way they did for my wife and I
on Monday came cleaned our events or our dryer would work.
And I got to thank Jake from Donovan Jorgans and
heating and cooling. We're talking summer camps this whole show,

(52:50):
and I want to thank Jeff Tricky and John Bremer
from Primetime Hockey. Jeff Tricky from his quarterback camps ten
to twenty. Paul Wallersheim, who's going to join us some
basketball camps, and we'll talk to him about retiring as
one of the best high school basketball coaches ever to
come out of the state of Wisconsin. We'll talk to

(53:11):
him about that decision. We'll talk summer camps with him.
At ten forty, we'll talk to Melissa Barton. She's out
Mcgwonago and she's involved with Camp Invention and we're going
to talk to her but for this segment, and I'm
excited about it. Krista Marlowe, she's the director of education
for the Zoology Society and Christa, it's good to meet you.

(53:32):
How are you today?

Speaker 7 (53:34):
I'm great?

Speaker 6 (53:35):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (53:35):
I'm so good? And thank you so much. When I
got to hold you, you were like, you want me
to come out of your high school sports show. I said,
I do, CHRISTA last year we did a show on camps,
and we talked about a camp at first Stage and
so kids that wanted to be in theater. Then we
talked to the Milwaukee Orchestra about a camp that they
had for kids that were musicians, and I thought, boy,

(53:59):
that's really interesting to me because, again, as a kid
who spent most of his childhood on Bartlett Avenue Playground
playing every sport known to man, I didn't know that
these things existed. So as I started to do some
prep work for this show, and I saw that you
guys do camps at the zoo. And my grandkids, all
six of them, love going to the zoo. I had

(54:22):
no idea that you guys offered summer camps, and I thought,
let me find out who I can can convince to
come on my show. And it took me. Christ I
had it like twist your arm a little bit, and
you said, all right, all right, let me give it
a shot. I love the fact that you guys do
these camps. I'm gonna start with the ages two and under,

(54:43):
because that sounds like my wife, Terry and I taking
our one year old granddaughter who loves God, Little Hadley
Grace McGivern loves going to the zoo. And let's start
with the strollers safari for infants age two and they're
grown up. And I think that mostly grandparents doing that, right,

(55:04):
It is a.

Speaker 7 (55:04):
Lot of grandparents. It can be any sort of caregiver
or big sibling, mom or dad obviously, nanny or grandma, grandpa.
We love that anybody wants to come out with their
under two year old in a stroller. The kid can
walk if they are able to do that and up
for it. But they start in the building and within
five minutes they've already sung a song and they are

(55:25):
out in the zoo to learn about the different animals
kind of in different pockets throughout the year. And I
did want to mention that we do have classes all
year long, so summer is are big time obviously, but
we do have classes all year long, and this is
one of the classes that runs all year. So this
summer in June, you could come with an intentt to
a two year old for strollers to finally learn about

(55:46):
the farm animals for nay oink, cluck, move, and you
get yep, all kinds. You can imagine the rhyming songs,
and there's puppets, and there's sign language for each of
the animals. And then later in the summer you could
come and learn in our time to play with the
animals that really like monkeys and the other animals that
like to play a lot in the zoo, how they

(56:07):
wiggle and jump around. So it's a really fun way
to get engaged. And a lot of it is our
fantastic educators really guide the adults on how to build
empathy for animals with the children, so how to look
at the animals and compare them to yourselves, how to
make longer observations about the animals, what kinds of questions
to ask to really get students, really get kiddos interested

(56:29):
and involved in excited and loving animals from an early age.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
You know, I love that. And the fact that you
have you have different age groups who we're going to
get into some of the other age groups as well,
and they all year round stuff that you do. I think,
you know people must say to you, Bloy, you have
such a fun job. I know, Christa that every job
has its you know, it has its ups and downs

(56:54):
and there's some challenges. But when you get a chance
to talk to little kids about how great it is
at the zoo and for kids to learn more about
what you guys are doing in some of these what
the kids are doing. And when I read the chapter
of the ages two and under for the Stroller Safari

(57:14):
and you talk about puppet play and sign language and songs,
you know, and fun for everyone. As the grandfather, I'm
going to be doing the puppet stuff and I'm want
to sing the song right. And I think that that
to get those kids to be able to see maybe
some parts of the zoo and learn about things at
the zoo that they don't normally know about or learn

(57:37):
or see when they just go with their mom or
dad or they go with their friends. I think there
are some things behind the scenes that people are going
to be really fascinated and there must be very fascinated
with that they learned with some of the educational parts
that you do.

