Varsity   

The Boys Are Back In Town!
R. A. Mattrisch 8/18/08

After starting their 2008 practice season with an overnight stay at Carroll College, the Greendale Panthers returned to Greendale to continue their pre-season practicing for this year's up and coming season. This year the Panthers are coming into the season on the heels of three consecutive undefeated Woodland Conference Championships. In fact they have a 23 game conference winning streak going. Even though that looms in the back of their mind, they know that they have to just play one game at a time and at a very high level. There will be plenty of teams gunning for them this year and one of those teams would love to be the one that would snap that winning streak. If these guys can stay focus and continue what they have been doing in the past, their record will take care of itself. "These guys know that they will be huge targets this year," Head Coach Rob Stoltz said. "We aren't worried about the streak. That just happens. We are just focusing on being the best that we can be."

"One More!"

"One More" is the catch phrase for this year. The chances of them doing that are very high! As like any high school team, you always lose key players through graduation. The challenge for the coaches are to replace those players with this year's players. Because the football program is so strong in Greendale, they will have no trouble filling those shoes. "Honestly, we should be just like last year only with a bigger hammer," said Coach Keith Ringelberg. "We will bring another very strong receiving core to the field, but we think we will be stronger at running the ball." One of the reasons is that the Panthers are returning four of their five starting offensive linemen from last year. "You can't beat experience when it comes to line play," mentioned Offensive Line Coach Scott Bond. "Our offense is very complex so when you have guys coming in that already are seasoned veterans, it makes things a whole lot easier for us as coaches and a whole lot better for us as an offensive unit." The other reason will be this year's starting quarterback Chris Ridgway. While he would be the first to admit that he may not be as accurate as Mike Hennessy was last year at throwing the ball, he does have a very strong arm and he will get the ball to the receivers. The difference, however, between the two is that Ridgway is stronger at running the ball. In fact, you would almost classify him as a hard running fullback. When you have the receivers that Greendale does, and a spread pass attack offense like Greendale runs, having a bigger threat at running will really cause the opponents problems.

Defensively, size won't be the issue, but their youth will. "We are strong in the secondary and on the line," explained Coach Gary Jagodzinski (Defensive Coordinator). "We do need to fill some shoes at linebacker. At this point we do have some guys that are looking very good. What I like is that they are extremely attentive and aggressive. If they can play at their highest level each play, we will be fine." Even though the defense will be on the younger side, those younger players are no strangers to winning. Last year's Varsity Reserve won the conference with only one loss while the freshman went undefeated. To be able to do that, you needed players that can play at a high level. These guys will hopefully bring that mentality with them again this year. If they can do that, the Green Machine will continue to roll on as that have done in the last three years.

This Friday (8/22), the Panther squad will head down to Kenosha Tremper for their annual pre-season scrimmage. The scrimmage will start at 1:00pm and will include Kenosha Tremper, Riverside, and Milwaukee South. Greendale will start their regular season the following Friday on the road against Milwaukee Lutheran.

Photos by Rodney Mattrisch

Special Interest!    

The Future Greendale Panthers!

(Click for larger picture)

Football starts at an early age here in Greendale. The Greendale Park & Recreation Department held a 4-day football clinic for all boys from grades 2 through 4, which was held down at the high school practice field. This is the same field where the big boys practice.

Of course you need some experienced coaches to run something like this. What better experience to draw from then that of the staff from Greendale High. Several coaches including Head Coach Rob Stoltz took the time to teach these future Greendale Panthers a few tricks about playing the game football. They were taught the basic skills needed for running, blocking, throwing and catching a football. For most of these kids, it was their first time in experiencing what it takes to play the game. "They may be to young to play at the youth level," coach Stoltz said. "But they aren't to young to start learning about the game. We do stuff like this to keep the overall program strong and successful, which Greendale now has a reputation for."

They may be young now but these young gentlemen will some day be playing under the lights on Friday nights. They always do!

by R. Mattrisch

Special Event!    

"Brat Fry" - A Huge Success!
GPTC - 6/15/08

Greendale Youth Football organization host mega-barbecue!

On Friday, June 13th, the Greendale Panther Youth Football organization hosted their 1st Annual Brat Fry barbecue. It was held at the American Legion Post 416, located at 6351 West Grange Ave in Greendale. The event started at 4:00 and went to 11:00 in the evening.

