Full Show - 6/7/2025

Full show from the Donovan & Jorgenson Heating & Cooling Studio: Saturday, June 7th, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the Varsity Politics High School Sports show is
always presented by my friends at your local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores. We're coming live from the
Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you
have with your HVAC system or you want to be
part of their maintenance program. They will find small issues
before they become major problems. Go to Donovan Jorgenson dot com.

(00:24):
Everybody that works there. It's the largest employee owned HVAC
company in the state of Wisconsin. So you are dealing
with one of the owners from Donovan and Jorgensen and
I cannot recommend them enough. At nine forty five today,
Hannah Christiansen is coming in and we are trying to
make the decision over at Colnel Electric who will be

(00:44):
our Colonel Electric Superhero of the Year. And she is
in the running for that. And we're going to talk
a little to Hannah about how her high school years
went and she's getting ready to go to Boston College
and we will talk to her about that. As Colonel
Electric the Foundations making a decision on who our Superhero
of the Year is. You're gonna want to listen to

(01:05):
the hand of Christiensen. She's really impressive. Ten o'clock Mike Curtis,
Diane Curtis, and Connor will be in studio. Connor a
three or four sport athlete from Walkshaw North. AJ Curtis,
another son of There's big time athlete. We're going to
talk about that journey that they've been on as a family,
through Walkshaw North, through being a student athlete, and what's

(01:28):
in store for Connor coming up. But for the first
couple of segments, I don't know if I begged her,
but I asked her and I pleaded with her Stephanie
Grady to come back in. As the WIA has approved
the NIL policy, We're going to talk about what that
looks like and what that means to Stephanie. And before

(01:49):
we do that, Stephanie, how are you today. I'm just
so grd to see you.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
It's so great you.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Mike Grady. I gotta tell you. I am on Instagram
a lot watching Stephanie at Stephanie Grady TV. One word
at steph Grady TV at steph Grady TV. And driving
in today, I started thinking about all of these videos
that I've watched, and I don't know if you realize
what has happened with this thing, because I know you

(02:15):
started this to really help female student athletes at the
high school level get prepared and get ready for the
NIL world. And I don't maybe you do know this.
Those videos there are something in it for everybody, from
parents to brothers and sisters to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and

(02:36):
then administrators. I want athletic directors and principals and coaches
of all sports. Kiddo, this thing is so valuable to
people like me. Even though I'm retired from coaching high
school basketball, I've learned so much from your videos that
I now pass along information to my grandsons about Hey,

(02:57):
don't forget about this, think about this as you go
through this journey. And I wanted to have you in
to talk about the nil WIA, but I wanted to
say thank you and what the work you're doing right now.
Anybody that watches these videos that has anything to do
with high school athletics is going to learn something. So
thank you.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Oh yeah, no, I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
You know.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I think I think social media.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
I mean, there's good and there's bad, and there's ugly
with social media, of course, but the way that I
like to use social media, and for those listening, you know,
you can follow me at Steph Grady TV on Instagram,
on Facebook, on Twitter. Mike's talking about Instagram, that's kind
of where we mainly are. But I like to create
videos that help everybody in terms of how they present

(03:44):
themselves in the world, how they speak to people, how
to go into situations, how to exude confidence, how to
feel good about being in public spaces, because I know
how uncomfortable those situations can be. But my background of
being in for nearly twenty years, I learned how to
master a lot of those areas and how to navigate

(04:06):
some of those feelings of anxiety and fear, how to
get your voice to stop shaking, how to speak with
confidence and clarity, to get your message across the way
that you want to. So I use social media as
free value, and I'm constantly trying to provide as much
free value as I can to whoever wants to watch.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
So I can tell you there are people out there
that are hooked on watching your videos like I am,
that don't have the opportunity to say thank you to you,
and so I'm doing that for them because there are
people that are like, man, if I knew her, I
would say thank you because I've learned this. There are
some things on Instagram. My favorite is take the shot,

(04:46):
don't do the thing, improve yourself. This is your chance.
You only have one life, soul, live it and just
quotes like that. Don't let fear be the thing that
holds you back from becoming the person that you were
meant to be. The other part that I don't know
if people understand is you are a big time figure skater.
And so the combination of what you're doing to help

(05:09):
and that servant leadership part you have to help people
You've lived it, so you've lived a couple of these
areas that you're teaching in, and that is to be
a big time student athlete, and then how to handle
yourself in some of the situations that these kids are
going to face and to have somebody say, look, when

(05:29):
this happens, let's do it this way. And I love that.
How many schools are you working with nowadays?

Speaker 4 (05:36):
At this point, we're contracted with almost three dozen schools,
several different conferences across the state. Ever since the WIA
obviously changed the language when it comes to nil, because
this is a brand new landscape. NIL is fast changing.
There's a lot that you have to understand when it
comes to rules and compliancy, but also a lot to
understand when it comes to how to actually set your

(05:59):
student athletes up for success if they want to take
advantage of it. And I say if, because not every
student athlete wants to pursue ANIL. It's just that the
handcuffs have now been removed so they're able to if
they want to. And I think that, you know, I
think that as adults, we are best positioned to serve

(06:20):
the person we once were and good yeah, as a
student athlete, as somebody who was starting out in television,
which is very much a male driven world. Sports is
very male driven. Obviously there's so many great female athletes,
but in terms of viewership and things like that, it's still,
you know, male dominated, no question. I just feel I'm

(06:42):
best positioned to help athletes kind of navigate some of
the uncomfortableness that they possibly feel. And you're going to
be uncomfortable, you're going to be worried, you're gonna be anxious,
you're going to be fearful. You're going to do it anyways,
because that's the way that you're able to overcome that
actually prove to yourself how good you are and how

(07:03):
much you actually can do when you stop ignoring that
little voice in your head that's like, I don't know
if I want to do that. That might mean, you know,
I might be rejected or somebody might not call me back.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Who cares do it? Anyways?

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Three or four weeks ago, I was in San Diego
on a US Marine food camp they called the Educator's Workshop,
and they kept saying, we take these marines male female
from all over the country in thirteen weeks and we
put them in very uncomfortable situations and then prove to
them and show them that they can do it. And
what's really interesting, I'm in San Diego hearing these guys

(07:38):
say this, and I go right back to Steph Grady
TV because similar, like, you're not putting them through the
you know, the workouts and stuff like that physically, but mentally,
you're doing the same stuff that the US Marine Corps
is talking about, putting people in uncomfortable situations and proving
to them that they can.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Do it exactly, and you know, this is what we
do with our athletes. So our Signature program is called
Influential Athlete Academy. We get our athletes up to speed
very fast so that they can be as successful as
possible with NIL very quickly. They don't have six months
to spend with me, so this is very fast and
the way that we've structured our program helps them do that.

(08:17):
My number one goal for my athletes is not to
get them an NIL deal and parents were always like,
what what do you mean, It's not my number one goal.
My number one goal is not to get them on TV.
It's not to get them to grow their social media.
My number one goal for my athletes when I work
with them is to get them comfortable with being uncomfortable,
because success becomes inevitable when you're willing to do the reps,

(08:42):
put the work in, put yourself in uncomfortable situations because
that's where the growth happens, and that's where the magic happens.
And I know that inevitably the deals will follow, no question,
and they do every time. I've proven myself right dozens
of times at this point, Hey.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
If you ever want to run for politics, I want
to run for office. I will be your I don't
trust me, you don't want me to. I would vote
for you, kiddo. I I just would. Hey, the w
i A, and we had the conversation and and and
I think we both knew that this year is going
to pass and the the you you have been part

(09:19):
of this, and the WI was smart enough to bring
you in and say, okay, help us guide us through
this because there are some land mines and I'm sure
you did all the research with the states that surround
the state of Wisconsin that have been involved in this.
I have to tell you, as an old grandfather of
six who coached for a long time, I'm kind of
happy I'm retired because I feel as I feel as

(09:41):
though with this NIL because of what I've done in
my life for my job, which is to go out
and ask for money from companies in this area that
would have fallen on me and as and I just
don't know if I have that that that pep in
my step to do that part. What is the biggest
mis conception of what the WIAA has done with the

(10:04):
NIL policy, Because there are guys my age that are like,
this is the worst thing that's.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
Ever philosophically against it, and I understand that, and I
really do, because this is a massive shift in the
sports landscape across the board, collegiate and high school. Right,
massive shift.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Change is hard. We none of us like change, and especially.

Speaker 4 (10:25):
If you've been in the game for twenty thirty forty years,
dealing with this is really hard. Nick Saban talks about
it all the time, right, That's why he got out.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
I think we have to be accepting of change.

Speaker 4 (10:38):
This was inevitably going to happen because of something called
the right to publicity, which the Supreme Court gave to
American citizens back in the seventies. You can't stop people
from making money off the commercial use of their name, image,
and likeness.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
So regardless of whether or not you like it, my
goal is to not make people like nil.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
I don't care. It doesn't matter like the rules are
the rules at this point. It's a matter of understanding
how to capitalize on it if you want to, and
how to do so safely and compliantly. And I think
that the biggest misconception when it comes to the way
you know with the WIA now passing it is that
the chaos that people see that exists at the college

(11:18):
level with the NCAA. We hear about this transfer portal chaos.
We hear about the wild West. We hear about kids
jumping from one school to the next following the money
they're getting six to seven figure deals.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
I will tell you this.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
Is what makes the news right, This is what makes
the headlines because it's headline grabbing and it's shiny, and
it's not what the majority of nil is about. And
I will tell you that the way that the WYA
has constructed, the language that has now been passed, it
prevents the craziness at the college level from happening in

(11:53):
Wisconsin at the high school level. So all of those fear,
you know, all of that fear that comes from you know,
kids being in influence to go to this school by
following the dollar and all that sort of stuff, it
can't happen with the high school level with the way
that the rules are written. And they were written that
way on purpose.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Hey, when people ask me about it, and one of
the reasons I wanted to have you in is because
I need to be educated to go on the air
and say, hold on, no, that's wrong. Sure what I
have told people what I believe is and I use
this example. There's a hockey player in Eagle River Wisconsin,
and the local custard stand wants wants to be able

(12:32):
to put his picture up and say he eats his
ice cream here. Sure, perfect. What they can't do is
on his uniform. He's not putting Bob's custard stand on
his uniform. That part can't. But if they want to
give him five hundred bucks to be able to put
his picture and his uniform up at Bob's custard stand

(12:52):
in Eagle River because as a freshman, he's an you
first team All State hockey player or whatever it is.
But they want to be able to let people know
that this kid, who is a great kid in the community,
is a good student athlete, is also a fan of
their ice cream. That's they can do.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
They can't do it if he's wearing his school uniform.
He can't wear his athletic uniform. He can't in any
of your nil activities. So whether it's a social media
post and you're like, hey, use my code for this,
or if it's a mail or being sent out, or
you're on a billboard, or you're on some sort of
a flyer for a business, as a student athlete, you
cannot wear your school logo, school name, conference logo, WIA logo,