Speaker 7 (57:54):
Yeah, for sure, some of our older students, for sure
definitely get to do some behind the scenes experiences. They
meet zookeepers, They might get to go into a stall
and clean it and set it up for the animals
and with stroller safari. One of the greatest things with
those classes is if you come to the early session
of the eight forty five, you get kind of like

(58:14):
your private tour of the zoo because the zoo is
not open yet, so we get special permission to be
out in the zoo and some of the animals will
be in their exhibits for us at that time. So
it is a really great experience for students of all
ages to come and have those special times at the zoo.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Go to Zoosociety dot org. Zoo Society dot org, go
to the educational tab and you can learn Engaging Curriculum
for All is what the title is. And when you
look at some of the pictures, you're going to smile.
You will smile at some of the things, and when
you start to read this, look, we've all been in

(58:50):
Milwaukee County Zoo. It's second to none in our in
the country. It is the best zoo, and I think
it keeps getting voted the best zoo in the country,
and it's right here in Milwaukee. We've all been there.
But now you get a chance to bring your kids,
bring your grandkids, and I think that my wife, Terry
and I would probably enjoy it as much, if not

(59:12):
more than the grandkids do. And I think that that
what a great environment for us to go and learn
and to talk to people and hear from people that
this is their daily job. And I can tell you
this that I would assume that a number of the
kids in the older age groups, when they get a
chance to talk to people that work at the zoo,

(59:32):
that they make that decision early on that that's what
they want to do, right, whether it's working at a
zoo or this zoo, or get it involved in giving
back and helping animals. I've got to believe that a
number of kids that go through this are the future
leaders in your field. I would think that, Chris to correct.

Speaker 7 (59:53):
Yes, And we have several staff, one full time staff
at least, and then some of our interns that have
come through our camp so they were campers as kids.
And then we have a high school volunteer program in
the summer, and we have a college interim program in
the summer as well, and so it's amazing to kind
of see that career ladder being built. And last year
we added new for us and we expanded this year.

(01:00:15):
We have two programs this year for ages thirteen to
fifteen specifically about zoos, and one of them is called
If I Ran the Zoo and the student's design a
program that maybe they would like to add on to
the zoo as something else would be exciting for students
their age to do. And then our new one is
from Care to Conservation, where students really learned about the
thing zookeepers do both in the zoo but then also

(01:00:37):
out in the global, you know, global environments to help
protect species. So trying to get those kids who are
kind of like all of us and those animal people
that really want to stay in the career field.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Krista, when you when you were in high school, if
I told you one day you know you're going to
be the director of education here, was that something that
was on your radar that early in your life.

Speaker 7 (01:01:00):
No, I don't think it was. Thank you for asking.
I think I kind of steered away from education. My
mom was a teacher, and I was like, oh, I
want to do something different, and then I was drawn
into environmental ed and I taught middle school science for
almost about twelve years, actually almost fifteen years in Milwaukee,
and then came kind of came back to my roots
with environmental ed and conservation education here at the zoo.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
And how long you've you been doing that at the zoo.

Speaker 7 (01:01:26):
Yeah, so I've been there just three years. I started
as education programs manager and then received my kind of
promotion for director of education in December.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
So congratulations, congratulations man.

Speaker 7 (01:01:39):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Yeah, I appreciate that I do. And and look it
the Milwaukee Counties. You could not continue year after year
after year in those circles. We talked about it as
the best zoo in the country without really good people
and people that care a lot about not only do

(01:02:00):
the zoo, but the people that come through and the
people that come through the zoo. You've got a number
of people like both my daughter Katie and my daughter
in law Kiara, that they're both teachers and if they
have a day off, that's what I get. I'm looking on.
You know, they send me all kinds of stuff. Right, Hey,
we're at the zoo. Look at what happened today when

(01:02:22):
we're at the zoo. And now thank you and your
staff and everybody that runs the zoo. Because my grandkids,
the oldest is now a freshman in high school and
he goes with them like he could say, hey, I'm
not going to the zoo today, and he's right with
his three year old brother going through the zoo and
laughing and having fun. And I thank you and the

(01:02:43):
fact that you guys offer these classes in camps that
these kids learn more about what they're going to see
when they come to the zoo and how much fun
they can have. I just thank you for that and
keep up the good work, Christy. I love that.