Katie & Matt Barczak

Putting on an event like this was no easy task. It requires a lot of people and a lot of support from everyone in the community. Of course, as with any organized event, you need someone to take charge. The couple that put all this together was Matt & Katie Barczak. They took it upon themselves to put this together in hopes of raising money, on behalf of the Greendale Youth organization, which would ultimately be donated towards the new Greendale High School "Turf field" project.

"We thought that since the youth teams stand to benefit from this new field, we felt that we needed to do our little part in helping out with the expense," explained Katie. "We had no idea what to expect but we knew that we had to try and see what we could do." The idea of using this format actually came from Matt, who recalls going to one of these up in Winneconne, WI many years ago. "A long time ago, my buddies and I went to this brat fry that was held in the middle of winter under huge tents," explains Matt. "It was amazing on how many people where there for this type of event. I didn't see why this wouldn't work here so I offered up the suggestion as being our theme for this fundraiser. The only scary thing was that we were not sure just how this would turn out."

Well after all of the food was done, and the raffle tickets sold, and the auction was over, and the bucket stuffing was finished, the group managed to pull together $17,500, which will be handed over to the Greendale Panther Touchdown Club. They in turn, will hand that money over to the school district, as part of their obligation towards the field. "This whole operation was amazing," said GPTC's Tim Nethery. "When we were told what the youth organization was planning on doing, we were naturally very thankful. We were given some rough estimates as to how much they felt they would be able to raise but no one was really sure. I'm here to say that this final number was way over those estimates. My hat goes off to Matt & Katie and all of the people that helped them for making this a huge success. All I can say is that you gotta love Greendale!"

"While this was a lot of work, and took a lot of planning, I do want to thank a few special people that really helped us along the way," mention Katie. "I want to first thank the many special volunteers that helped today, but there was a special group that was in on this from the start that carried the brunt of the load. They include; Greg & Lynette Tans, Vickie & Glenn Haumschild, Jerry & Diane Meyers, Ed & Melissa Bychinski, Pat Schuster, and Jeramy Melka. They all helped in the planning stages, which really brought this all together. In the end, these people managed to gather over $10,500 dollars worth of donated items that were used for all of the prizes during the course of the night. That was awesome!"

In the end, the group succeeded with flying colors in doing what they set out to do. The entire community stands to benefit from their efforts because when it's all said and done, this new field is not just the football team's, it's the community's!

For pictures of the event, click here!

Done Deal!
The Community Unites to Make it Happen

Greendale High School’s athletic field is getting a high-tech facelift.
GPTC – 6/3/08

Tim Nethery

"It started out as a dream, and now, its reality!" That’s how Greendale Panther Touchdown Club member Tim Nethery summarized it. Through a remarkable journey and a series of extraordinary events, the grass, mud, bumps, and potholes that once inhabited Greendale High School's athletic field will soon be replaced with a state-of-the-art playing surface otherwise known as "Field Turf."

On June 2nd, the Greendale district finally passed and moved forward on a plan that was orchestrated by the GPTC to have the playing surface at "Stephen J. Gavinski Memorial Stadium" replaced with what could eventually be, the way of the future. The company selected to do this project is ProGrass LCC. They are headquartered in Pittsburg Pennsylvania and have been responsible for installing over 150 fields all over the United States. Here in Wisconsin, they have installed fields at Carroll College in Waukesha, Brookfield Central High School, and at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Construction is scheduled to begin about the second week of June and providing mother-nature helps out, it should be finished by the first week in August in time for the 2008 fall sports seasons.

Arial view of Gavinski Field
(Hover mouse over picture!)

The plan is for the entire area inside the track to be covered. This field will have a complex drainage system built underneath it to help it shed water. It will have an all-rubber infill, which is what gives the turf its cushion and give, as well as supporting the synthetic grass filaments, which gives it that natural grass look. It will have the black Greendale Panther Head logo at the 50-yard line and will be lined for a regulation football and soccer field. The end zone markings have not been determined as of yet. It will either be just striped or it will say "GREENDALE" at one end and "PANTHERS" at the other. For more information about how a field like this is constructed, click here for the ProGrass website.

Of course, having a field like this will now put Greendale in a different category amongst the rest of the schools in the area. It will also move them towards the top on the list of favorable locations for post season playoff sites. This would not just involve football, but soccer as well. Because of the durability of a field like this, many other extra-curricular activities like band competitions can also be held there without the worry of trampling down the grass. When it's all said and done, you can pretty much do anything you want on a field like this, and never have to deal with mud, potholes, or puddles again. It now becomes the perfect playing surface.