(13:35):
anything that is connecting you to one of the member
schools or the WIA in general. So he can wear
anything else he wants to, but he can't have anything
that says he goes to this school to school.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
No, can't do that.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Can they put a sign jersey up in their custard.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Stand No, because then it's connected to the school, connected
to the school.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Right, So I've been wrong telling people that, Yeah, they
can put a picture of him in a sport code of.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
It could say one of the top hockey players in Wisconsin,
you know from Eagle River. Yeah, it could say that.
No problem because it's not saying that he goes to
Eagle River High School. It's not affiliated with the conference.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Or WIA from our neighborhood.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
So there needs exactly so there needs to be a distinction,
a direct distinction between the student athlete's personal brand, who
that person is as a person, and their school. There
can't be any connection between the two when it comes
to nil activities.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
So when I looked at the piece from the WI,
I immediately said, Grady wrote this, and she's kind of
a designer now, and I asked you and you go
that's me and I can't believe I am doing some
design work, which is great. But the one piece that
I liked the most was realistic nile landscape and it
says it's got a circle and about ninety percent of

(14:57):
it is dark blue, the little pieces is yellow, and
said student getting large deals such a small percentage. But
then the ninety percent, which I think is the most
important for a guy like me, and that students getting
smaller deals, but build brands, get professional experience, and improve skills,

(15:17):
which is again the mission statement for your company. And
I don't know if you have a mission statement. If
you don't, this is what it should be, which is
improve skills, get professional experience, feel more comfortable in incomfortable situations.
So when I read that, I thought, this is a
great piece of this that I'm reading because it really

(15:38):
does say, look, there's such a small percentage that are
going to get a whole bunch of money, but let's
talk about all the other things they can do with somebody.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, last year, one point seven billion dollars was paid
out to student athletes and nil deals.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
And that was your three of nil.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
So think about that one point seven billion dollars was
paid out in NIL deal money to student athletes across
the country. The vast majority of those deals a couple
hundred bucks, couple thousand bucks. That tiny sliver you're talking about,
that pie chart that's on this infographic, you can find
it on the wia's website when you go to their Name,
Image and Likeness section. Yes, I created that to give

(16:14):
to the member schools when we were educating all of
them before the big vote happened on April twenty fifth.
That's where the misconception lies. People athletes, even athletes think, oh,
I'm gonna do NIL, I'm going to make millions. You can,
it's there for you to take. But I will tell you,
especially when you're starting out, that's not the reality.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
It's just not.

Speaker 4 (16:35):
But what it does, and what the vast majority of
athletes can capitalize on, is Yes, make money with your NIL.
And that's great. I mean, when I was in college,
fifty bucks in my pocket.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
I was range right, it was huge.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
So, yes, make money while you're still competing, which is
an amazing thing. But the true beauty of NIL, being
a parent, being somebody who's been in the real world
for twenty years now is all of the life skills
that it teaches you at a much younger age than
any of us ever got experienced doing. How to build

(17:10):
their brand, how to treat themselves their personal brand as
a business, how to network with people, how to have
conversations with adults, how to talk on camera, how to
present themselves in public, negotiate deals, execute on contracts. All
of these things that are going to help them continue
being superstars in their next chapter of life whenever their
playing days come to an end. That's the beauty of it.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
So here's what I'm thinking now. When you started out
as a figure skater, yeah, when you just started out
at an early age, you did very basic drills to
get you to where you were at the end of
your career. That's what this is. This is doing. And
in the basketball world, doing some dribbling drills right up

(17:54):
and down around the cones, the most basic how to
triple thread right, third grade kind of stuf. But if
you're thinking in your mind one day I want to
make millions, you've got to figure out the landscape and
do it correctly. And that's what you're doing for these kids.
The other part of this piece, and we have to
get through a break that. I really like responsibility with

(18:15):
NIL now that has passed what the student athlete responsibility
is and what the school responsibility is. I think it's
such a valuable piece because as a student athlete and
as a parent of a student or a grandparent of
a student athlete, understand what the WIAA NIL rules are,
find the NIL deals, execute the NIL deals. But then

(18:38):
the school needs to know to inform studency coaches on
NIL rule changes, provide NIL resources to educate students, and
then report any violations to the WIA because especially early on,
they're going to be this is under a microscope. Man,
and the WI. There's some really good people up there.

(18:58):
I go at it with them, right, I fight with
them a little bit, but I like the fact that
they have you kind of managing this and leading them
and showing them some of this, and the fact that
you're like, look, it's just it's just not the WI
that has to have all the responsibility for this. The
student athlete, the parents, the school. There is some responsibility

(19:22):
for everybody here.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
I think at the end of the day, you know,
the student athlete and the parents the vast majority of
the responsibility. If they want to take advantage of this
nil space. It falls on them. They need to know
what the rules are. The business isn't going to get
in trouble if there's some sort of violation, it's the
student athlete. So it is up to the student athlete
and the parent because they're the support system at this

(19:45):
stage of their life, to know the questions to ask
when they're talking with businesses about potential partnerships. To know
what the rules are on the books that they can
stay compliant and not risk their eligibility because eligibility is
number one here and when it comes to this, schools
they're sole responsibility. They're not facilitating or managing deals because

(20:05):
the rules state that they're not allowed to. You don't
even have to disclose your deals to your school as
a student athlete with how the rules are written now,
a lot of ads I work with they like their
student athletes coming to them and just telling them what
they're doing because they can kind of be a checks
and balance a sibsystem, which I think is great. But
all the schools need to do and the administration needs
to do is number one, educate your families on what

(20:27):
the rules are, just like they do with all the
other wia rules that are on the books. They've already
been doing that. This is just a new set of
rules that they have to educate on and if they're
made aware of a violation, report the violation. That's their
responsibility to the WIAA and that. But at the end
of the day, it is up to the student athlete
and the parent to know what the rules are to

(20:49):
go out there pitch themselves for deals, because deals aren't
for the vast majority are not going to fall in
their laps. You have to know how to go out there,
pitch yourself and paint the picture to small businesses on
what a potential partnership could look like and then follow
through on that.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
And to learn how to do it now at the
high school level will just help you, That's it, and
and help you at the college level, not only in
this part, but just I think in life in general.
If people want to get a hold of you, I
would look I again. I watch all your stuff and
at Steph Grady TV on Instagram. But influentialathlete dot com

(21:26):
is the best way to learn more about you, to
get in contact with you. You know who you work with,
what your mission statement, what the process is, so that
would be where people should go influentialathlete dot com.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Correct, exactly.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yeah, And if you want to shoot me an email,
I'm happy to give my email address out too, because
I get questions all the times from parents. I mean
not just in Wisconsin, but all over the country. It's
simple Stephanie at influentialathlete dot com. So feel free if
you have questions or if you're interested on what we do.
We're an NIL coaching company. We're not a sports agency.
We're not repping your kids, finding them deals, negotiating contract

(22:00):
and taking commission. That's not our business model. And in fact,
as a high schooler in Wisconsin, with the way the
rules are written, you're not allowed to have a sports agent.
College completely different. We are a coaching company. So just
like you go out there and hire a pitching coach
or an agility coach or any other coach for your
performance on the field or on the track or in
the pool, we are an nil coach. So if you

(22:21):
want to fast track your success, if you want to
skip the guest work, if you want proven frameworks and
methods that will drive the results you're looking for, you
hire a coach.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's what we do so.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Guys, Now you see why I begged, pleaded for Stephanie
Grady to come in. Last time she was in. I said, guy, Stephanie,
I'm going to ask you to come in more and
more because there's going to be more questions. She said, absolutely, anytime.
And I can't thank her enough for her willingness to
come in and not only teach me so that I
can continue to talk more about this, but for people

(22:56):
that are listening. She does such a great job. And look,
you can watch the videos. I would start with that
website and there's some videos on the website that are
really good. There are questions that are already answered for you,
and there's a way that you can email her and
ask any questions that you have. Again influentialathlete dot com.
This is the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented

(23:18):
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.
Coming from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios,
Stephanie Grady in studio and I can tell you that

(23:40):
I learned something every time I talk to her. She's
done all the work. Man, She's done all the work,
and you can, you know, you can talk to her
or go to that website influentialathlete dot com to learn
all the things that you need to know, or go
to the WIA website and look at the piece that

(24:01):
I'm looking at right now that she put together name, image,
and likeness what you need to know in Wisconsin. And
it really kind of does a nice job. There's so
many rules. This piece, it's two I think it's two pages,
does a very nice job of breaking it down for
guys like me that that don't want to sit and
read all the rules. But it should, right I should,

(24:24):
but I don't need to at this point. That the
student athletes do, and I think the administrators do, but
some of the dues and does not. With the w
i A nil policy, I think that that's really important too.
They can't get involved with gaming or alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, entertainment, weapons,
that's off the table. Some of the other things that

(24:47):
they can and can't do, or right on that sheet
that you can find on the w A website. Were
you surprised that it passed. I'm sure you were not right.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
I wasn't to be honest with you.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
I mean, you know, Stephanie and Stephanie how and I
have grown a wonderful, you know, working relationship working with
her hand in hand as well as Meldo over the
last eight months or so. Our job when we contracted
with the WIA, our sole job was to educate the administrators.

(25:17):
So we're talking ads mainly superintendents, presidents, and principles of
all the five hundred and fourteen member schools on what
the language being proposed was and what it actually meant
because it's a lot of you know, lingo, and it's
there's questions and things like that. And so our job
over the eight months before the vote actually happened on

(25:39):
April twenty fifth, was simply to educate these schools and
their administrators on the language that they would be voting on.
And I like to simplify everything, and I feel like
I'm pretty good at doing that because of my years
of working in TV and having to you know, interview
doctors and attorneys and having to read different you know,

(25:59):
court case files and all that sort of stuff. There's
a lot of you know, kind of just you know,
jargon and lingo that you have to learn in order
to be able to do that. And it comes down
to being able to simplify it. What does this actually mean?
How is this actually going to affect you? Because at
the end of the day, we all think, Okay, great,
what's this going to mean for me?

Speaker 2 (26:20):
And so that's what we did.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
And so when it came to that vote on the
twenty fifth of April, I felt confident that we had
done our job. And even though it failed the year before,
it passed almost three to one. And so after I
saw the vote come in, I was like, all right,
we did our job and we executed the way that
I expected us to.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
Did you think when when you decided to leave the
TV world that you would be able to take a
breath and slow down because you're not slowing down, you know, right,
And you've got a family house Joe.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Doing by the way he's doing.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
Really, that's the other part of this that I think
benefits your company, influential athlete, because your husband was the
idea Dominican he was, so he unders.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
Tends years that part of it exactly.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
And what a great team and any questions you have
about what happens in the inside of schools, he can
help absolutely.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
So the building of our company was really a mesh
of both of our experiences and expertise over the last
twenty years of our professional career. So I obviously have
the former athlete aspects, so I understand what these kids
are going through competing and training at a high level,
all the sacrifice, the money, the time, everything that goes
into that, and the devastation of having career ending injuries. Right.