Speaker 7 (01:02:58):
Well, thank you so much. Yeah, I do want to
say a couple other things. We do have some family
classes this summer, so if you have kids of different
ages and you want to come all together, you can.
This is my pun you ready expand your knowledge and
learn about pump Up the Jaminos so animals that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
Expand Wait, hold on, hold on, you got to come
back with that. Say that one again.

Speaker 7 (01:03:19):
You can expand your knowledge about animals and our pump
Up the Jaminol's class.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Well done, Kristin, not the idea. Whoever came up with that.
If that was you, I say, well done. Whoever came
up with that, I applaud that's awesome. Well, tell me
a few other things before we let you go.

Speaker 6 (01:03:38):
Yeah, sure.

Speaker 7 (01:03:39):
So the special exhibit the summer at the Zoo is
dinosaurs again, and so we have classes for four and
five year olds and also for six and seven year
olds where they will also get to visit the special exhibit,
but learn more about fossils than about dinosaurs. And we
know how many you know, how many kids just really
love dinosaurs. And then our six and sevens are really

(01:03:59):
some of our active and exciting classes. I think. We
have a day long camp called Spy Kids where they
learn about like misconceptions about animals and try to break
those misconceptions. We have another one called Zoo of Magical
Creatures where they learn about, you know, what makes a
you know, kind of a storybook animal different than a
zoo animal, maybe how they're inspired by them.

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:04:21):
And then we also have some classes again more like
career focused, and we have one called What's Up Doc
And we also have a vet Camp class for some
bigger kids as well.

Speaker 3 (01:04:30):
So those are just.

Speaker 7 (01:04:30):
Day long camps, so come and experience the zoo, uh
be in a different way, a little bit behind the scenes,
a little bit more guided experience with some of our
tours and and other kids that are just really fun
and really great. Zoo Pass members always get a discount
for our classes, and we really love to that. We
get to see so many of our member families all
summer long.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
Christian, can you do me a favor? Never lose, never
lose the excitement that you have talking about where you work. Honestly, Christa,
I wish you were in studio because I would give
you a hug because I just you know, there again
there I've worked for like some some professional sports teams,
and people are like, oh, that's got to be great.

(01:05:13):
You know, every day sometimes there's some challenges. But when
you when you get a chance to talk about where
you work and you do it with such love and
so much excitement like you do. I thank you for that.
And I would highly recommend grandparents, parents, caregivers, people that
are looking at starting to plan their summer go to

(01:05:35):
Zuusociety dot org, zeus Society dot org and Krista Will.
You can call in and ask questions and and find
out all the answers that you need. But for that
that one page that I'm on right now, Ages two
and under, ages two to five, ages six to fourteen,
you start reading those and you're gonna want to get

(01:05:56):
involved in it because I know that I went. I've
been to the zoo hund or times, and there are
things that some of these kids are going to get
a chance to do that I would have a lot
of interest in knowing. And I think what they're doing
there to be able to get kids to understand and
really fall in love with animals and fall in love
with it with the Milwaukee County Zoo, they're doing a

(01:06:17):
great job for having our kids to have the opportunity
to do some of this this summer. Zoos Society dot
org is where you're going to want to where you're
going to want to go. Krista Marlow, thank you so
much for your time. Keep up the good work, and
the excitement and the love you have for what you're
doing just comes over. It comes right through the phone
for me.

Speaker 7 (01:06:38):
Oh well, thank you so much, Mike. We appreciate the
opportunity and just all of the goodwill for our classes.
It's how fun it is to see kids out in
the zoo.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Like you said, you got it she is. Krista Marlow,
thanks a lot, and again congratulations on that, uh you know,
getting moved up a little bit.

Speaker 7 (01:06:54):
Well, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
I appreciate that you bet Yes, good for you.

Speaker 6 (01:06:58):
You have a great day.

Speaker 7 (01:06:59):
Thanks for featuring.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Thank you so much. Zeus Society dot org is where
you're going to want to go to get more information
on some summer camps out at Milwaukee County Zoo. We're
going to get to a break on other side of break,
Paul Waller Shott, the former first time I've said this,
the former head basketball coach at Greendale Martin Luther, will
join us. This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports

(01:07:20):
Show presented by your local Picket Save and Metro Market
stores on Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app.
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show
presented by your local Picket Save and Metro Market stores.
Coming live from the Divan and Jorganston Heating and Cooling
Studios at ten forty. We're gonna talk to Melissa Barton.