Keith Ringelberg

The GPTC wasn't the only group involved here. They had help from others including district staff and administrators, Village of Greendale staff, and the district's engineering consulting firms of Eppstein & Uhen and CG Schmidt. Of course, none of this would ever have happened if it wasn't for the wonderful people and organizations that donated towards this worthy improvement. Keith Ringelberg, who was the financial lead person for the GPTC, was confident from the start that getting something like this done in Greendale could easily happen. "Getting something like this done shows you exactly what Greendale is about," explains an elated Ringelberg. "It also proves that by working together, you can get things accomplished to make Greendale even a better community than it already is. This is what separates us from everybody else and this is why people like living here!"

Rodney Mattrisch

The original idea of this field was kicked around two years ago, but it wasn't until this past fall when a decision was made by the GPTC to pursue this lofty goal. "There were countless numbers of meetings, phone calls and emails, all of which had some little part in this," explained Rodney Mattrisch, who is a third member of this team from the GPTC. "It was a little more involved than we originally thought, but we just kept our nose to the grindstone so that we could see this to the end. All I know is that I can’t wait to walk on it when it's finished!"

Suffice to say, that same sentiment will most likely be repeated by all of the high school coaches and support staff as their seasons grow near. As for the students, they will now have the chance to excel at their craft and not be hampered or handicapped by a poor playing surface anymore. And let's not forget about those moms either. They can finally say goodbye to the nasty grass and mud stains on uniforms that were so graciously adorned by the field of Greendale High.

Mark Kapocius

The last member of the group who served as a consultant is Mark Kapocius. He is a long time resident of Greendale and works as an Attorney & Human Resource Manager for the School District of Elmbrook in Brookfield. He just went through this same process with their new field so he knew exactly what needed to be done, not to mention how things worked. He was the one that helped finalize the technical and legal issues in the end to make this project finally come to fruition.

Congratulations Greendale! Make room for yet another, feather in your hat!

Special Event!    

Our First Official Team Meeting...
R. Mattrisch 4/6/08

Alumni gather from all over to honor Coach Gavinski into the WFCA Hall of Fame

It's not uncommon for a coach to call a team meeting every once in a while. At these meetings, various topics are discussed and addressed and strategies are developed. Well, on Friday April, 4th, a team meeting was called only it wasn't called by a coaching staff, it was called by the Greendale Panther Touchdown Club. It also wasn't about how to stop Cudahy's running attack, it was to gather past alumni together and honor former Head Coach Steve Gavinski, who was being inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame the following night.

Instead of guards, tackles, and ends, there were; lawyers, doctors, pilots, specialists, businessmen, teachers, financial planners & investors, bankers, law enforcement, fire officials, judges, business administrators, vice presidents of companies, presidents of companies, engineers, sales reps, school principals and even college students all in attendance under one roof. "Last fall when we heard about Coach Gavinski's induction, we were approached by Bob High ('88) and Jason Dummert ('92) about doing something special for Coach Gavinski." explains Tim Nethery. "There was a banquet and ceremony being held in Madison, but these two guys thought it would be even more special if they could host their own event here in the area too. This way more of the guys could make it. When I discussed this with Rodney and Keith, we thought it was a great idea. Plans were then immediately put into motion."

The event was held in downtown Greendale at the Reiman Publications Visitor Center located on the corner of Broad Street and Northway. Keith Ringelberg put that together along with with the caterer. "When we first started talking about where to hold this, I thought to myself, why not here in Greendale instead of some strange community." Ringelberg said. "I remembered that the Reiman Visitor Center hosted an event a while ago so I thought we could do the same. After all, everyone coming, probably lived here in Greendale at some point in time, so what better place to have than here in town."

The GPTC maintains an alumni contact list with emails so it would be easy to let everyone know about this event. "I gave Bob, Jason and Dan Mattes ('85) the list," explains Rodney Mattrisch, who is the GPTC computer and website guy. "They developed the email lists and notified everyone about this event. All I had to do was keep track of the RSVP's and report back to them. In the end we had just over 50 guys say that they were planning on coming so we planned for 75 just in case more would be able to attend at the last minute. I think what impressed me, and actually left a mark in my heart, was that several guys actually dropped what they were doing and flew in for this. We had guys from Arizona, Texas, Colorado and New Jersey. Between these guys and all of the rest, it tells me that the Greendale schools, and their coaches must be doing something right. I do want to thank my wife Dawn, my son Ben, along with Matt and Katie Barczak, Becky Nethery, Cory Ringelberg, Sue Gavinski, Tim Gavinski, the gang from Tuckaway Country Club who catered this, and of course the Reiman Foundation and Colleen Fechtmeyer, who manages the Visitor Center, for helping out and making this night a huge success. They all contributed in some way and I'm pretty sure that the guys really appreciated their efforts. I know I did!"

