I follow this account on Twitter as they have some good stuff from time to time and this is a pretty cool story. With so many complaints about high school ball, I thought this was refreshing.
Wheaton Academy Athletics - In Benet, WA Softball Faces a Blueprint for Success
West Chicago, Ill. -- Shortly after the 2011 season ended, an ex-, ex-, ex- ex-, ex-Wheaton Academy softball coach reached out to another area coach desiring help--and a clue. The WA program leader now five coaches removed was at a crossroads. Wheaton Academy had become much more competitive as it floated between Class 2A and 3A, but how could it take the next step from mediocrity to championships?
What school could become WA's blueprint? What softball program would be its model? The ex-coach's first choice was Glenbard South and its tenacious and wildly successful head coach Julie Fonda. After Wheaton Academy made its exit from the IHSA playoffs in 2010 and 2011, the WA coach watched the Raiders in person as it successfully navigated the playoffs. How did Fonda do it? Why were Julie's teams always so much better at the end of the season than in the bitterness of March? Why did her kids play with so much passion? Simply, why were they so darn good?
While Glenbard South was the goal, it couldn't be the blueprint. A public school of nearly 1,300 students, and a private Chirstian school half that size, were mismatched. Also, while she likely would have shared her philosophies, reaching out to a coach whom Wheaton Academy would potentially face in future IHSA tournaments made it an awkward ask.
Like Glenbard South, during his tenure the ex-WA head coach watched Benet play too as he'd make his way down Geneva Road to Wheaton North to try to learn from Jerry Schilf's program that was putting up historic offensive numbers. Current Georgia star Maeve McGuire at first base, Northwestern's Marissa Panko at shortstop, Providence College's Julianne Rurka at third--and the list goes on--made watching Benet warm up a must see. It also showed just how far WA had to go. It was inspiring, and humbling.
In June 2011, Schilf, whose Benet coaching tenure commenced in 2000 and featured two losing seasons in his first three years, guided the Redwings to the IHSA Class 4A state semifinals where it lost to Moline, 5-3.
In Benet, you had a highly respected Catholic school succeeding in softball at the very highest level. Could that ever be WA? The success of Wheaton Academy's boys' and girls' soccer programs have more than adequately answered the institutional question with multiple state titles. The softball answer seemed more of a dream than a possible reality.
How was Benet doing it? What did Jerry Schilf know? Would he help? Unlike Glenbard South, Benet was a private school and--at the time—it and Wheaton Academy, which were in different classes, couldn't face one another in the playoffs.
The ex-, ex-, -ex, -ex, ex- reached out with the following email:
Jerry,
I hope you are well. I just completed my third season as the head softball coach at Wheaton Academy. We just completed our second season in the Suburban Christian Conference, along with Wheaton St. Francis, Montini, and Rosary, among others.
I am hopeful that at some point in the month of August that I may be able to take you out to lunch to talk about program building. When I began coaching at WA in 2009 we inherited a team that had won four games in 2008 and we only had eight (8) girls at our first practice. Needless to say, we were pretty much starting from scratch. We did finish 15-15 in 2010, but started five freshmen this spring and fell off a bit. We're definitely on more solid ground but would be interested in talking to you about how we may be able to continue moving in the right direction as a program.
I am hopeful that you may consider meeting with me at a time and location of your convenience.
The response came rapidly, and the answer was yes. On September 29, the state semifinalist head coach and the WA wanna-be met at Carol Stream's "The Red Apple" restaurant for breakfast. The Redwings head coach shared; the Warriors head coach listened.
As he took notes, the WA head coach heard more similarities than differences. Powerhouse Benet wasn't the 15-22 Benet of Schilf's third season. Benet's first regional title came in Schilf's fourth season, its first sectional title in his fifth. Was WA on a similar track?
What were Schilf's lessons?:
1) Maintain continuity with coaching staff
2) Good coaches are made by good players
3) Support from the school administration is critical
4) Be your own man/woman and run the program the way that you think it should be run with minimal outside influence
5) Program building is a process and it won't happen overnight
6) In high school, you just have to work with the hand you are dealt and success will ebb and flow
Little did the then-WA head coach know that he would never step foot in WA's third base coaching box again after he and his wife adopted a daughter from China just months later. Well, throw Lesson #1: "Continuity" out the window.
Since then, WA has been a Ferris wheel of head coaches. At no fault of those men and women, life got in the way: international adoptions, babies, career changes, college coaching pursuits. While the head coaching position has been a revolving door, departing coaches to a man and woman have helped the next coach in line transition as seamlessly as possible, some going as far as facilitating open gyms until new coaches were hired, as well as providing the new staff with scouting reports on opposing teams that were complete unknowns.
