YLE Coaches Show December 27, 2023

Join the YLE crew as they speak with the following on the YLE Coaches Show:

Rich Lacina, Lisbon Wrestling (1:03)
Senior Spotlight with Cole Holzer, Central Cass (10:36)
Ryan Gellner (19:32)
John Millea, MSHSL (45:19)

Tune into the YLE Coaches Show on Wednesday nights at 7 on yourliveevent.com.

1 2 3 let’s go this is the your live event.com coach is show is presented to you by the Hillsboro Economic Development Corporation I’m Chase Miller happy holidays and happy New Year to you and your family this week we’ll start the conversation on the mat with Rich

Lina of lisb been wrestling it’s crazy to think there’s only one month left in the regular season in North Dakota wrest before the postseason comes we’ll talk with Rich about how the Lisbon Broncos are doing so far this season Cole holer from the central cast squirrels well he

Made his commitment a week ago to Concordia we’ll chat with Cole hoer on playing Collegiate basketball and the expectations for his senior season with Central cast on the hard court also joining us will be Ryan gner talking officiating and youth coaching and we’ll put a bow on the 20203 your live

Event.com coaches show with John Malay of the Minnesota State High School league but let’s get to our first conversation with Rich Lena of the lisban Broncos well joining us now from the lisban Broncos he is Rich Lena here from Lisbon as they’re already off to a

Really good start on the Dual portion of their schedule but as Rich knows you turn the page to 2024 and there’s not a lot of practices and not a lot of more mat time before you kind of get to postseason wrestling Rich uh before we talk about the upcoming schedule just

How’s everything gone from your point of view way back in early November to where we are now so far for Lisbon wrestling you know we’ve got kids battling pretty hard it’s uh it’s been fun to watch them we’re you know I know it’s going through a lot of schools we battling sickness

And we’ve had a few kids that got kind of just banged up so trying to piece things together here through the first half of the year and get ready for the run you mentioned after Christmas there’s not a lot of downtime and it’s all all gets a little bit more serious

Serious after Christmas year so yeah it doesn’t get any easier if you speak with South border obviously that’s a great rivalry when it comes to wrestling you got Kindred then the stor hog is is right around the corner let’s talk about stor hog here a little bit Rich what is

Stor hog mean for Lisbon wrestling and and for you to be a part of it and bring so many teams not just from North Dakota but from Minnesota and different groups of people you know together for a fun weekend of wrestling well you I’m sure Chase you’ve know Lisbon’s a wrestling

Community I mean the people here they got a wrestling history that predates me and I feel like I’ve been here a couple decades now and they I mean they they go back and those guys they live and breathe it they uh we’re really lucky we’ve got a whole lot of volunteers that

For taking care of the um the uh the room for the coaches and everybody at the hospitality room running blood time running the maths running the tournament Todd Carter and the Carter family we can’t than they always just take things and and make it so for me the stor hog I

Get to kind of it’s actually I get to relax and I don’t have to wake up so early in the morning because I get to just show up and coach and we’ve got just great Community Support all across the board here so the cool thing about

The stor hog too rich that I always take away there’s really good competition you know that able to come down so from a coach’s standpoint once you kind of get to the stor hog you know okay a week or two from down the line we’re talking about dels we’re talking about

Individuals we’re talking about State wrestling so is kind of the stor hog almost a good parameter of where you’re at before you get to that final two- week you know regular season stretch here Rich yeah it’s uh and it’s it’s a nice one where you get to see like we

Get some Minnesota we get some class A teams in and we get the class B so it’s just kind of an intermingle of things and usually get a good you know the finals matches are usually pretty top-notch ac across the board uh but yeah it’s every weekend now it just

Feels like it’s a little bit more uh the you know just the anti goes up a little bit we gota gotta stay with it and got to keep pushing and uh so yeah but the the stor hog that one’s always fun we’ve got the lettermans right after Christmas

There in Castleton and and that one’s always a fun mix and then after stor hog we get to it’s all Class B then it then it’s uh then it’s like the postseason we got the east west and regions regions and States as you take a look at this