(27:31):
I also comes from the TV side, so when it
comes to communication skills, at the end of the day,
nil is marketing. You have to be a marketable asset
for a business to want to partner with you. So
you have to be able to speak well. You have
to be able to show up on camera because so
much of marketing is done on social media, there's a
camera involved. So how do you speak on camera to
sound eloquent and charismatic and engaging to the audience. How

(27:54):
do you have conversations with adults? Pitch yourself, get yourself
on the media. So I brought that to the TA.
Joe being a former ad former coach, former teacher, he
knows the ins and outs of the politics of all
of that, right, and so it was very much a
marriage of both of our backgrounds that brought this company

(28:16):
to life so that we can serve our athletes in
all the capacities they need when it comes to this
new NIL space.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Do you know I I love that because you can't
put together a company. You know, you could go out
and try to find people that have the skill set
that you have, but you might need six people. And
then the skill set that Joe brings, there's three people there.
And so for you guys to be able to do this,
I think is pretty pretty incredible to be able to

(28:45):
do if you could slide forward a little bit, we
got it. Let's Spencer out of the studio. Yeah for
a minute. No, probably we can still stay on the
air and you know, hopefully he's uh, I'll push the buttons.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Please, don't I know how to work control it?

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Not really I do. I know.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
I've always been on the other side.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, me too, I don't even I never even they
don't allow me to go on that side. Just so
you know, Hey, the amount of work that you did
with the WI, was it with the board, was it
with the schools? Was it with all of it before
that vote. How much work did you have to do?

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Did you spend a lot of time in Stephen's point,
Not necessarily because we did a lot of our stuff
virtually right, because we're serving the entire state, that's right,
And so you know, I did go out to Stephen's
point obviously, I had, you know, many discussions with Stephanie
Hauser and Meldow.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
Those are my two points of contact. We go right
to the top, we deal with them. I love working
with them. They have been such a pleasure to work with.
We've been bouncing ideas off each other because they bring
different perspectives than we have. We bring different perspectives than
they have. And we spent so we did. We hit
all seven districts, because there's seven different districts in the
state of Wisconsin. We did virtual webinars for all seven

(29:59):
districts that all the ads from those districts would come to.
They were invited to, and this is where we educated
them line by line on the language. We also did
work with the superintendent's presidents and principles of all the
schools across the five hundred fourteen member schools in the state,
educating them on what this would mean in a different way, right,

(30:20):
because their role as the leaders of their school is
a lot different than the AD's role as the leader
of their athletic department. So we kind of went about
the education portion in a different way to make sure
that it was resonating with them the way that they
needed to. And then we provided them with a lot
of actual tangible resources like the infographic you're reading off

(30:41):
your screen on the wi's website, because a lot of
times people don't have forty five minutes to watch a video.
They want a quick snapshot. What does this mean? What's
this going to mean for me? What's the reality of this?
How do I take advantage in? What do I need
to know?

Speaker 1 (30:53):
What do I tell coaches, ads and principals who say
to me, this really scares me. This scares me. Should
I be afraid of this or should I embrace it?
What do I tell them?

Speaker 4 (31:06):
I think if they want to continue having their job
in high school athletics, they have to embrace it.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
The rules are on the books.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
I mean, I think that at the end of the day,
align yourself with people who are educated in this space
to help you, just like anything else, right, like we
we seek out the experts in order to improve our
knowledge base. I think most of the fear, most of
the I don't like this, this is ruining things.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yeah, that sounds like a lot of people I've talked
to you right there?

Speaker 4 (31:36):
Can I get it because I've heard it too. But
most of that, I will tell you comes from misconception
and not fully understanding. And I think that's where these
conversations are great, because most people don't actually know what
the rules are, how it will affect them, how it
will affect the high school landscape when it comes to

(31:58):
athletics across the state, and without knowing, that's where the
fear comes. Fear comes from a place of unknown, and
I understand that. But I'm happy to talk with anybody
to help them understand and explain what this landscape is
actually all about and how they can function compliantly within it.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
Man, I I love that, and I get you. Sounded
just like a lot of people I've talked to. And
these people I've talked to, these these are people who
have been through They've been doing this a long time.
And again, we don't like a lot of change. And
how what what if a school administrator a coach and
an athletic character says, we are not going to allow

(32:39):
people to get involved in this. It's so they're they're
maybe don't make their own rules.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
That I mean absolutely.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
I mean there's a lot of schools that have tighter
restrictions and rules than what the w i A is
w i A has on the books, and they're allowed
to do that. They certainly can. I think it would
be a disservice to them. I think it would be
a disservice to their athletes because again, and despite what
you may think about NIL, the vast majority of the

(33:06):
benefit of it has to do with allowing these kids
to start getting professional experience, allowing these kids to start
building other skills and assets that they probably haven't developed
at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years old. And so I think
that that is where the true benefit of NIL is.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
And this is what we try to.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Educate the administrators and the ads on during these webinars is, look,
I understand where your fear comes from. If I were you,
I would probably have the exact same fear. So I
get it, and my husband completely understood it being a
former AD, but helping to really paint the picture of
what this is actually all about and how this is

(33:49):
really helping to lean into and provide that whole student education,
which is, at the end of the day, what is
school all about? What should all these teachers and coaches
and administrators be focusing on. Their number one focus is
preparing these kids for the next chapter of their lives
in order to be successful as an athlete. Nil is
part of the conversation, and preparing these kids in a

(34:12):
safe space, right in a safe space where there are
parameters in place to keep these kids as protected as
possible and not taken advantage of allow them to do that.

Speaker 6 (34:23):
So yesterday at the condo where I live, I was
at the pool and Jeff, one of my neighbors who
played at played at Watertown and he played at Lacrosse
I believe played football there.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
His first question he said, who's on the show tomorrow?
And I mentioned you.

Speaker 6 (34:40):
And he said, will this impact private schools better or
more than it will publics?

Speaker 2 (34:49):
No difference?

Speaker 1 (34:50):
And I said, I don't think there's any difference, no difference, And.

Speaker 6 (34:52):
He said where I see and this is him and
and he's kind of in tune with high athletics.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
He said the.

Speaker 6 (35:01):
As some of the private schools probably do more for
their school. Will that affect this? And I said, the
rules are going to be the same, and I don't
think it's going to but I'll ask Stephanie.

Speaker 1 (35:12):
Great.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Yeah, so one of the rules, so there's seven prohibited
activities laid out in the wia's rules when it comes
to NIL for these student athletes.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
One of them.

Speaker 4 (35:20):
Says that people who have an association with a particular
school that a student athlete goes to.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
This could be a current.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
Employee of the school, This could be an alumni of
the school, This.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Could be.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
A donor to the school, a booster. Anyone who has
any sort of connection to a particular school cannot do
an NIL deal with a student athlete at that school. Okay,
And there was a reason for that because those people, alumni, employees, coaches,

(35:55):
they likely have a vested interest in the success of
that school. And that is undue influence can creep in
very different than how it exists at the college level.
And that's why this rule is on the book to
protect competitive equity and to prevent that undue influence. And
so when it comes to donors, because I know people
listening are like, wait, a second, what about you know,

(36:16):
there's not an alumni, but they're a donor to the school.
The way that the rule is written, if a business
has donated to a particular high school during the tenure
that a student was a ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grader,
they cannot do a deal with that student. So if

(36:37):
a business hasn't donated to a school in let's say
five years, and there's a kid who's an amazing golfer
and he's a junior at the school, that business.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Is in the clear.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
Even though they've donated in the past, they're in the
clear to do a deal with that student athlete because
they weren't donating to that school when that kid was
in ninth, tenth, or eleventh grade.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
So if they donated to the band or to the
theater program, the drama program, they helped build the stage,
that their off limits at this point.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Is not forever.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
But if they donated during the time that the student
athlete they want to enter a deal with was a ninth, tenth, eleventh,
or twelfth grader.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
Did the WI take the rules from neighboring states? So
their template was it a state that is currently doing
NL or did they cherry pick some from.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
Around so I know that they certainly, Stephanie Hauser and Maldout,
they educated themselves on what other states were doing, right.
I think Wisconsin they like to kind of just sit back.
They're not usually the first of the table. They like
to sit back. They like to watch what's happening across
the board. And there have been other states that don't
have this particular rule in place, and chaos has ensued

(37:55):
because of it. Right, that's where that you know, the
protection of competitive equity is so valued in this state,
and it's something that so many athletic directors and coaches
care about, as they should. They wanted to make sure
that that state protected and that you know, the transfer
rules are still the same, right, I mean, those haven't
changed at all. You can't just jump from one school

(38:15):
to the next. It have to be like legitimate move
and all that sort of stuff. But the undue influence
of somebody to enter into a deal with a student
athlete to keep them enrolled at a school, right retaining them,
or to recruit them to go to a different school,
So they did they wanted to make sure that that
wasn't allowed across the board. So that they didn't have

(38:37):
to deal with that issue.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
She is Stephanie Grady. Guys, we could we should do
a weekly to our show because I've got again, Grady,
I've got like four more hours of questions for you
that we're not going to get to and I can't
thank you enough again. I watched these videos and I,
as a grandfather of six, learn about the learned stuff

(39:02):
that I pass along to my grandkids, some are in
grade school, some are in high school to be able
to say, listen, this is what you have to be
aware of. This is what this does, and this is
what Stephanie Grady's trying to do. Influentialathlete dot com and
do me a favor. Go if you're on Instagram at
steph Grady TV and you will say to me, I

(39:25):
get it now. Don't think that you're gonna watch some
of these videos and get out the door to go
to Pick and Save in five minutes, because you're gonna
get caught and you're gonna start watching one after another.
Because there's something in these for all of us. And
whether it's whether it's I have a student athlete, a
female student athlete that I want to work with Stephanie

(39:46):
through Influential Athlete, or it's just getting kids prepared as
a freshman in high school to be comfortable enough to
do an interview at the local coffee shop to get
a job to Chick fil A. My grandson, Key, he's
really nervous. I have to do it. I'm doing this
interview at Chick fil A. And I tried to walk
him through it and he was like, they didn't ask

(40:07):
me my weaknesses. I said, well, but I had you
prepared for that because I let you know what your
weaknesses were before you did. And he said, yeah you did, Papa,
so hey, great, Thank you influentialathlete dot com. You are
a wealth of knowledge and your passionate for this and
that servant leadership. Hard have said that a couple of times.
It is so apparent to me. Last time you were

(40:29):
in I asked you where that came from, and we
talked about your mom. And I love that because that's
what you do. And Salo to Joe. The family's good.
Kids are good.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
They're all good. Yes, Jack, Harper and Dominic all good.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
They're eleven, seven and three now, so they're just you know,
all over the place.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
Going from court to field right all the time, all
the time.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Harper's at soccer right now. So I got to go
over there and meet her.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
You go over there. Thank you so much. I really
appreciate your knowledge, and you've done all the work on
this thing, and then you're passing one and not the
knowledge to people like me, and I thank you for
that influentialathlete dot com. She is Stephanie Grady. And if
you recognize the name and you're like, how do I
know her? You watched on Channel six for years? Did

(41:12):
you miss that?