With such turnover, a coach-led program has transitioned to a player-led program because for too many months--in too many years--the current seniors haven't even had a coach. At many places, young women facing with their third head coach in four years, and the program's sixth head coach since 2001, would have turned in their uniforms. This group is not one of those groups.
While continuity hasn't happened, Wheaton Academy has remained competitive. While it's still much too early in 2017 to know much, a 3-1 start to this year's campaign under co-head coaches Scott Mennie and Beth Mitchell portends—although certainly doesn't promise--better things to come.
Schilf's third point was affirmed when Wheaton Academy and softball parents revamped a softball field that went from embarrassing to impressive. Februarys spent in a top-notch fieldhouse with electronic drop down cages--instead of girls physically erecting hitting cages prior to every practice in a small linoleum-floored cafeteria--is another tangible example of commitment to WA athletics and Warrior Softball.
And those players that can make a coach go from good to great? In the entire history of the Wheaton Academy softball program prior to 2011, there had been two all-state players. Beginning in 2011, there have been four pictures added to the all-state Wall of Fame in the WA fieldhouse. Next year three different NCAA Division I programs will feature Wheaton Academy alums on their rosters.
Not unlike many smaller schools, however, WA's travel ball players, two of whom play all summer for the Beverly Bandits--one of the nation's most nationally-recognized and successful travel programs with girls going playing at schools such as Washington, Michigan, and Northwestern—have joined forces with young ladies who have played so little that tagging up on a pop fly is often a question rather than an answer. But, go into an open gym in the offseason or practice during the season and watch these elite players teaching, leading, and loving and you understand that the lessons the givers and receivers are learning in this scenario are far better than those garnered while playing for a team loaded with studettes.
Since that 2011 breakfast meeting between the champion and the wanna-be, WA has added a league title and multiple IHSA regional final appearances to its resume. The elusive regional title has yet to materialize as, all-too-often, Montini, the 2016 3A IHSA state champion, has served as a roadblock. Last year it was Benet, having moved down from 4A to 3A, who knocked WA out of the playoff as hurler Megan Stoppelman stifled the Warriors in a 4-2 victory. Stoppelman, who struggled most of last year, found her form against the Warriors and its carried over very well as she has a miniscule 1.67 ERA in 54.1 innings pitched as a freshman at the University of Chicago this spring.
In 2011, to suggest that Wheaton Academy could play Benet straight up in an IHSA tourney game as it did last year was unfathomable.
In 2016 it was reality. Who knows what today will bring but, no matter the result, WA softball certainly owes a sincere thank you to the coach who will be in the opponent's dugout.
Wheaton Academy Athletics - In Benet, WA Softball Faces a Blueprint for Success
West Chicago, Ill. -- Shortly after the 2011 season ended, an ex-, ex-, ex- ex-, ex-Wheaton Academy softball coach reached out to another area coach desiring help--and a clue. The WA program leader now five coaches removed was at a crossroads. Wheaton Academy had become much more competitive as it floated between Class 2A and 3A, but how could it take the next step from mediocrity to championships?
What school could become WA's blueprint? What softball program would be its model? The ex-coach's first choice was Glenbard South and its tenacious and wildly successful head coach Julie Fonda. After Wheaton Academy made its exit from the IHSA playoffs in 2010 and 2011, the WA coach watched the Raiders in person as it successfully navigated the playoffs. How did Fonda do it? Why were Julie's teams always so much better at the end of the season than in the bitterness of March? Why did her kids play with so much passion? Simply, why were they so darn good?
While Glenbard South was the goal, it couldn't be the blueprint. A public school of nearly 1,300 students, and a private Chirstian school half that size, were mismatched. Also, while she likely would have shared her philosophies, reaching out to a coach whom Wheaton Academy would potentially face in future IHSA tournaments made it an awkward ask.
Like Glenbard South, during his tenure the ex-WA head coach watched Benet play too as he'd make his way down Geneva Road to Wheaton North to try to learn from Jerry Schilf's program that was putting up historic offensive numbers. Current Georgia star Maeve McGuire at first base, Northwestern's Marissa Panko at shortstop, Providence College's Julianne Rurka at third--and the list goes on--made watching Benet warm up a must see. It also showed just how far WA had to go. It was inspiring, and humbling.
In June 2011, Schilf, whose Benet coaching tenure commenced in 2000 and featured two losing seasons in his first three years, guided the Redwings to the IHSA Class 4A state semifinals where it lost to Moline, 5-3.
In Benet, you had a highly respected Catholic school succeeding in softball at the very highest level. Could that ever be WA? The success of Wheaton Academy's boys' and girls' soccer programs have more than adequately answered the institutional question with multiple state titles. The softball answer seemed more of a dream than a possible reality.
How was Benet doing it? What did Jerry Schilf know? Would he help? Unlike Glenbard South, Benet was a private school and--at the time—it and Wheaton Academy, which were in different classes, couldn't face one another in the playoffs.