Season here rich I know in basketball a lot of people have been talking about the three class system but in wrestling speaking of class CL there’s a weight class differential from prior years for people that maybe haven’t came to a duel yet or the first time they will be

Coming out to stor hog or some of your home meets here Rich so I’m taking a look at this season compared to Prior years how has the new weight class system impacted your lineup or maybe hasn’t it impacted as much as maybe you thought I wouldn’t say it’s impacted the

Lineup um it’s still you know we’ve got I’d say we’ve got a couple of kids that maybe could have cracked a varsity lineup if we had that one more spot in there um that are that are just kind of they’re just in a deep spot for us right

Now but um yeah the the hardest part actually is probably this week we’re gonna send our JB down to duel in South Dakota and they have 14 weight classes and they’re not the same so trying to make sure all the kids stay on a descent plan to make it uh that that’s probably

Been the biggest challenge with the weight classes otherwise it’s just you know you’re still still the ring is the same size the circle the same distance and you just you got to cut her loose and wrestle so as you take a look at some of your individuals here Griffin

Greenley I know a lot of people are going to hear the green name and as you mentioned earlier you know wrestling comes to mind just like in any town you have certain names and you think of certain programs but what has Griffin been able to do for this year’s lisban

Bronco wrestling team you know there’s a lot of maturity that’s come from him from his freshman year to his sophomore year he’s a he’s a good kid and this year he’s just wrestling with a really smart uh style kind of keeps within himself he he opens up on his feet and

Just attacks um it’s it’s been really fun to watch the Improvement in him just seeing it physically and mentally as he’s the way he approaches approaches the match as you go from there to to blae ranky I know there was someone that you chatted about before we even came on

The conversation here Rich what does blae provide here as a wrestler for the program this season he’s been a great senior leader you know he’s been a great wrestler for us for years and this year as a senior he’s stepping in and he’s taking the young kids there you know

They look at him like he hung the moon he’s the he’s you know he’s kind of the man around town so uh If he if he says something good to those kids they take that to the bank they they love to hear it so how fun is that for you rich and I

Know you’ve been able to do this with other wrestlers but kind of have someone that can help those other guys coming through the system where maybe it’s not from a coach but it’s from someone who’s been in their shoes you know three four years prior to kind of give them that

That example how valuable is that for you as a coach it it’s huge I mean you know coach dad whatever it’s always you can always find a way to tune those guys out but when it’s your buddy when it’s a you know when it’s that kid you look up

To that guy that that’s on the team it just it hits a little different and you can see them take take the ADV you know the advice sometimes under their wing uh so yeah just just a great advantage to have and we’ve been we’ve been lucky we’ve had some great senior classes over

The years and they they kind of teach the younger guys this is what’s expected of you so as cash Waits into what does he provide for this year’s Squad a guy that’s been around the program for quite some time from enderland making his way to Lisbon obviously makes that short

Trek but what what’s so good about you know cash on the mat on the mat is just he’s the mo one of the most fun kids you’ll ever watch wrestle he’s straight fireworks it’s going to go he’s he does not have a half speed it doesn’t exist I

Don’t know if in all the years I’ve ever seen him called for stalling I just I don’t think he would know how to do it um and then off theat he’s another one of those seniors that’s just I mean taking morning runs he comes he comes

Over and you know on Sundays he’ll ask hey can you open the gym we want to come up and just get some workouts in so they can keep their weight down and uh you know just get get another workout in and just a great leader just a great kid uh

Like if you you watch him wrestle that that’s the joy he’s just his motor is 100 miles an hour across the board but what you see off the mat has really been impressive as a senior if someone’s new to the area rich and they haven’t seen Lisbon wrestling before what’s a you

Know characteristic or trait that you hope that when people come out watch your guys wrestle or or what’s something that you hope people take away from you know watching Lisbon wrestling you know if it’s the first time they’ve seen you guys on the mat this year I sure hope

They just think that we grind everything out we we try not to you know we always try not to beat ourselves and try to make it tough on the other team and see if if they’ll if they’ll make the mistake but just grind things out just

Be gritty be tough uh make you know stay in the match as long as you can sometimes you might be outmatched but see if you can’t grind it out and keep it to a decision make make it tough on the other guys that at the end of the