Speaker 2 (41:13):
By the way, I have.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
To I should probably lie, Oh, yeah, missing you have
watched Spencer and I live radio, live TV can be vary.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
There's a lot going on. I'm asking your move. I
got well, yea. Our next guest is at the wrong door,
and and Spencer's like, oh yeah, we're there.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
I mean, I think I think being I have had
so much media opportunities since starting this company, and so
I still get I still get that hit, you know,
of being on camera or being on the radio. And
I love that because I never stopped loving TV. I
still love TV. And to be honest with you, I
thought that I would miss it significant I thought i'd

(41:51):
be like, all right, I'm taking a nice long vacation,
and then I would start missing it. I have loved
every second of this entrepreneurial journey. I've always wanted something
of my own. I've always wanted to be my own boss.
I've always wanted to call the shots. It's just part
of my DNA, and now I get to do that,
but I get to do it in such a positive way.

(42:12):
I think the news, as everybody knows it's it's negative,
and not that bad news doesn't have to be reported.
It certainly does. I love giving people information and being
that reliable source of it. But at a certain point,
I just looked at my life and I'm like, I
think that this chapter is coming to a close, and
I want to start using my skills and ability and

(42:35):
talent that I have to now give back to this
younger generation to give them something I wish that I
had when I was a student athlete.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Thank you for that, I'm not kidding. Thank you so much.
And you're doing a great job. And when you you know,
when you have to open up four new offices around
the state of Wisconsin, you let me know what the
grand openings are and I will be there for you.
She is Stephanie Grady, and she is so kind to
me into the time that I've asked, and I'm gonna
call her again close to football season and have her

(43:07):
come back. Influentialathlete dot Com best best place to go.
And then if you're on Instagram and wherever you know,
you're watching some of this stuff at steph Grady TV.
If you just google that, you can watch some of
the videos I've talked about. Have a good weekend. It's
good to see you.

Speaker 2 (43:23):
You too, Mike, Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
You're so great, you bet, Thank you. This is the
Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your local
Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, only on Fox
Sports nine twenty and your iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to
the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your
local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, coming live
from the Donovan and Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. I'm

(43:45):
want to thank Stephanie Grady. She's unbelievable. I'm a huge
fan and Influentialathlete dot Com is where you're gonna want
to go get more information on some of the things
that she can help your student athletes. She big part
of the Nile deal with the WIA and boy you
learn I learn a lot every video I watch from

(44:07):
Steph Grady TV. At Steph Grady TV. I learned something
as a former coach, and as a grandfather and as
a parent. She does great work with that. So if
you've listened to the show that you know, each week
we introduce you to our our Colonel Electric Superhero of
the Week and Eric Walsh, who is from Colonel Electric

(44:28):
Logistics and asset Manager, is in studio alongside Hannah Christiansen
from Brookfield, Brookfield Central or East East. Look at what
I have on your sheet there Central? Sorry about that,
Brookfield East. I know that because I've known you for years.
So I got to tell you something. I don't like

(44:50):
lying to people. I don't like it. I lied to
you one hundred you think you're here for you got
to do one more interview, right and Eric's gonna make
the decision on our Superhero of the Year. And I lied.
I lied to you, but your dad was in on it.
Hannah Christiansen, the only two time winner of the Colonel

(45:13):
Electric Superhero of the Week, is this year's Colonel Electric
Superhero of the Year.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
Hold on, well, thank you, Eric.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
I want to thank you and the Foundation. Thank you
and the Foundation for the decision you guys have made
to name Hannah Christiansen our Colonel Electric Superhero of the Year.
And I get a little emotional. I'll tell you why
I am such a fan of this kid. She is
just incredible. Her mom and dad are incredible, her family's incredible.

(45:49):
But the stuff this kid does I knew. And I
came to you guys and I said, look, we have
a lot of choices. And I went like this, Hannah,
we have a lot of choices because but this this
is the one in circle. Circin circle, and I wanted
to lie to you, and.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
You pulled it off.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
I asked for your forgiveness and I told you that
I'm a really I can't believe what a good liar
I am. And he said, yeah, you did pretty well
with that. But I wanted this to be a little
bit of a surprise, and you don't have You're not
interviewing anymore. The deal is done and Colonel Electric Foundation,
and thank you to Eric and Tron and everybody on
that board that selected you as our Colonel Electric Superhero

(46:30):
of the week, they will send a five thousand dollars
check to Boston College to help for that first freshman
year in that tuition. And I couldn't be prouder of you. Congratulations,
Thank you. Do you know you you changed my life?
You did. But you said to me, mister McGivern, I

(46:51):
can tell you about this game. I can tell you
all about it, but unless you get your butt in
the seat, unless you come and watch what we do,
you'll never know. And you kind of guilted me into it.
So Scotty Smith and I said, hey, well, Scotty, who
is a friend of your dad's and you've known that
family a long time. We went and between the Brookfield

(47:11):
Center and brookfiel Least game talk to let's talk a
little bit about what the unified sports program that you
put together. That this is your baby. I was there
to watch and it and it did. It affected me
deeply watching these kids. So thank you for guilty and
an old guy like me into that. Talk to me

(47:34):
a little bit about how you started upward and why
it started.

Speaker 3 (47:39):
So it started again because I have a brother of
special needs, so I wanted to provide him the opportunity
to play sports. In high school with his peers and
selfishly play basketball with me. And since then, we've had
this program going at the high school. And you were
at the game on two seven, and I mean, yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Have pictures that I continue to show people over and over.
The one young man who made a bucket and he
went to mid court and he flexed the young gall
and with three threes at the end. The first one
people and that's the second one, they went out of
their minds. And the third one the rafters came down
and the girl was like, holy cow, and nothing but

(48:18):
that on all three of them. And it was phenomenal
how these kids reacted and how the crowd reacted to
these kids. Did you when you when this was your
brainchild years ago, did you ever think it would get
to that point where the gym would be completely packed,
standing room only, all standing clapping. I had tears coming

(48:41):
down my cheek and look, I used to be a
tough iris. Now I got like Pride commercials.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
But it did.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
I had tears in on my cheek because watching these
kids and the reaction that they had and watching you,
I'm watching we we we hung out for a little
bit after, but it was did you ever think when
you started this that it would get to this point.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
I did not, But I also know that our district
has been so supportive of it and you, mister McGivern have.
I appreciate all the shows that you've brought me on
to help promote this, and I'm surprised, but also not
surprised because I knew that people would love to rally
on and support these individuals.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
So, Eric, we started this current electric Superhero the Week
a number of years ago. Last year, I went to
the foundation, went to you guys, went to the board
and said, how do we make this better? Can we
do this? Can we offer a five thousand dollars scholarship
to a superhero of the year, And you guys said,
what would that look like? It looks like her.

Speaker 7 (49:43):
Absolutely, we couldn't be more privileged to acknowledge your superhero
actions there and adding to inclusion for everyone is just
such an exceptional thing, especially in the world of sports,
just something that everybody takes joy from.

Speaker 8 (49:55):
So thank you so much for that.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
We'd love that, right, and that's awesome. So, Boston College,
when do you leave for Boston College?

Speaker 3 (50:02):
And August? So I think the third week I.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
If I bring your mom or dad to the microphone,
who's going to be more emotional that you're leaving in August?

Speaker 3 (50:11):
Do you think I think my dad?

Speaker 1 (50:13):
I think so too. I do too. You know he's
tough to right, he would. I watched him as a
basketball player, and I watched his career at Boston College,
and he's tough dude. But you know what, you like me,
and you get older, you're a little more emotional. And
when we talk, I can tell you he is so
proud of you. He is so proud of you. And

(50:35):
I want it known that he was in on the lie.
Wasn't just me. He helped, He guided me and directed
me and said, hey, she gets out of school at
one fifteen today, if you know, call her today. And
then we're texting back and forth. I said, is she
bringing you both in? He said no, she said one,
but we'll both be there. We'll figure that out. So
we were completely doing all this behind your back because

(50:57):
I wanted you to be a little nervous today, and
then I wanted to just kind of lay this surprise
on you. That thing Eric. These guys voted like two
weeks ago. It was a Dungeal Smith, Kevin Hide. Everybody
kind of knows except you, and I thought, what the heck,
we will we will do that and surprise you and

(51:17):
just say congratulations you graduate. Is it tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow's graduation. Yes, yeah,
good for you. You graduate? You are you excited? It's time?

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Right, It's time.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
But I also loved my high school experience.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
So you're going to miss it.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
I'm going to miss it.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Farley said, he's sad that you're leaving because now he's
got to be the principal of them and he actually
got to do the work. Tell me about the volunteer
day that you guys just did.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Oh yeah, So we had on five thirty one.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Eric, So understand, this is a senior in high school,
big time student athlete, right, and now she's ready to
go to Boston College. She could now just mail it in.
She could just go, Okay, I'm I've done a lot,
I'm right now. Listen, Okay, what was the volunteer day
at for A Fields.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
So on five point thirty one, we coordinated having an
all school service day. So me and some other student
leaders got together and we found a bunch of different
organizations in the local Milwaukee area in our school community,
and we got together and we set up these events
so other students in our school could go volunteer. So
we had a couple I'd say we had like two
hundred three hundred kids on the community volunteering.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
What was it an incredible Thursday.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Or it was a Saturday?

Speaker 1 (52:32):
Wow? Okay, that's the part that gets me. Like when
I was in high school, you tell me I can
get out of class on a Friday to go like
pick up a little garbage and then go goof around. Done,
But I'm giving up a Saturday. How many kids did
you get?

Speaker 3 (52:45):
I think are on two hundred and three hundred kids?
Since they're all incredible spread out.

Speaker 7 (52:48):
Yeah, truly, facilitating others to do it is even a
bigger impact.

Speaker 8 (52:52):
That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (52:54):
Eric. Every time that I have a current electric superhero
the weekend, I asked this question, and I'm going to
ask her for the third time and I give our
heads up on this because I didn't. I lied to
her through the whole dark thing, like you don't even
have a chance to win this thing. But your servant
leadership hard. It's not something that we're born with. It's
a learned behavior. Would you for the third time, tell

(53:17):
us where do you think that has come from?

Speaker 8 (53:19):
For you?

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Where did you learn that?