The ex-, ex-, -ex, -ex, ex- reached out with the following email:
Jerry,
I hope you are well. I just completed my third season as the head softball coach at Wheaton Academy. We just completed our second season in the Suburban Christian Conference, along with Wheaton St. Francis, Montini, and Rosary, among others.
I am hopeful that at some point in the month of August that I may be able to take you out to lunch to talk about program building. When I began coaching at WA in 2009 we inherited a team that had won four games in 2008 and we only had eight (8) girls at our first practice. Needless to say, we were pretty much starting from scratch. We did finish 15-15 in 2010, but started five freshmen this spring and fell off a bit. We're definitely on more solid ground but would be interested in talking to you about how we may be able to continue moving in the right direction as a program.
I am hopeful that you may consider meeting with me at a time and location of your convenience.
The response came rapidly, and the answer was yes. On September 29, the state semifinalist head coach and the WA wanna-be met at Carol Stream's "The Red Apple" restaurant for breakfast. The Redwings head coach shared; the Warriors head coach listened.
As he took notes, the WA head coach heard more similarities than differences. Powerhouse Benet wasn't the 15-22 Benet of Schilf's third season. Benet's first regional title came in Schilf's fourth season, its first sectional title in his fifth. Was WA on a similar track?
What were Schilf's lessons?:
1) Maintain continuity with coaching staff
2) Good coaches are made by good players
3) Support from the school administration is critical
4) Be your own man/woman and run the program the way that you think it should be run with minimal outside influence
5) Program building is a process and it won't happen overnight
6) In high school, you just have to work with the hand you are dealt and success will ebb and flow
Little did the then-WA head coach know that he would never step foot in WA's third base coaching box again after he and his wife adopted a daughter from China just months later. Well, throw Lesson #1: "Continuity" out the window.
Since then, WA has been a Ferris wheel of head coaches. At no fault of those men and women, life got in the way: international adoptions, babies, career changes, college coaching pursuits. While the head coaching position has been a revolving door, departing coaches to a man and woman have helped the next coach in line transition as seamlessly as possible, some going as far as facilitating open gyms until new coaches were hired, as well as providing the new staff with scouting reports on opposing teams that were complete unknowns.
With such turnover, a coach-led program has transitioned to a player-led program because for too many months--in too many years--the current seniors haven't even had a coach. At many places, young women facing with their third head coach in four years, and the program's sixth head coach since 2001, would have turned in their uniforms. This group is not one of those groups.
While continuity hasn't happened, Wheaton Academy has remained competitive. While it's still much too early in 2017 to know much, a 3-1 start to this year's campaign under co-head coaches Scott Mennie and Beth Mitchell portends—although certainly doesn't promise--better things to come.
Schilf's third point was affirmed when Wheaton Academy and softball parents revamped a softball field that went from embarrassing to impressive. Februarys spent in a top-notch fieldhouse with electronic drop down cages--instead of girls physically erecting hitting cages prior to every practice in a small linoleum-floored cafeteria--is another tangible example of commitment to WA athletics and Warrior Softball.
And those players that can make a coach go from good to great? In the entire history of the Wheaton Academy softball program prior to 2011, there had been two all-state players. Beginning in 2011, there have been four pictures added to the all-state Wall of Fame in the WA fieldhouse. Next year three different NCAA Division I programs will feature Wheaton Academy alums on their rosters.
Not unlike many smaller schools, however, WA's travel ball players, two of whom play all summer for the Beverly Bandits--one of the nation's most nationally-recognized and successful travel programs with girls going playing at schools such as Washington, Michigan, and Northwestern—have joined forces with young ladies who have played so little that tagging up on a pop fly is often a question rather than an answer. But, go into an open gym in the offseason or practice during the season and watch these elite players teaching, leading, and loving and you understand that the lessons the givers and receivers are learning in this scenario are far better than those garnered while playing for a team loaded with studettes.
Since that 2011 breakfast meeting between the champion and the wanna-be, WA has added a league title and multiple IHSA regional final appearances to its resume. The elusive regional title has yet to materialize as, all-too-often, Montini, the 2016 3A IHSA state champion, has served as a roadblock. Last year it was Benet, having moved down from 4A to 3A, who knocked WA out of the playoff as hurler Megan Stoppelman stifled the Warriors in a 4-2 victory. Stoppelman, who struggled most of last year, found her form against the Warriors and its carried over very well as she has a miniscule 1.67 ERA in 54.1 innings pitched as a freshman at the University of Chicago this spring.
In 2011, to suggest that Wheaton Academy could play Benet straight up in an IHSA tourney game as it did last year was unfathomable.
In 2016 it was reality. Who knows what today will bring but, no matter the result, WA softball certainly owes a sincere thank you to the coach who will be in the opponent's dugout.