End of the match he still knows he had a tough one ahead of him so rich this is a question that you probably get asked a lot of people that are from maybe not so much non- wrestlers I use I utilize it to golf I utilize it to track and field

Because those sports are team but they’re individual same thing for wrestling it’s team but there’s also an individual portion of it how much do you talk about the team how much are you talking about the individual is it just go out and take care of what you need to

Accomplish in your respective weight class or is it hey when we get to a certain part of the duel if you do this we we can find a way to come out whether you get a pin or not how much are you talking about that team and individual

Concept here Rich we we always talk about a bit of both I mean if it’s before an individual tournament we talk about how hey and this you get to cut it LO you don’t have to worry there’s no no such thing as losing close if you want

If you’re behind and got to go for it go for it it don’t it don’t matter I don’t care if you lose by five or you lose by eight or you lose by one if you’re going you know um in a duel sometimes you don’t go for that throw at the end you

Got to understand that losing by a decision still saves you a team point or two team points so just a different strategy from one to the other thankfully the kids they’re pretty bright this is I said wrestling Community these kids are kind of born bred with wrestling in their blood so

They they’re pretty pretty quick to understand what the reasoning behind each move is or what the strategy is final thing for you rich before he let you go a favorite move that you like I’m not saying which one you like to to teach or which one that you’ll see your

Kids uh perform on the map but what’s one move that that you’ve enjoyed most over the years watching your wrestlers perform when it when it gets you know perfectly executed you go to a lot of tournaments and you hear people whenever they pick down on aisb and gu say watch

All for a cradle and that’s probably my favorite it’s just to see one of the kids lock up a cradle and slam it back and you you know it’s uh it it brings a little bit of a smile to a guy’s face so that I’d be wrong if I you know there’s

A lot of good moves but that’s probably my favorite one to things get locked up rich thanks so much for your time happy holidays to you and your family into the bristling program and best of luck here as we return the calendar to 20124 thanks Chase thanks for getting

The coverage for the the kids there we appreciate you so live work and play here in Hillsboro North Dakota the Hillsboro Economic Development Committee can assist you with information and a support for business and housing experience Hillsboro more at 104 join us now from the central cast

Squirrels he is a senior Cole Holzer and Cole before we talk about a little bit of last year what you bringing back this season from the basketball court the new three class system and how the year’s gone so far let’s just talk about your commitment wasn’t made too long ago

Heading over to Concordia to play Collegian basketball I just want May Concordia and you know just that area be the right fit for you co you know moving forward once you’re done at Central Cass oh yeah so I took a few visits to some other colleges before and I was planning

On going to Concordia but I was looking to make a decision pretty early so I wanted to get there make sure I get on campus and then when I got there for my visit I just really I really liked the campus and everything I really felt

Welcome and I knew the coaches wanted me and everything and so I really felt good there about that and so far coach Borman has a great thing going right so far the season so that’s awesome a little closer to home and stuff and you know I think

It’s a good opportunity for me yeah they continue getting better under his toage so to speak as a head coach over there now and Cole from the off the basketball side what made Concordia just the right fit for you from a you know major perspective in terms of what you want to

Study you know once you get to College yeah I’m looking to go into a business major with uh kind of like a pre-law emphasis so looking to go to law school after maybe so yeah I talked to their head of the pre-law program there at

Concordia and he was a great guy talk to me a lot about that stuff and what uh what I can go through and everything and they talked about how they work with athletes really well you know they don’t you know you get to make up everything

And they just do a really good job about that when you got growing up when was it a goal for you to want to be a college athlete in something was it basketball always kind of the number one thing at at what age Co did you kind of say you

Know what I I think I might have a chance to you know crack the next level here once my days at Central cast are done yeah I think it was uh it’s always been basketball for me and I think it was going into my sophomore year I sat

Down with my stepdad Nick who’s kind of brought me along the whole way he’s he’s taught me everything pretty much about basketball I know and talked to me and said you know I really think you could be a college athlete and and he asked me

If that’s something I want to do and I said yeah I think it would be so yeah we’ve gone along with that process with him for few years now and I think that yeah that’s where it started uh obviously you have a ton of basketball memories whether it’s your time at