(01:07:42):
She works out, she's a teacher of mcguantaga and they
have Camp Invention for kids that are are, you know,
looking to invent things in their life. And again, this
is a camp I didn't know anything about, and we
will we will talk to Melissa Barton about Camp invention
going on in mcguantago this summer. Or wanted to talk
some high school basketball, or he wanted to talk basketball

(01:08:04):
youth camp. So I thought, well, early in the week,
let me get ahold of my friend coach Paul Wallersheim.
He's done summer camps for a long time. And then
we had the conversation. He is and now retired, And
my goodness, I've gotten a lot of phone calls. Five
hundred and seventeen wins, seven state championships, Hall of Fame coach,

(01:08:27):
and if you listen to my stuff, you know that
I consider him one of the greatest high school basketball
coaches in the state of Wisconsin. And I said, coach,
can we get a couple of minutes with you want
to talk a little summer camp stuff, but I just
want to say, hey, well done, well done, and congratulations
on a great career. So we are now joined by
coach Paul Wallersheim. Hey, coach, has been a couple of days.

(01:08:49):
Has the dust settle for you at all?

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
It has a little bit. Thanks thanks for having me on.
I appreciate it. Mac. Yeah, you know, at the first
couple of days, probably the first thirty six hours or so,
and by the way, if it's I'm coming to you
from the uh that that that little area outside Homestead
High School, I'm coaching, uh coaching my sixth grade son,

(01:09:16):
and a little tournament up at Homestead this morning, that
little courtyard outside. Anyway, the first thirty six hours just
former players and coaches and coaches I competed against. There
was a lot of them, and so it was it
was pretty emotional, just you know, kind of reminiscing with

(01:09:37):
some of them and and just getting caught up with them.
It was, Uh, that was that was tough. I'm totally
at peace with the decision. Each day I wake up,
I'm like, uh, you know, am I gonna am? I
gonna like, Oh, I shouldn't have done that. Now I
feel good about it. Uh, I still feel good about it.
And and I think I'm pas that original, that original

(01:10:02):
thirty six to forty eight hour period where you know,
a lot of the people reached out to me. It
was really nice.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
Coach. I got to tell you when when when we
ran into each other at a Walkee Burger game. We're
both coaching at Catholic East, and I had the opportunity
to go on to Dominican and be the head JV coach,
and they said, hey, you can hire one assistant, and
I knew exactly who it was going to be. At
that point. We didn't know each other all that well.

(01:10:29):
But I came to some of your practices, I watched
some of your games, and I thought, Man, if I
ever get a chance to coach with somebody, that's the
guy I want to coach with. I don't think either
one of us if we talked about it at that
day account the old County Stadium, if I said, hey, Paul,
if you come and we coached together, here's what's going

(01:10:50):
to happen in my life. Here's what's going to happen
in your life, There's no chance that we would have
ever come up with the scenario that that happened. And
now that for me, the dust has settled that that
you are not going to coach at at Martin Luther
and you're going to coach, you know, in the youth
program with your son. But the high school days are over.
Right now. I think back of all of the times

(01:11:13):
that we spent together and we still talk three four
times a week, and I I just I've told you
this in person I've said it on the air here,
but as far as a high school basketball coach and
a man that there, they don't get better than you.
And I just thank you for allowing me to be
first of all, to be part of you know, to
agree to be in my assistant for two years at

(01:11:34):
Dominican and then having me come back and be your
assistant sitting on the bench next to you was was
just one of the highlights of my life. And I
thank you for that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:45):
You know, it's uncomfortable for me to hear all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
I know, I know it is, but you know what, Paul,
if I'm not going to say it now.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):
Appreciate it. I mean over the years now, I mean
the coaching has been and you I think you underestimate
what you bring to the table as you know as
an assistant coach. And I know you did some head
coaching too, but we worked when we when we coach together,
we work together so well. You are so good, always

(01:12:16):
have been with with kids and and just you know,
when I'm super demanding on them, bringing them off to
the side and and getting them you know like, hey,
it's okay. The coach. You know, you would do the
you would do the whole. If he's getting on you hard,
that means he loves and he keeps your talented, and
that that whole routine that we did.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Good cop, good cop, bad Yeah, And I look back, well,
because you're the Dina students. You can't be a bad
cop all day and the good cop that night. Sorry, pal,
And I'm much more comfortable in the good cop kind
of thing. And and to Paul through you, I got
a chance, you know, to meet your family and your sisters,
and I love them. They're they're just really good people.