Speaker 3 (53:21):
Definitely my parents I screw up with Like they would
teach me to be like give back to the community
and like what's one thing every day that you can
do to make someone else's day. So, like I've shared
this story, but it's one of my favorites is when
I was younger, Dad had a challenge with me. He's like,
you're gonna come home every day from school and tell
me something you did. So it started with my bus driver,
Frank in kindergarten now to get on the bus and

(53:42):
sit in the front and ask my bus driver questions
about himself. And I would come home and give him
that a little report, and I'd take notes and be like, Okay,
my bus driver is gonna do this this weekend. And
so it started with that small action and then eventually
like grew and I wanted to continue giving back.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah, I need to talk to your father for a minute. Look,
you were if you can grab that microphone, you were
a high school college you were a tough basketball player. Man,
you were one of those tough dudes. And then and
the more we talk. I guess as we get older,
and we hope our kids, you know, we hope they

(54:19):
are good human beings. This kid, and we've had this conversation.
You are as prob. You're so proud of all of
your kids. This kid does things that I know you
were a good basketball player, but she's doing things in
high school that you never thought of.

Speaker 9 (54:34):
Right, yeah, yeah, her mother and I are very proud
of what she's accomplished, but more importantly, who she's become
as an individual and as a leader. And like I
shared with you Mike the other day, you know, you
try to instill things along the way, and at some
point a few years ago, I think she was given
us a lot more than we were given her in

(54:56):
terms of.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
You first out laughing with Frank the bus driver's story,
because you remember that, Huh what what was the thought
process behind saying, look, you got to come home and
tell me something?

Speaker 8 (55:06):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (55:06):
Every day we always talked about leadership. Hannah has some
natural skills and different ways to be How can you
be a good leader? And one of the things we
always talked about is how do you make people feel
good about themselves and act interested and show an interest
in others and it's powerful. So you know, we would
challenger learn something new about people, you know, showing interest

(55:27):
in others. And she took it, took it to heart,
and she didn't do it as an exercise that I
have to do. I think she and you know it
was always very genuine about it. And and that's carried
through and.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
Hey, part of this that I that I just set
this up. By the way, and a couple of days ago,
Lance Talent is over at Channel fifty eight now and
Kernel Electric we sponsor it. It's not Superhero the Week,
but it's very it's very close. And he last week

(56:01):
he went and interviewed Conkin Nipple. The week before he
did every Wednesday night and he is fully on board.
I need to know your schedule for next week because
we're gonna do a TV segment. Not we, Lance Allen Is.
I just said, Lance, would you do this for me?
Goes absolutely, That's exactly what my segment is supposed to

(56:23):
be about. And so we're gonna probably I'm gonna get
him some footage of you playing basketball, you know, maybe
hitting the shot. I think I'll get a few turnovers.
Maybe I'll get some of your dad from high school
where he turned the ball over and you know, got
his fourth follow in the first quarter, kind of that stuff.
Just we're gonna set this up and Lance Allen has

(56:43):
agreed that this is the perfect fit for the segment
that he does and again it airs on Channel fifty
eight and it airs on Wednesday nights, and I can't wait.
It is the hometown athlete and it's kind of a
superhero thing and with you and your your parents. If
we do this TV segment with Lance just to talk

(57:04):
about you being the current electric superhero the year. I
throw out that we should do it at Cernel Electrics office.
I don't know if I can get that through. I
hope I can't, but wherever it is, if you're available,
you'll let me know what your schedule. We're not going
to do it Monday or Tuesday because you graduate on
Sunday and I don't know what what that week looks

(57:25):
like for you. But we'll figure out what works. I'll
get you in contact with Lance and make sure you
okay if we do this. Yeah, she will do a
great in the in that segment, for sure. I'll get
that set up. We will talk about who we send
the check at Boston College. We'll reach out to accounts,

(57:46):
receivable and admissions and make sure that check gets there
just after you get on campus, so we'll get that
taken care of, guys, thank you so much. Our current
Electric Superhero of the Year she is Hannah Christiansen. She
is a Brookfiel Ees grad and like I said, the

(58:06):
principal at Brookfield Eyes said, I don't want her to
go because I've got to be the principal again and
I love that for sure. If we can move the
Michael back over to Eric Eric Walsh, Colonel Electric, Logistics
Assistant Manager, Assets Manager exeuse me, we couldn't have made
a better choice than.

Speaker 7 (58:23):
This spot on Absolute Superhero.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Yeah, and then thank you. I really appreciate you guys
agreeing with me. I don't make the decision they do
because I don't want any of my superheroes of the
week to be mad at me. But I can tell
you that I moved heres forward a little bit. I'm
a huge fan of yours. I just am and my
prayer and what I pray for is that when you
go away, you keep you know, you continue to be

(58:49):
good ambassador for your family and your school. And Colonel
Electric and I know that you will. And if you
decide one day to come back to our market and
you're the leader in our mar my grandkids are going
to be just fine. I don't I don't have to
lose any sleep over it. Congratulations Kerr Electric, Superhero of
the Year. She is. Hannah Christiansen, well done.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Thank you, and I do really appreciate Colonel Electric and
your support over the years of not only me but
Unified and he really helped this program.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Would you forgive your dad and I for lying to you.
I do thank you for that. I that I really
disliked having to lie, but I.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Was so good at it, but you were really good.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
Thank you. Yeah, it's that whole the givern like for
Thesbian's right. We're actors all the time. So Hannah, congratulations,
well done. Thank you you bet Eric, thanks for coming in,
and again thank you for all the work that the
Foundation does. Of course, thank you, Mike, you bet Eric Wallace,
Colonel Electric, the Foundation A big fan of what they do.
When you get to a break. The other side of
the break, we have got Mike Curtis, Diane Curtis, and

(59:48):
Connor Curtis walkshat North. Connor was a multi sport athlete.
We're going to talk to Mike and Diane about a
year of lasts right for them. We could have done
that with the people here in studio for sure. Guys,
good to see you, Thanks for lying with me. By
the way, 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 iHeartRadio app.

(01:00:12):
Welcome back to the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show
is always presented by your local Pick and Save and
Metro Market stores. Coming live from the Donovan and Jorgans
and Heating and Cooling studios. But that was fun. I
want to think Hannah Christiansen, her parents in studio, Eric Walsh,
and all the people over at Colonel Electric from Chuck

(01:00:33):
Smith on down the founder of Current Electric Brookfield Central
Grad and he was okay with us giving a Brookfield
East soon to be grad the Kernel Electric Superhero of
the year. What comes with that is they will send
a five thousand dollars scholarship. They will send the check
to Boston College. As Hannah Christensen heads out in August

(01:00:55):
to go to Boston College. And if you have not
seen her bio. Go on the Kernel Electric Facebook page
and scroll for a little bit until you get to
hand A Christiansen, And when you get there, you're going
to be amazed at some of the things that this
kid has done in her four years at Brookfield East
High School. And she's done just a ton. We never

(01:01:17):
even got into all of the things that she volunteers,
from student Council, Best Buddies to Hope Squad to Spartan
impact to all of it. And very proud that she
is our current Electric Superhero of the Year. So guys,
if you listen to the show, you know that I'm
trying to play golf. I'm not playing very well, but

(01:01:38):
I'm totally addicted to it, and a number of weeks
ago I was out just to play a quick nine.
I don't even know Curtis. Were we Ironwood?

Speaker 8 (01:01:48):
Yeah, we were at Ironwood. I think we were on
the Burke Horse.

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
Yeah, And they said, hey, I got there early. They said,
if you want to go, you can follow that forces
him right. There some basketball officials that were fucking smack.
You know, one guy I think had given me a
tea throughout the year. Well, there are three guys that
hit the ball pretty well. And then a young dude
that I couldn't I couldn't even see the ball anymore.

(01:02:12):
He was hitting the ball a mile and Mike Curtis
and I were talking his son, Connor, who is a
senior at Wakshaw North, multi sport athlete. We got a
chance because it was it was it took us a
while to get through the nine holes, and we got
a chance to talk a lot, and Mike Curtis and
I spent a lot of time talking. In fact, he
was like having to chase and race to get up

(01:02:34):
with his group because we kept talking high school and
college sports. And then I found out his wife, Diana,
is the president of the Booster Club at Walkshaw North,
and I said, would you guys come in studio and
let's talk about the year of last. So we're joined
right now on the microphone, Mike Curtis and his wife Diane.
We're going to get to Connor in the next segment. Mike,

(01:02:55):
thanks a lot, it's good to see you still hitting
the ball along and straight.

Speaker 8 (01:02:59):
Well.

Speaker 10 (01:02:59):
First, thanks for having us on the show. And I
want to be clear, I was not the one that
gave Mike the technical No.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
You probably should have. But I had a big mouth
back then. That Well, now i'm doing you know, I'm
doing radio, so I probably still got a big mouth.

Speaker 8 (01:03:13):
The only thing I don't do is hit the ball
straight off the team.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Yeah. No, you play pretty.

Speaker 8 (01:03:18):
Well though, okay sometimes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Well I loved when we got to the last hole
and you said watch because I had to. You know,
it's a dog like a left and you got to
hit it about one twenty out and then go straight,
and not your son. He hit it over like two
barns in a big tree, and I lotched it and
you go, oh man, he hit that well. And the

(01:03:41):
kid hits the ball a mile huh yeah, and he
talks a little smack too.

Speaker 10 (01:03:45):
Yeah he's uh, he's about as good as I am.
He hasn't beat me yet, at least not with me
doing the scorecard.

Speaker 1 (01:03:52):
There. Well, there, I think there's the issue because what
I watched, he he's five strokes six strokes better. I mean,
I didn't get a chance to see him putt, but
boyle boy hits the ball a long while he died.
It's nice to meet you, h nice to meet you
as fine. Yeah, your boys are saying nothing but good
things about you on the golf course. I have to
be honest. And when I asked Mike and Connor to

(01:04:13):
come in, Mike said, you know, my wife's really involved
at Waksha North And I said, really, what does she do?
And he told me and I said, bring her along.
I want to thank you for all the volunteer work
that you do. What kind of a thankless.

Speaker 11 (01:04:26):
Job, right, it can be? But I find passion in it.
I absolutely love what I do. I graduated from North,
so I really wanted.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
To girl can't come home, right, So I.

Speaker 11 (01:04:37):
Wanted to put it all back your star for a bit.
Huh A long time?

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
Hey, how is this year ben for you?

Speaker 8 (01:04:45):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
I've gone through it. I went through it. It was
it was I think easier for me because I coached
my son in high school basketball at Calvary Baptist and
Nominee Falls, and so when it was senior night, I
didn't think about it because it's like I have to coach.
I want to win a game and then a halftime.
As I'm walking to the locker room, They're like, hold on,
you got to stay out here and hold hands with
your wife and give her a flower. And I thought,

(01:05:08):
holy Kyle, this is my year of last. How has
this been for you?

Speaker 11 (01:05:12):
I don't think it's totally hit me yet. We had
the last football, the last basketball, and now our baseball
team still playing still, but we have a banquet on Thursday,
so that's the last banquet. So I don't think it's
totally hit me yet. And I always am there if

(01:05:33):
the team needs me. We have a great group that's
coming in that's taking over for me.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
So how many days left you have as the Booster
club president at Waksha North?