Central cast maybe it’s through travel ball something comes to mind here Cole what’s a a favorite basketball memory or two whether it’s you as a player you as a fan you with family and friends what comes to mind I think it’s got to be the state championship we won last year

Obviously I think it was great two weeks before that we watched the girls win that was awesome and then we got to do the same thing two weeks after that was just amazing i’ playing with those guys forever so it was great to get done with that group we’ve been talking about win

The state championship since we started playing basketball together and then we finally got done with that group and it’s great to have the seniors too we played with all those guys as well so it was a huge huge for us take us through this season again you’re going to be a

Handful of games in as you kind of really hit the stretch run in January and February here Cole but um with the guys coming back um what is this of central cast basketball what do you hope to bring from last year to what you’ve already brought on the court this year

Or is it hey it’s a completely new season there might be some players you know that were back that have that Varsity experience wi state championship how do you kind of marriage that together here this year so far Cole I think we got to continue the leadership

That we had last year I was Captain last year I’m going to be Captain this year as well and we just got to bring the same energy I think on the floor we last year we really emphasize defense and like putting your body on the line for

The team doing all that and I think we got to do the same thing this year we just got to bring the team together we have some guys we lost a few seniors from last year but we have a lot of guys who don’t have a lot of experience they

Going to step up and play for us and so far theyve done a great job this year and we just got to keep continuing to do that what have you learned most about from Matt Norman and also the assistant coaches during your time here at Central

Cast I learned a lot about uh just what you got to do to include we have a lot of great players you want to work to include your teammates there’s a lot of opportunities where some people can score but you want to find the best shot you can get every possession and then

Also just putting making it more about more about the team than about yourself you want to go out on the floor take charges dive for loose balls and do that for your teammates try to get the win when you heard as a basketball player you know there there might be a chance

Of having a three class system and not sure and then all of a sudden it came down and then you know you win the last b as we know it you know at short term with the two classes here Cole um were you excited to maybe see some different

Teens and some different Talent than maybe what you have been in your prior is it well I still want to play certain schools CU arrivals how do how do you as a player view the three class system your senior year uh right away I think along with a lot of people wasn’t like

Weren’t the happiest about it but I looked into it a little bit and it’s it’s going to be a lot I think it’ll be better for us a lot for like getting better as a team and as players gonna get a lot more I think better competition games uh we have a huge

Great schedule this year so we’re gonna have a lot of games we got to go all four quarters and work as hard as we can play a lot of new teams so that’ll be good too so yeah as you kind of take a look at it Cole um you know if you could

Go back to your 13 14 year old self I always like to ask uh players in your situation now that you’ve kind of known where you’re going you know the next phase of your life what would be some words of advice for someone that wants to play at the college level what are

Some things that you kind of learned during your time that you would like to you know share to the Next Generation so to speak coming up I think it’s just you gota you got to put in the work obviously you got to be in the gym not

Just in not just in on the court but you got to work on the weights too and everything and just think about more of like a a team game you’re not going to go out a lot of coaches uh there’s a lot of guys who can score a lot of points

But you got to do something else different you got to work to maybe pass a little better work hard on defense be that guy diving on the ground and working hard all every game as you go into this coal superstitious at all do you have to do anything before you get

To an opening jump or you know put the left shoe on before the right any Superstition from a team or from an individual perspective uh nothing like that for me I can’t think of anyone in our locker room who does that but I’ve heard I’ve heard some funny stories

About those but nothing from us and for you guys what’s something you want to accomplish obviously you’re going to have the bullseye still on your back for some of those schools that are coming with you to class A here this season but what’s something that you want to

Accomplish this season as a team as the year continues once we get into the 2024 portion of the schedule I think I want to accomplish our first step I just want to get to the state tournament this year I think that’s first step and then I

Think if we can get there we have a great team who knows how to play we’ve proved that the last few games that we we’re going to get on and try to try our best to get that win so I think we can get to the state tournament we can maybe

Make something happen so that’s what I want to be our first step and final thing for you Cole before we let you go uh what does it mean to be a central cast basketball player you’ve had a tremendous amount of success obviously as we alluded to last year and and