(01:13:00):
And your mom, who has passed, loved coming to games,
and your dad Mike and uncle Pete, and got a chance.
I was part of that family. And that's kind of
how you did it with assistant coaches and said, look,
you know, come on over for dinner and meet my
here's my sister and here's my mom. That you know,
they come to a lot of our games, and your
dad would always pull me aside before a game or

(01:13:22):
after and go, how do you feel to night, how's
my son doing? Your son's doing great, Mike, he's a
really good coach, and we're going to be fine tonight
kind of stuff. And and I love the fact that
that when we had the conversation and it was just
prior to you announcing that, and the last thing I
said to you was what more do you have to
prove you did? There isn't anything else to prove. Coach,

(01:13:44):
you have proved. You know, you coached with a chip
on your shoulder. You did. You wanted people to understand
that that you were really good at this. And I
can tell you that the people you coached against knew it,
and people that you played against, your team's played against,
knew it. And the reputation you had was you did
everything above board and you got kids to play really
hard in the system you wanted them to play in.

(01:14:07):
And I can't stay enough. Forty two years in coach
in twenty seven years at the boys varsity head coach level.
I can't believe it's been that long. By the way, Coach,
I know, I know what you're old.

Speaker 4 (01:14:21):
I am old. And I'm trying to think back to
when that was at the Brewer game. That and Katha
Geese are we talking about?

Speaker 6 (01:14:31):
It?

Speaker 4 (01:14:31):
Was it like eighty five.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
So you you were coaching eighth grade. I was coaching
seventh The year before I was coaching sixth grade at Kathackiese.
You were coaching seventh and Bob Duquette walked in a gym,
walked in the gym, and it was a Sunday afternoon,
and I look across over on Bradford and crab or
whatever at Saint Peter and Paul, where I went to
grade school, and I thought, what is Bob Duqutt, the

(01:14:57):
head basketball coach at Marquet University doing here after the
gaming knockdown? That that little locker room. And he pulled
me out. He goes, you got a minute? I go yeah.
He goes, I'm Bob du Guetta go. I know who
you are. What are you doing here? He said? I
heard the whistle, I heard the squeak and the whistle.
I came in, got a bag of popcorn. Your kids
run that flex really well. I go, thanks. He goes,

(01:15:19):
do you want to coach in my camps this summer?
I go, I'm a sixth grade basketball coach. He goes, yeah,
you'd be great. And they held that part of his
camp at Dominican and Rich Fanning ran it, who is
the head coach at Dominican, then asked me to be
on his staff. And I was on his staff. Two
years Trotz took over and that was your that was

(01:15:40):
the year actually, and then trot said, look, you have
you can you can have one one assistant coach. We
have budget for one assistant coach. And I go, I
know exactly who it is. And I happened to see
you that summer at a burgergame and I was going
to get your number from Frank Corvello and there you were,
and I said, you have any trusting coach at the

(01:16:01):
next level and you were you were like absolutely, I go,
let's do this thing. And that's how it all started.
And I'm telling you a coach, you know, you had
some patience with me when I left and and my
kids were little, and said, look, I'll come back if
you want me, and you were like yep. And you
got the head job at Dominican. I came in as
your assistant and the rest is history. Coach. This show

(01:16:24):
I'm doing right now is all about summer camps. Can
I talk to you a little bit about you've coached
and you've done a lot in summer camps and now
you're doing a bunch of youth basketball. How important is
it for when you when somebody is doing a summer
camp or deciding on sending their kids to a summer
camp for basketball, that they they understand who's running the

(01:16:45):
camp and what type of things they're going to do
at the camp where it's not just the daycare for kids.

Speaker 4 (01:16:52):
Yeah, I think that those are the things you have
to determine. So what what do you look what kind
of experience are you're looking for out of the camp.
Are you looking for a high level camp where they're
going to really get into skill development and ball handling
and shooting and breaking down your shot and breaking down
your dribble and teaching you different things that you can do,

(01:17:15):
or is it going to be one where And nothing
wrong with this, I think these camps have their place,
but a camp where there's you know, they're they're playing
a lot of lightning and dribble knockout and shooting games
and it's fun and you scrimmage a lot. And I've
been a part of both of them, and you know,

(01:17:35):
it just depends on the kids that are there and
how we you know, how.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
We run that, Yeah, I I And again, there's a
place for everybody, but I think it's important that you
know what you're getting into right. You don't want somebody
spending one hundred and hundred and fifty bucks for the
week to have their kids come home and say I
got four shots today, like that's it, Like I didn't
even touch the ball and all we did was this,

(01:18:00):
you know, this kind of you know, having fun, or
they just roll the ball out and said, you know,
pick three and you pick three and go play three
and three. If that's what you're looking for, those camps
are there. But I think it's important that you understand
what what you want out of the camp for your son.