Speaker 11 (01:05:42):
Well, our last meeting is Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
And do they know you're stepping down there?

Speaker 11 (01:05:46):
I'm a president?

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
Ye?

Speaker 11 (01:05:47):
Good, I've been helping that person transition for the last year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Different with Connor as far as how you're feeling than
when Aj went through because you had Connor Nowtay right
he was, And how was it for you with Aj
another big time student athlete from Wauksha North, knowing that
you had Connor coming because you can continue to watch
this boys play.

Speaker 11 (01:06:12):
Yeah, I think it's been harder with Connor because this
truly is the last for high school sports for me,
at least watching my child. I always will probably go
back and watch just because I love the sports.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
It's not the same. I know. I kept saying that too.
I did, I did, and I fully meant it. It
just wasn't the same. It wasn't. Hey, Mike, give us
your background. You're a sports guy, played you're from Ohio or.

Speaker 8 (01:06:39):
Yes, I grew up in Ohio, went to Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
Yeah. Yeah. You know how I know that because all
the Ohio State gear you had in your card, and
you know what you were wearing of the Ohio State
cap and all that. Did you play sports at Ohio State?

Speaker 10 (01:06:52):
Yes, I was a baseball player there. It's surprises absolutely
no one who knows me listening to this that I
have a lot of Ohio State gear. Being in Wisconsin.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
I have to represent well the fact that you didn't
wear today because you knew I would have kicked you
out of the studio. I appreciate that for sure. Have
you coached your boys as well?

Speaker 10 (01:07:14):
Yes, I have coached them since they were four years old,
in multiple sports all through youth, not too much in
high school, with the exception of baseball, which is my background.
I have been a part of their sports lives all
their lives.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
They're still playing Washington North baseball team they are. Yeah.
I looked this morning. I went, okay, good, they're going
to be in a good mood. Are they playing pretty
well down the stretch? Here?

Speaker 10 (01:07:42):
Playing well right now, had some timely hitting, had a
great outing on the mound from another senior who's also going.

Speaker 8 (01:07:50):
To college to play baseball. Really picked the team up.
It was a great day. We're looking forward to Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
Who do you play on Tuesday?

Speaker 10 (01:07:58):
We played Brookfield Central, Okay down in Muskigo. The winner
of that game plays the winner of Waukeshaw West and Mustigo.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
Boy that you know the two days, there's two games.
If you win the first one, you play again later
that day right away. And as if I was a
baseball coach, I used to be a gambler and I
was really bad at it because I lost all the time.
So I don't gamble anymore. But I can tell you
that I couldn't. I wouldn't sleep the night before because
I don't. I would go sho, should I pitch my

(01:08:28):
number two or number three in that first game, thinking
that if we get through that one, now I got
my ace? Do I throw my ace and just worry
about game two? What's your philosophy? On that.

Speaker 10 (01:08:38):
My philosophy is you throw your ace in the first
game to get to the second game. I've been on
both sides of it as a coach, and I don't
like second guessing myself by not using my ace and
losing and not getting to my ace.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
Yeah. I would feel that way too, But boy, you
know what, it's the devil in the age line. Your
shoulder going or two's not bad, your number three is
not bad either. Can we use them to get to Oh?
I just it would. It would put me in the
field position. Coach. I gotta be honest with you, it
would because I'd be like, I don't know which way
I'm gonna go with this. I don't. Hey, we had

(01:09:13):
a chance to talk about Connor and and and you said, look,
this kid is he's a really good kid. He's a
good student athlete, and he's your first team on conference
quarterback in football, right correct. And there's some quarterbacks in
that conference.

Speaker 10 (01:09:31):
Brother, Yeah, the kid from CMH is pretty good athlete
getting looked at by a lot of D one schools.
I think the thing for Connor is he's just been
part of it all his life, you know, from youth ball,
he's been a quarterback since he was ten years old.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Same with aj Yeah, hey, you coaching your boys? Was
that good?

Speaker 8 (01:09:51):
Was it?

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
Now? Looking back? Was that a good experience for all?
Or was it a good experience for some? I get
and then let me preference this coaching my son in
high school. I coached him in au and we had
a better point guard, and I told him, you don't
have to be better than Dreell, you just have to
be as good. You're my boy, you get you win

(01:10:13):
the tiebreaker. High school sophomore year when I started coaching him,
wasn't great, and I was the adult in the room,
and I had to make the change right. I read
a book called Coaching Our Sons that coach Tank and
Dodgeville wrote, and it changed right once we got to
the kitchen table after practice or a game. I was

(01:10:34):
his father, and if you want to talk about it,
but the first year coach Showalter, in fact, he taught
me some things because he said I was better with
my second one than I was with my first one
because I was on him all the time. So I
like to ask fathers when the coach their kids. And
then I'll get to Connor. In the second segment, find
out how he liked playing for you? But how did

(01:10:55):
it work for you?

Speaker 10 (01:10:56):
It was great for me. It was always great for me.
You know a lot of people talk about I see
stuff on social media where oh, after a game, just
tell your kid you love seeing him play well. Those
times driving home after games were times of discussion to
talk about what we did well, what we could improve
on to get ready for the next opportunity. It was

(01:11:19):
always great for me. I can't say it was always
great for the boys.

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
Why is Diane laughing?

Speaker 8 (01:11:25):
And I know it was always great for Diane.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
Do you understand there's a special place in heaven for
coaches wives? Right there is, and you'll meet my wife there.
I can tell you that for sure. There were times
where me as a coach, and I had one of
my player's moms who was my wife, like pointing at
me for some things. How was it for you with

(01:11:51):
your husband coach and your kids.

Speaker 11 (01:11:53):
I know that he knows the game and he's super
passionate about it. I think that there were times he
always instituted the twenty four hour rule and I always
followed it, like if there was something that made me angry,
I waited the twenty four hours, and my wife didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Follow those rules at all.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
I would share.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
She would go, Okay, I'm taking my mom hat and
putting my wife hat on. How dare you to treat
her boy that way? Gett him more time. We're traveling
all over the midwaile, all over the country and he
played six minutes, and I go, yeah, but we won
the tournament, and yeah, those were good for you to
be able to do that. Would would aj and Connor

(01:12:31):
come to you and say he's driving me nuts?

Speaker 11 (01:12:34):
They actually didn't. They really I think that they understood
what he was trying to get across. And I always
tell people, if the message is always a good message,
the delivery sometimes could use some work.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
You're shaking your head. You would agree with that.

Speaker 10 (01:12:52):
I've apologized to more players than I can count after
the fact and families.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
I've apologized to referees a lot recently. Oh boy, can
I tell you this, Mike. When I was seventeen eighteen
years old coaching at a grade school on the east
side of Milwaukee. Think about how long ago that was.
I had a parent come up to me after the
game and hand me a VHS tape. She had this
big old camera that she brought in and she said, coach,

(01:13:17):
I videotaped this, Please don't be mad at me. And
I said, excuse me, no, I want that's great, I
can watch again. She goes, please don't be mad at me,
and she ran out, and I thought she videotaped me
on the sidelines. I was so embarrassed, guys, I was
so I next time I saw her, I'm eighteen years old,
and I'm hugging or saying thank you because I didn't know.

(01:13:40):
You don't know how ridiculous you sound, how ridiculous you
you look. I wanted to be Bobby Knight. It was
sixth grade basketball at Saint Peter Paul Paris on the
east side of Milwaukee, and I'm going ballistic and this
woman and I can't even give you her name, but
she did me such a favor to and I think
that we should make we do that for coaches and

(01:14:01):
for parents up in the crowd, videotape them and go like,
are you happy with this? Like because it changed me,
it changed, not completely changed, it changed parts. How's that?
And I think that that was really important. So I
like the fact that and and Connor is over there
shaking his head going No, I loved it, and we'll
find out from him when we get to a break.

(01:14:23):
How much are you gonna miss watching him play at
the high school level.

Speaker 11 (01:14:27):
I'll miss it every day.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
Are you you're a sports fan?

Speaker 11 (01:14:30):
Love?

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
Were you a sports fan before you guys met?

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
And yes?

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Yeah? Did? Were you an athlete?

Speaker 11 (01:14:35):
I played softball?

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
Good?

Speaker 12 (01:14:37):
So?

Speaker 1 (01:14:37):
Yes? What position?

Speaker 11 (01:14:39):
Outfield and first base?

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
All right? Can you still hit?

Speaker 11 (01:14:43):
I could probably hit. Throwings an issue?

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
Throwing an issue? His shoulder is not what he used
to be. Did you throw battie practice to young Connor
when he's a kid underhand? There you go. We're gonna
get to a break. Other side of the break, We're
gonna have Connor. Connor, Curtis is gonna come to the microphone.
Mike is in studio, Diana is in studio, and Wakshaw
North is. This family has put a lot into that school,

(01:15:09):
in those athletic programs. We're going to talk to Connor
on the other side of the break. This is the
Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show, presented by your local
Pick and Save and Metro Market stores only on Fox
Sports ninet twenty and your iHeart Radio. Welcome back to
the Varsity Blitz high school sports show as always presented
by your local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores.

(01:15:31):
Coming live from the Donovan and Jorgansen Hated and Cooling Studios.
Go to Donovan Jordans dot com, largest employee owned HVAC
company in the state of Wisconsin. This time of year,
I love talking to multi sport athletes, guys seniors that
are pretty much done now with school. I know that
Walkshaw North's got one more week. Kind of mailed this

(01:15:52):
thing in now, though, right Connor, Yeah, yeah, man, you
didn't even take a second to answer that question. Finals
coming up this week or what?

Speaker 8 (01:16:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:16:02):
We got finals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
Are you ready for those?

Speaker 13 (01:16:05):
Yeah? And I'm always ready for the finals.

Speaker 1 (01:16:08):
At a boy, Hey, tell me about this. I want
to talk basketball. I want to talk football. But this
baseball team still playing. Got a game on Tuesday, and
I asked you who's on the bump and you said,
they haven't told this yet, But I want the ball,
so I'm hoping that it's uh, I'm hoping it's me
and and I love that beat Toasta East in the

(01:16:30):
regional And now you get Brookfield Central over at Muskego
hopefully you get two games that day. You feel pretty
good about where the direction that this team is acted.
You'd lost a couple in a row there, lost to Kelmary,
lost to Walkshall West, close games, but then beat Walkshall
West the second time. Then canoes Trumper. Right now kind

(01:16:51):
of rolling pretty well.

Speaker 12 (01:16:52):
Huh Yeah, we're getting hot at the right time and
it's going to be dangerous come Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (01:16:56):
What's the best part of your game?

Speaker 13 (01:16:59):
Uh uh, I'm a pitcher.

Speaker 12 (01:17:02):
I like to think that, you know, being a pitcher
is probably my best attribute.