After the event at the Reiman Center, everyone moved to Jimmy K's where the stories and reminiscing continued on. Hopefully, another team meeting can be held soon because this is what the Greendale Panther Touchdown Club is all about.

The GPTC would like to thank all who attended and contributed to not only the club itself, but to the Gavinski Bust Fund and the Turf Fund. You all are special people and we thank you very much. Hopefully we can continue to build this group because just like they teach you in school, you eventually become adults and will be required to keep society moving, and hopefully we can make it better then we had it because in the end, it's all about giving something back!

Let it be known that the Panther Nation is alive and well and will never fade away!

To see more of the pictures from this event, click here.

To see the pictures from the WFCA awards banquet and ceremony that was held in Madison on April 5th, click here.

GPTC

News Item    

It’s not the snap or crackle, it's the pop when weightlifting

The Greendale football squad is taking weight training to a new level.
1/12/08 - R.A. Mattrisch

David Gremore addressing the team about Olympic style weight training.

A lot of the success that the Greendale Panther football program has been having lately is attributed to their off season speed and weight training. The coaches have developed very rigorous programs that all of the players are expected to follow. One area that is getting consistently increased attention is that of weightlifting. Coach Scott Bond heads up that area and takes it very serious. He not only sets up the programs at the high school, he also manages his guys and gets them involved in state sanctioned weightlifting meets throughout the winter months. "There is a lot more to weightlifting than just bending over and picking up a barbell," says Bond. "There is a right way and a wrong way of doing it. There are also special techniques out there, that can maximize the results that one expects to achieve when lifting weights."

Mr. Gremore demonstrating a lifting
technique.

Coach Bond spends a lot of time researching and looking for new concepts that will give his guys an edge over the competition. In doing his research, he stumbled upon a new style of weight training that is used in the world of Olympic Weightlifting. The gentleman that is helping to develop and put this program together is David E. Gremore. Mr. Gremore is a USA Regional Weightlifting Coach and the USA Weightlifting President for the State of Wisconsin. He resides in Denmark Wisconsin, where he used to teach math, science and PE for over 30 years. His roll now is more of a consultant, a weight training coach, and a sales representative for Reflex & Eleiko Fitness & Exercise Equipment. He spends a lot of time traveling and putting on clinics and demonstrations about the proper techniques used in Olympic style weight training.

This training concept has to do with quickness, acceleration, and explosiveness during a lift. "There are certain muscles that are used when you jerk a bar from the ground to over your head as fast as you can, versus just lifting the bar conventionally." Gremore explains. "These muscles are not used when you jerk a bar conventionally. Only the normal muscle groups are used. By incorporating the use of these untapped muscles, you are in essences putting more muscle power at this type of lift, thus making you even stronger, not to mention quicker." Mr. Gremore has taken this concept and has presented it to training staffs at places such as the University Wisconsin-Plattville, University Wisconsin-Whitewater, Pulaski, Lincoln (Manitowoc), Little Chute, Menasha, Niagara, Crystal Falls (MI), Sheboygan North, South Milwaukee, and Republic (MI) high schools. He has even put on clinics for the Green Bay Packers and the Texas Rangers.

Mr. Gremore explaining proper form with Eric Grau.

"The reason I brought him in is that after reviewing all of his materials, I could see a direct correlation between his style of explosive weight training to that of playing football," Bond explains. "All of the other schools out there are starting to take weight training more serious so in essence, they are evening up the playing field. In order for us to stay one step ahead of them, we need to be able to literally take that first step faster than the other team. This style of weight training helps you do that. In the end we hope to be quicker, more flexible, and be able to deliver more explosive power when that ball is snapped on a football field."

The entire team listening to what Mr. Gremore has to say.

Of course overseeing everything was Head Coach Rob Stoltz. "I am really excited about this coming year," Stoltz said. "Scott has taken our weightlifting program to the next level. Back in 2005, we started to see a serious change in attitude towards off-season weight training. Those guys were always coming in to make themselves better. The teams following them continued to display that same attitude, which has help us out tremendously as a program and a football team. This year, I've noticed that just about everyone is coming in, which is not only a tribute to these guys, but a tribute to the teams before them. In the end, all we are trying to do, as a coaching staff, is to supply the resources. The players supply the attitude. That's what makes us who we are today."

Photos by Rodney Mattrisch