Speaker 3 (01:18:17):
Or daughter, no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (01:18:20):
Speaking of coaching, Mac, I have looks like game two
is just about about a minute away. I got to
I got to run over to I gotta run over
a coach.

Speaker 1 (01:18:30):
You know what you go. Coach's never been late for
a game. Congratulations on all of it, and and we
will continue to talk a bunch each week and understand
that that I'm not afraid to go live on the
radio and tell people for years what I think of
you as a man and as my friend and as
a basketball coach. Paul Wallersheim, Congratulations on a phenomenal career

(01:18:52):
and go get a win today.

Speaker 4 (01:18:55):
I appreciate love you mac all.

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
I love you to coach. You got it, guys, before
we get to yeah, you bet, before we get to
a break. And I've said this before. I think I
was a better assistant coach than I was a head coach.
And when I coached with with Coach Wallersheim, but when
we got comfortable, that first year I was his assistant
was really hard on both of us because I was

(01:19:17):
the head coach and he was my assistant. And then
a few years later we come back and now we're
switching roles and I had to make some adjustments. He
was the head of that program, he was the face
of the program, and we could get in some arguments
in the locker room like crazy, But once that door opened,
I was in lockstep with him. And I think I

(01:19:38):
think the number one rule of being a really good
assistant coach is loyalty you have for the head coach.
If you want to move on and be a head coach,
don't go after his job. Don't do that. Don't stab
the head guy in the back. If you don't agree
with him on stuff, that's fine, but you know what,
then you leave and you go find another job. You

(01:20:00):
don't do things behind that guy's back to try to
get his job. And I struggle with guys that I
think have done that I have because that is nowhere
near anything I wanted. And to be able to be
an assistant coach on Coach Wallersheim's staff, that's part of it.
You know what a couple of rules. He's the one
that talks to the officials. I had to learn that lesson,

(01:20:22):
and some officials that listen to the show are laughing
right now. I had to learn to be quiet when
it came to officials. I had to come ready to practice,
ready to go with energy and drills, and coach made
Paul made that perfectly clear. He wanted his assistant coaches

(01:20:42):
to be good enough to do breakdown drills and do
things at practice so that he didn't have to do
all of it. And I appreciated that he had that
trust in me. I did a lot of the substitutions
for him, and we won three state championships together, and
that was a lot. I've got the rings to prove it,
and because of that man and the way he ran

(01:21:03):
his program is the reason I have those rings, and
I thank him for that. We're gonna get to a break.
Other side of the break, Melissa Barton. She is out
in mcgwanago and Camp Invention. I had no idea that
this was around, but this had I have a lot
of interest in this, and I think my grandkids do
as well. We'll talk to Melissa Barton on the other

(01:21:24):
side of the break. This is the Varsity Plitz High
School Sports Show, presented by your local Picket Save and
Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports nine twenty in
your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back to the Varsity Plitz
High School Sports Show as I was presented by your
local Picket Save and Metro Market stores, coming live from

(01:21:44):
the Donovan and Jorganson Heating and Cooling Studios. So our
next guest, and I'm a little surprised I have her
on before I'd ever have her husband on, But he's
a basketball coach, and I mean, I gotta have him
on one of these days. Melissa Barton from Camp Invention. Melissa,
how are you today?

Speaker 6 (01:22:03):
I'm good?

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
How are you good? Are you surprised you're on my
high school sports show before your husband's been on it?

Speaker 6 (01:22:10):
I am.

Speaker 1 (01:22:13):
Well. You let him know that maybe we'll get him
on someday whenever he wants to come on to talk
basketball mad you have my number, have him call me.
I did not know about Camp Invention, and I sort
of say that after I talked to my daughter in
law Kiara, and thank you for telling her to be
nicer than me. By the way, she said, you know,

(01:22:35):
I taught him that a couple of years ago. I said,
I did not know that. I thought I came across
something that man, you didn't know about, and I certainly
didn't know about. And Melissa, when somebody asked you, what
is Camp Invention, what do you tell them?

Speaker 6 (01:22:52):
I let him know. It's a STEM camp out in
mcguanago where the kids can come collaborate with their friends
thing creatively and they get to create inventions that solve
real world challenges. It's tons and tons of fun. But
I always tell the parents at the end of the
week it can only be one week because it is

(01:23:13):
draining for everyone.