Speaker 1 (01:17:09):
And you want When I asked you if you want
the ball that first game against First Central, before I
got the question out, you said yeah, and they'll let
us know. But I'm hoping and playing in your mind
You've already envisioned getting up on the mound for that.

Speaker 12 (01:17:24):
Yeah, having all the I have all the confidence in
the world and myself to be able to win us
that game and help our team get to the sectional.

Speaker 1 (01:17:33):
What do you hit in the lineup?

Speaker 13 (01:17:34):
I hit third?

Speaker 1 (01:17:35):
Yeah, yeah, you hit any bombs.

Speaker 13 (01:17:37):
Or I have two of this year?

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
Man, I standing behind you on the tee and I
don't know how this your short game is and how
your putt, But man, I couldn't. I couldn't follow the ball.
You hit it too far from me, you hit it
too fast, too high, all of it pretty comfortable on
that golf course.

Speaker 8 (01:17:55):
Huh.

Speaker 12 (01:17:55):
Yeah, I've been golfing for a while just as a
you know, hobby, and luckily I've been able to hit
the ball pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
Your dad telling the truth when he said you've yet
to beat.

Speaker 13 (01:18:05):
Him, No, beat him multiple times.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
Man, he wasn't supposed to come up. I should lie,
But those Ohio state points didn't trust anything, those points. Hey,
how much did you learn how to carry yourself and
be a true student athlete at Walkstaw North from Aja
your brother a lot?

Speaker 12 (01:18:27):
He helped a lot early with you know, helping me
get like a routine to be able to get all
my classes done, get my grades good, and help manage
all the sports too.

Speaker 1 (01:18:38):
With that playing for your dad when you were younger,
and we had this conversation in the last segment, that
was a good experience, good memories for you.

Speaker 12 (01:18:47):
On that absolutely, you know, maybe not at the time
sometimes was it the best, But looking back on it,
he helped me a lot be where I'm at today
and helping me preceed my baseball future.

Speaker 1 (01:19:01):
Hey, so you're gonna play baseball at the next level
at lacrosse. Yeah, AJ goes to lacrosse. Yeah. So you guys,
have you played on the same team with him in
the past.

Speaker 12 (01:19:11):
Yeah, we were on the same high school team last year,
in the three years prior to that too, and then
a couple of times I've played up with him.

Speaker 1 (01:19:19):
Man, how fun was that?

Speaker 12 (01:19:21):
It's always a blast, because I mean, just playing with
your brother was the most fun thing.

Speaker 1 (01:19:27):
Hey, football, basketball or baseball? Do you have a favorite sport? Baseball?
It is baseball because you're had football player, really good
basketball player, but baseball is is Do you think that
comes from your dad?

Speaker 13 (01:19:40):
Yeah, I believe it does.

Speaker 1 (01:19:43):
He he's really proud of you. I can tell you
that we've talked on the phone, and we talked at
the golf course. Behind your back and in front of
you were ripping you a little bit, and then you
would drive off in the car to go, you know,
go to three hundred and twenty yards to trying to
find your ball. You know, he was maybe two hundred
yards trying to find his ball. But I can tell

(01:20:05):
you this young man, he is so proud of you
as a student athlete and as a son. He told
me more about about you as a son, about what
a great son that you are to to to him
and your mom than he did as you would an athlete.
I keep asking him about can he hit home runs?
Can he hit a jump shot? Can he spin the

(01:20:26):
ball on the football field. He's like, hey, yeah, he
does all that. But let me tell you this. He
did this in the school and he's done this and
they it's going to be a difficult day for Mike
and Diane when you when you head out to lacrosse.
That's a very emotional time and in our lives and
I've gone through it. My wife was more emotional. Who's

(01:20:48):
going to be tougher to drive off your mom or
dad when they drop you off at lacrosse.

Speaker 12 (01:20:55):
That's a tough answer, tough question to answer. I mean
my mom, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:21:00):
She's over there. She almost has tears coming down to
her cheek right now. She's gonna miss her baby boy.
She's gonna miss her baby boy. What position when you
talk to the coaches up at lacrosse or you can
be on the bump up there as well. Yeah, I
will be What does aj play up there.

Speaker 13 (01:21:15):
Yeah, he's a picture too, mad.

Speaker 1 (01:21:16):
So it's you know, double headers, right the Curtis Boys.
Do you think you'll get on the field as a freshman.

Speaker 13 (01:21:23):
I'm very hopeful too.

Speaker 12 (01:21:25):
AJ had a really great freshman year this year, and
I know that I'm confident in my ability to be
able to play up there too.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
What about lacrosse? Was it strictly that AJ was there
or was there other things about that campus and that
school that made you think, Man, this is like home
for me.

Speaker 12 (01:21:41):
The campus was really nice. Aged being up there was
a bonus too. Being able to play with him again
is going to be a blast. But I like the
campus as well.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
Yeah, you know what. Looking at your schedule for Walkshaw
North and baseball this year, the losses that you guys have,
I I'll still look. You lost four to three to
Union Growth, you lost one nothing to Iguanago, You lost
five ford to me Nominee Falls. You lost eight seven
to Arrowhead. You know it's eight to six to oconom

(01:22:12):
Walk forty two to watch Wawoto's the East. But she
took care of that one, didn't You took care of
that one? You owed them a little something just about
every loss some of the wins, I mean nine, three, seventeen, seven,
eleven to one, eight to two. The wins, you guys,
the losses are like one run. It's a bunt here,

(01:22:33):
it's a you know, it's it's a gap here, it's
somebody going from from first to third on a play.
It's there's a there's just plays in every game that
when you lose by one, you know you're right there.
Did you know coming into this year that this team
had a chance to be this successful?

Speaker 8 (01:22:51):
Uh?

Speaker 13 (01:22:53):
No, not really.

Speaker 12 (01:22:53):
We lost a lot from the last year and I
didn't exactly know how it was gonna go. I mean,
and we have a lot of talent, but we haven't
really played with each other. So we were still building
the chemistry.

Speaker 13 (01:23:06):
Earlier in the year.

Speaker 12 (01:23:07):
And you know, we rattle off five in a row
after that first opening day loss, and we were feeling
really good and that showed that we could do it.

Speaker 1 (01:23:18):
Connor Curtisy is a senior student athlete still playing baseball
at Wakshaw North. But when I asked him, you know,
you've kind of there's it now, right, senior, You've kind
of yeah, I'm done, I'm done. You get through the
finals and be done. Hopefully continue playing baseball for a
couple more weeks would be great. Hey, the Classic Gate

(01:23:40):
Conference known as a football conference, but it's a really
good baseball conference, right mcgwanago won the conference or tied
with Arrowhead at thirteen to three. You guys took second
at ten and six, tied with o'connom Walk and Muskego.
That conference, it's not like it's super top heavy because
the teams at bottom, maybe not Walkshaw South, they had

(01:24:02):
a tough year, but you look at Catholic Memorial, Walkshaw West,
who's still playing, Kettle Moraine, Muskego. All really good baseball
conference teams and schools and programs. Classic eight isn't known
as a baseball conference, but boy, every night you got
to come and play really well to get a win
in that conference.

Speaker 12 (01:24:23):
Right, Yeah, And it's great to be able to play
in that conference in the regular season. It prepares us
very well for the playoffs and we're gonna be ready
to come Tuesday for whatever brook Central has.

Speaker 1 (01:24:35):
Yeah, you know brook Central record wise, then have a
great record, but that's a really good You got a
lot of pride in that program and they've had a
lot of wins the last five years in the Brookfield
Central program, and don't don't take them lightly. Don't do that, Hey,
Walkshaw North guns you fully prepared academically and athletically for

(01:24:56):
what you're going to see at the next level.

Speaker 13 (01:24:58):
You think absolutely.

Speaker 12 (01:25:00):
Academics at watch On Arthur really good and there's a
lot of classes and courses you can take to prepare
you for what you want to do for the rest
of your life.

Speaker 1 (01:25:09):
Do you know what you want to get into next year?

Speaker 13 (01:25:12):
Yeah, I'm going in for sports management.

Speaker 1 (01:25:14):
You are well. We should continue to talk because pro
prior to being in radio, I worked for sports teams.
I was a director of sales marketing for the arena
football team that used to be here. I was a
general manager for an indoor soccer team in Chicago. I
was horrible at that ran it right into the ground.
If you google bad general managers for professional sports teams,

(01:25:36):
my picture might show up. So I can tell you
to do as I say and not as I did
back then. What do you see if you can think, look,
I get done play four years college baseball sports management degree.
Where do you think that's going to take you?

Speaker 12 (01:25:53):
My end goal is to be putting on like big
sporting events for like stuff like baseball, and.

Speaker 1 (01:26:00):
Really, yeah, that's interesting. Most guys say, oh, I want
to be the general manager of the Green Bay Packers.
But you you you think sporting events to help communities,
to help kids. Hey, what has been a student athlete?
And that's all you know right your Your mom and
dad got you involved at an early early age. What

(01:26:21):
do you think give me a life lesson that you've
learned from being a student athlete.

Speaker 13 (01:26:26):
Uh, it's not always going to go your way.

Speaker 12 (01:26:28):
It's about how you carry yourself and how you react to,
you know, challenges in life. And that's really what people
are gonna see.

Speaker 1 (01:26:37):
Look at you, Diane, smiling over there. You did good.
That's that's like a mic drop in my but a
perfect good for you. That's a great lesson. Some guys,
you know, might say, well, I learned that I can
hit threes, so I'm gonna shoot more threes. I learned
that I can you know, I can hit more home runs,
so I'm going to swing for the fences. But your
lesson is more of a life lesson, which I really

(01:27:00):
really like. We're gonna get to a break. He is
Connor Curtis. I'm gonna bring Mike Curtis's dad and Diane
Curtis back to the microphone for the last segment. He's
going to uw lacrosse and he's gonna go play baseball.
And I'm hoping that Tuesday goes really really well for
not only Connor, for that team and this family because

(01:27:21):
I just I've been in contact with Mike Curtis after
meeting him on the golf course because him and I
have a lot in common. We both believe in high
school athletics and these life lessons that these sports can
teach these kids. And as Connor talked about, look, it's
not always going to go your way, it's not how
do you react to that. Do you go in the
feed up position and blame the refs and blame the

(01:27:43):
coach and blame your teammates, or do you learn how
we can take this team and get better and try
to get a win. And they look, they lost to
Toasi's a couple of weeks ago and then came back
and beat him, so they're still playing. They learned a
lesson from that game, they beat him six nothing, and
and they're still playing. So you got to love that
we'll get to Mike Diane and continue to talk to

(01:28:05):
Connor on the other side of the break. This is
the Varsity Blitz High School Sports Show presented by your
local Pick and Save and Metro Market stores, only on
Fox Sports nine twenty in 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.
Coming live as always from the Donovan and Jorgans and

(01:28:27):
Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you have with your
HVAC system go to Donovan Jordanson dot com. I cannot
recommend them enough. We are joined in studio Mike Curtis's
wife Diane, their son Connor, and we tried to get
aj Curtis, but he is busy today and did not
know a ton about Caitlin. She's a big time swimmer, Diane. Huh.

Speaker 11 (01:28:48):
Yes, she started when well, she started at a very
young age, but then in high school so she was
on club teams and also in the.

Speaker 1 (01:28:57):
High school had a lot of success.

Speaker 11 (01:29:00):
Yes, she went to stay at all four years in
high school.

Speaker 1 (01:29:03):
I said, you guys spent a lot of time in
a pool, and you started laughing. You said, I spent
a lot of time in a pool. Mike had the
boys at a field, a court, a gym, a game.
He did a lot of that though he supported her
a lot. But I was You were the one that
was in the pool with her. And and what I
loved is you said, you know, she could have she
could have swam at the next level, and I wish

(01:29:25):
she would have continued, but she decided to just be
a student. She goes to WM and she's doing a
good job there.

Speaker 11 (01:29:30):
Yes, what did she going to school for psychology?

Speaker 1 (01:29:33):
Oh? Boy, I'm glad she's not in studio. I'd have
to be paying. Hey, Mike Curtis, you're gonna you should
take her on the golf course so she can help
guys like you and me.

Speaker 8 (01:29:43):
Uh I, I she's a lot like me.

Speaker 1 (01:29:46):
Oh ho, man, I can't most she's a.

Speaker 10 (01:29:48):
Lot like me, And I don't know how the psychology
thing is going to go.

Speaker 8 (01:29:54):
I wish her all the luck.

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
In the world. Well, you might be her first client,
you know that, right, You know, a boy from Ohio
State I would call I have you as my first
client too. By the time we get done with your
fifth session, you're gonna be a Badger fan. You're gonna
be like that ain't happening. That is never happened in counter.
Are you an Ohio State fan? Yeah, you had to
be right. Yeah, Diana, you a Ohio State fan?

Speaker 11 (01:30:16):
I am by proxy.

Speaker 1 (01:30:18):
You have to be right. Yes, Ohio State Michigan game
that might that house must be unbelievable.

Speaker 11 (01:30:25):
I try and leave during that game and just like
listen to it on the radio or something so that
I know what I'm going back to the house.

Speaker 1 (01:30:31):
Smart and good looking. Look at you. You got the
whole package, don't you. I'd be out of that house too,
I especially because I am who I am. I would
just wear you know, blue and Mazon. You know, I
would wear the blue and gold just to get under
his skin. I love all the kids Ohio State fans. Yes, yes.
Have you been on campus at Ohio State.

Speaker 13 (01:30:52):
Yeah, we've been a couple of times.

Speaker 1 (01:30:54):
Yeah. I would love to go to a football game there.
I think that would be Uh, that would be awesome.
I was on the Mission campus last summer and it
was pretty cool. Never been there before, but it was
it was really cool. I thought, Man, oh Man, have
you guys gotten a chance to go up and watch
Aja play.

Speaker 11 (01:31:11):
Yeah, we don't miss a game.

Speaker 1 (01:31:13):
You don't know. Did he have a good year.

Speaker 11 (01:31:15):
He had a really good year. He was Newcomer of
the Year actually for the w i A.

Speaker 1 (01:31:19):
C Wow and Whitewater won the whole thing they did.
I said something about the conference for sure. It's got
to be so nice. Can you imagine if he said, look,
I want to go to Minnesota du Luther or I went,
and there's a lot of places he could have gone.
He could have gone wherever. Thank goodness, one stop shop, right,

(01:31:43):
you can just go up to Lacrosse. What a beautiful
part of the state too. I love that campus and
go watch both boys play. It's gonna be nice. Huh. Yes.

Speaker 11 (01:31:51):
And we tried not to encourage them going to the
same school, but it will be nice to be able
to see him both play instead of splitting because we
had to do that for many years.

Speaker 1 (01:32:02):
A lot of years. What was it like for you
when they were playing on the same team.

Speaker 11 (01:32:06):
Oh, it was. It was a dream come true. There
were times when aj was pitching and Connor was catching,
and that was awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:32:15):
He didn't say he was a catcher.

Speaker 11 (01:32:16):
He well, he doesn't catch anymore, but when Connor was
a freshman and then aj was a sophomore. That's when
they usually one of them was catching and one of
them was pitching, and he kind of.

Speaker 1 (01:32:29):
During baseball or basketball games, who do you who could
you hear more? Your mom or dad? From the stands?
Move the microphone over. I know that the answer is
going to be, so I'm just gonna move the microphone
to my Who would you hear more?

Speaker 13 (01:32:41):
Definitely my dad?

Speaker 1 (01:32:43):
Definitely.

Speaker 13 (01:32:44):
No, mom was pretty silent. My dad likes to get
into it a little.

Speaker 1 (01:32:50):
Bit with with just encouragement or does he talk to
the umps and reps?

Speaker 3 (01:32:55):
Oh?

Speaker 13 (01:32:56):
Never, never, the umps really, uh, just most of the time.

Speaker 1 (01:33:00):
Me and my brother, Hey Mike, my son played. I
coached him in high school basketball and he played at
Maranatha Baptist Bible College in Watertown. And I would with
two minutes going before in the warm ups, my wife
would go, where you're going because I'm not sitting next
to you. After the first game, she said, you don't
cheer correctly and you have to move or I will move.

(01:33:21):
And so I'd sit up in the corner by myself.
Friends would come, I go, you can't sit by me.
Packed house packed house, and my son after the game
would be he'd come up to me and go, are
you ever getting hit a shot? I go? What? He goes,
I can't hear my coach on the sidelines. I am
so in tuned with your voice. You said this to me,
You said this to me, you said, and I said,

(01:33:42):
I wasn't even being loud. He goes, I hear everything
you say, and I'm wondering, I'm sure that he hears
everything you say.

Speaker 10 (01:33:50):
Right, Well, first of all, I've gotten a lot more
mellow since they were seven, eight, nine years old.

Speaker 1 (01:33:58):
Have they told you that? Or have you just you
believe that in your head.

Speaker 8 (01:34:01):
I've told myself that.

Speaker 1 (01:34:02):
There you go, there you go. So Diandrewid, shaking her head,
said yes he has. He was a crazy person back then,
a little bit right he still is. That's good though,
you know what that means. He has passion, He loves
his boys, and he look, he played at a really
high level. What position did you play?

Speaker 8 (01:34:20):
I was also a pitcher?

Speaker 1 (01:34:21):
Okay, can you still throw it a little bit? No
counter shaking has said, so I could take you deep
if I'm taking banning practice.

Speaker 8 (01:34:29):
I'm pretty sure an infant could.

Speaker 1 (01:34:31):
Take me deep the elbow, the shoulder.

Speaker 10 (01:34:34):
It's definitely the shoulder. Yeah, never had an issue with
the elbow.

Speaker 1 (01:34:39):
What you learned through playing high school and college baseball
as far as what to do after a game, how
to make sure your shoulder and elbow is set? Are
you icing? Are you lifting? What do you recommend for
these guys?

Speaker 10 (01:34:54):
Okay, forty years ago and thirty years ago, we did
so many different things than they do now. Now they're
now they're using the plios, they're using the bands, they're
using all of that stuff. So that's an era I
don't know anything about. I've always been old school. So
what we did back then is we iced. You know,
we long tossed the next day, you know, we took

(01:35:15):
a day off, we threw a bullpen, we took another
day off, and then we pitched again. That's that's just
what I did for twenty years.

Speaker 1 (01:35:22):
Wow, And you can't throw batting practice. It's done.

Speaker 8 (01:35:25):
No, not in the last couple of years. That my
arm is completely shot.

Speaker 1 (01:35:29):
Yeah you miss it? Yeah, I bet, I bet. Hey,
young man, thank you for coming in. I appreciate it.
It was so fun to watch you hit that golf ball.
Man again. I can't hit it from a you know,
A good drive for me is one eighty. Am so happy, Diane.
Do you play golf, by the way.

Speaker 11 (01:35:50):
No, I'm a great golf cart girl, though you are.

Speaker 1 (01:35:52):
You're really I've brought my wife once. After the second hole,
I said, move, I'm driving. You drive a golf cart
the way you drive your car. And it's like, we
can go a little quicker here, let's go. And then
she said, well, I don't really know where your ball is,
so and I go, get out of the way. I
don't know where my ball is and I reached in
my pockast go, oh, here it is. And she's like, oh, no,

(01:36:13):
you cheat. So hey, good luck on Tuesday. Good luck.
You know what UW lacrosse wins on this thing. And
for you to get a chance to go up and
play with your brother. You're not living together right.

Speaker 13 (01:36:28):
Uh not this year? Hopefully next year though, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:31):
But you'll be in the dorm this year, and yeah, good,
He said dying that you'll be the one that will
be most emotional. Was he right on that most definitely?

Speaker 11 (01:36:40):
Yeah, although I think this guy is gonna be a
little oh.

Speaker 1 (01:36:43):
Yeah, Mike, trust me. On the golf course. He teared
up a couple of times, talking about his family, talking
about his boys, talking about his daughter, talking about you,
talking about Wakshat North and how much he, you know,
loves that school and loves the coaches and the athletic
I think you said that, didn't you say that? And
that's supposed to lie on all the shows. Hold on
a set, look they you know what you're You're happy

(01:37:06):
that he went to Walkshat North. Yes, okay, that's all
I needed. That is all I need. When you I
can tell you this and it made me laugh. You
said I should bring my wife in because if people
at Wakshat North love her a lot more than they
love me, And you know what, I think that people
at Calvary Baptist love my wife a lot more than
they loved me as well. So I kind of get it.

(01:37:26):
We're a little bit. We should go play golf. We
got stories to tell for sure. Absolutely, hey guys, thank you,
it's so nice to meet you. Thanks to see you
guys again. If when he's gone, you need somebody to
go hit balls with you, let me know. Absolutely, myke Curtis,
thank you, Dying. It's nice to meet you. Thank you
so much for having me you bet Oh what a
show this is, Spencer, you were unbelievable today. But I'm

(01:37:48):
telling you you were unbelievable today. There are so many
moving parts. I want to thank Stephanie Grady. I want
to thank Eric Walsh from Colonel Electric, Hannah Christensen, our
Colonel Electric Superhero of the Year, and the Curtis family
from Wakshaw North. Couldn't get Kaitlin to come in or
AJ Curtis AJ, we couldn't get He's busy today. But

(01:38:08):
I can tell you that what a nice family and
so lucky that I met these guys on the golf
course and we will continue to be in touch. And
I probably won't play golf with Connor because I'm never
going to play again if I do, but Mike, I'll
play with guys. Thank you. It's good to see you.
Have a good weekend. This is the Varsity Well It's
high school sports show presented by your local Pick and
Save and Metro Market stores, only on Fox Sports nine

(01:38:30):
twenty in your iHeart Radio app.