Speaker 1 (01:23:15):
Yeah, it is. It's a long week because a lot
gets put into that. On the website, go to invent
dot org. Invent dot Org takes you to the National
Inventors Hall of Fame, which I found extremely interesting, by
the way, but there is a camp in Mcguanago. And
there's camps a lot of different places, but I love

(01:23:37):
the fact that there's one in Mcguanago. What's the dates
on that.

Speaker 6 (01:23:42):
By twenty first through the twenty fifth.

Speaker 1 (01:23:46):
That's perfect. And where Mcguanago is that is that going
to be held?

Speaker 6 (01:23:52):
Camp is usually at Rolling Hills Elementary School in Mcguonagall
and this year that's where it will be as well.
And it's from nine until three thirty Monday through Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:24:03):
And it's you have Camp Invention is for kids K
through six? Is that correct?

Speaker 6 (01:24:11):
Our camp is kids who are entering first through sixth grade.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
Okay, first through sixth grade, and it's hands on stem
adventures led by qualified local educators designed to spark creativity,
build confidence, and ignite a lifelong love for learning. That's
my favorite line on the on Your on Your website
for this that it's designed this week is designed to

(01:24:38):
spark creativity, which I think is very important in today's
world for my grandkids. Get off the phone and and
and spark some creativity, build confidence, which is really important
for kids that age. And the best part is ignite
a lifelong love for learning and and and Melissa when
when kids get done I Camp Invention, I've got to

(01:25:01):
believe that you can almost see a light bulb over
their head. Correct.

Speaker 6 (01:25:06):
Correct, And I have to say, in kind of getting
some ideas ready for talking with you today, I wanted
to highlight one of the favorite rooms at Camp Invention,
as odd as it sounds, is our upcycle room where
kids bring in their recyclables to create their inventions throughout
the week. And just it's the room itself is insane

(01:25:30):
the whole week, the instructors and all the leaders. It
is not a fan favorite, but the kids love going
in there picking through all the boxes and all sorts
of recyclables, old craft materials to put together with an inventions.
And I love it because it promotes the lifelong learning
because we all have that stuff around the house, and

(01:25:50):
so the kids can continue their week of Camp Invention
throughout the year just by finding those recyclables at home,
and you know, parents can give them their own challenges
at home to create something new.

Speaker 1 (01:26:03):
Hey, Melissa, how important is it for you for these
kids to have that hands on experience where they're not
coming in and you're going to show a video of
somebody that invented something these kids really get a chance
to get their hands dirty and get involved and create
things that they want to create.

Speaker 6 (01:26:26):
For sure, every module this year we have four new
sessions that they're going to rotate through. They are creating
a claw machine this year, which they will get to
explore animals with claws, and they are going to create
their own one of the kind prizes that will go
in this machine, and they're going to be entrepreneurs and

(01:26:50):
they get to promote their machine and see who wants
to try it or I'm sure some of these kids
will go home and try to sell it to their siblings.

Speaker 1 (01:27:00):
I think I love that part. By the way, we have.

Speaker 6 (01:27:04):
An illusion workshop where the kids will be working with
optical illusions and inventing moving props to become special experts.
They are also going to take an ultimate road trip,
which I'm very interested to see because they're going to
be getting a transmitter and receiver and creating custom dashboards

(01:27:27):
for their road trips. And then they are also going
to go on an eco expedition in Penguin Launch and
they're going to investigate the penguins and ice and snow
of Antiarctica.

Speaker 1 (01:27:39):
So hey, Melissa, do you do this for old grandfathers,
because those are all things I'd like to learn. You
guys should do like a grandfather grandmother class like that
I'm telling you I did at home.

Speaker 6 (01:27:53):
I'm sure you have many materials your grandkids can use.

Speaker 1 (01:27:57):
I'm sure there's no doubt. I do this camp Camp
Invention for the for Rolling Hills Elementary School in mcguanaco
again July twenty first to the twenty fifth. If you
go to their website invent dot org, and if you
go to camps in our area, there are camps in Brookfield,
and there are camps in Waterford and Burlington. The one

(01:28:18):
out in mcguanago July twenty first to the twenty fifth
and Camp Invention Rolling Hills Elementary School. And I can
tell you talking to Melissa Barton, she has worked this
camp a few times and she is so excited about it.
That's why I wanted her to join me, because when
you talk to her about this camp, you can hear

(01:28:39):
the energy and the excitement she has and she loves
what these kids learn. But it for her to do
six of these camps in the summer would not be
possible because there's a lot of sweat equity and time
that go into these camps to make sure these kids
are really utilizing their brain and utilizing their thoughts and
utilizing their hands to invent things. And I just think

(01:29:02):
it's really cool when you go to that website, spend
some time on the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The
museum is really cool. Plan a visit there. You can
look at some of the things that are in the
at the museum, the inductees, into some of their things
that they've done. You can nominate an inventor. But if
you hit the family tab and go to Camp Invention,

(01:29:25):
you can take a look at all the things that
that kind of that kind of summer camp will will
bring for your kids. There's also a frequently asked question
because I'm sure that there's a lot of things, What
will my child gain from attending the camp? Safety precautions,
what will each day of camp be like? And Melissa
certainly can answer those questions, but there's a lot of

(01:29:47):
questions that are answered on that website. Hey, Melissa, how
many kids normally come through a camp like this?

Speaker 6 (01:29:55):
For you guys, Ormchronal Camp usually has between one hundred
and ten and one hundred and twenty campers.

Speaker 1 (01:30:04):
Wow, that's a that's more than I thought.

Speaker 6 (01:30:08):
It Both since my fifteenth year and when I started,
I think we had around sixty campers, but I'd say
for the last five six years, the mcguanaco camp is
very popular and we get a really good amount of campers.
I also wanted to put in a little information. We
do have a code right now FUN fifteen for fifteen

(01:30:30):
dollars off your registration through May fifteenth.

Speaker 1 (01:30:34):
So FUN fifteenth you can save some money if you
if you register your kid before May fifteenth, FUN fifteen
when you go to invent dot org. Hey, you know
what that tells me with the number of kids that
have have you know, from sixty to one hundred and
fifteen is a huge jump. And the fact that that

(01:30:55):
that you continue to get around that that amount of kids, Melissa,
what that tells me is word of mouth, because you
don't you guys don't do a ton to promote these camps,
at least in the in the broadcast world. And I
love the fact that you guys continue to get that
many kids. And what that tells me is the kids
that have come prior have gotten a lot out of it,

(01:31:17):
and their siblings are now coming or their friends are
coming and their parents are telling other people in the
community that that that week long Camp Invention is well
worth the money, and the kids are coming out of
that with some some unbelievable skill sets that maybe they
didn't have before the camp.

Speaker 6 (01:31:38):
And I also have to say the last two years
all my instructors have been returners as well. So I
have people who've been working Camp Invention for ten years,
and this year and last year, every single one of
my instructors have also been returning. It's just a very

(01:31:59):
well oiled machine at this point.

Speaker 1 (01:32:01):
Well, I love that. Guys. You get to save some
money if you go to invent dot org and save
fifteen dollars with fun fifteen Fun fifteen if you sign
up before me May fifteenth for this out. Mcguanaco, Invent
dot Org. Melissa, thank you very much for your time,
and let your husband know that that you beat him

(01:32:23):
to the punch to come on my high school sports show,
but that I will reach out to him come basketball
season and see if he wants to come in. Does
he work the camp as well?

Speaker 6 (01:32:35):
He is is a whole family affair. So starting when
our youngest was in first first grade and came as
a camper. He started on as an assistant director, so
he is going on ten years as well as assistant director. Barton,
he is a camper, favorite man.

Speaker 1 (01:32:52):
That's all. Well. You tell him if he gets a
second during one of the breaks to get some kids
in the gym and teach him how to shoot a
free throw. You tell him. I said that, all right,
he would enjoy that. Melissa Barton, think and again, thank
you for letting my daughter in law Kiera know she's
got to be nicer than me. This camp July twenty
first of the twenty fifth Rolling Hills and mcguanago. Go

(01:33:16):
online and register your kids now utilizing the code fun
fifteen before May fifteenth. You can save fifteen dollars. And
you certainly want to save some money. I would highly
recommend spend some time National Inventors Hall of Fame. Invent
dot org is the website you're gonna want to go to.
Melissa Barton, thank you so much. Have a great day. Yes,

(01:33:40):
that's excellent. Guys, thanks for listening. A lot of camp opportunities.
Want to thank Jeff Trickey and Paul Wallersheim. Want to
thank John Byron from Primetime hockey, Christa Marlowe, she's the
director of Education for the ZEU Society, and then Melissa
Barton for Camp Camp Invention. It's been a fun show.

(01:34:00):
It's been a quick show for sure. I want to
thank Spencer for producing the show. Everybody have a great weekend.
This is the Varsity Blitz high school sports show presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores
on Fox Sports ninet twenty and your iHeart Radio app.