During your time with Central cast what does it mean to you to be a central cast basketball player I mean it means a lot I the thing we’ve built this past few years uh we’ve had great teams all four years that I’ve been in and B in high

School and we I’m glad that we got to make a huge statement last year and I’m I hope that the kids coming up can continue this Legacy and keep bringing that around and it’s great to have all the support through the town especially last year you could see it was stands

Are filled with red and it was awesome to see that so I hope that can continue throughout the next uh few years and everything Co congratulations again on heading off to Concordia and best of luck throughout the rest of your senior season here with Central Cass thank you

Appreciate it hey Growers we’re working on your Water Management Solutions call Chad’s Excavating out of Mayville they are your water management contractor helping you with tile drainage plans service drainage plans or both remember water management is a lifetime investment call Chad 71430 0182 to get your water problem solved for more information follow

Chad’s exavian on Facebook for tile drainage and service plans call 71430 0182 Chad’s Excavating aille helping Farmers grow do you want that new boat are you building onto your home maybe you want the new camper or ATV Dakota her Bank can help you this is Dustin Nagel president at Dakota

Heritage Bank Hillsboro location you can visit with me or our other loan officers to help with loans and lines of credit from Dakota Heritage Bank we are serving you with locations in North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota Dakota Heritage Bank offers Financial Services you expect with a local perspective dhbank n.com

Dakota Heritage Bank Equal Housing lender member FDIC there’s more at 104 Hillsboro North Dakota has everything you need on your next road trip food fuel fun and familyfriendly activities stop by and fill up your tank or grab a bite to eat have a blast at Goose River Golf Club the swimming pool

Or one of our beautiful Parks there’s even ice skating and cross country skiing take in the sights or stay the night so you don’t miss a thing experience Hillsboro and see why there’s more at 104 a two-parter coming up here with Ryan gner the first part is officiating

With the second part being youth coaching here’s our one-on-one with Ryan gner joining us now is Ryan gner he wears a couple of different hats here part of our coaches show in terms of the prep youth uh coaches but also he does a ton of officiating as well over the last

Handful of years in and around the Fargo metro area from the Collegiate to the high school scene and Ryan thanks for joining us number one happy holidays to you and number two uh before we talk about the prep scene let’s talk about officiating how much fun and how much

Crazy is this time of the year for for the officials once you kind of go from that fall into the winter season where you got college high school and even yeah there’s that seventh eighth grade you know travel ball that you got to find officials for as well yeah Chase

Merry Christmas and yeah officials uh especially those of us that work college and high school uh this little break here over Christmas uh is really nice because you do you get going um late October for college basketball uh this time of the year and then high school basketball starts early in December and

That kind of fills your skill schedule uh so we’ve been going for a couple of months so it is nice to get a little bit of a break here before the uh we’re already thinking about the home stretch of the season but yeah it gets wild as

You know on the announcer side it gets wild in a hurry and all of these games matter and they’re all fun and uh it uh it’s a good way to spend some time let’s just say that the three class system I know a lot of people are wondering how

It was going to impact the teams how would it impact coaches and traveling well the old ad AG how does it impact officials right because it used to be so easy to say class A was playing this night class B was playing this night rarely did the two really commingle well

Now of a sudden Ryan you put three classes in there so early on has the three class system strained the officials in North Dakota or is it you know what the schedule kind of feels like it has been for for many years when it was just two classes yeah it really

The schedule seems to have worked out so far I think as we get closer to post season you start stacking games on top of games that’s when you’ll see officials potentially working two different classes uh but for the most part I think the schedule so far has

Worked out nicely it doesn’t feel a lot different um and hopefully it’ll remain that way and then when you kind of go into this what’s the question that you get asked the most from the quote unquote the armchair officials those mom and dads those grandma and grandpas

Those friends who kind of sit there maybe there’s new rules every year going into play this year a new rule for fans was class A and Class B it’s double bonus at five you know class double A it’s still the single and double so so

What are some new things or what do you hear the most from people asking about when it comes to fouls on a year in year out basis Ryan you know that freeth throw one uh was a big one coming in people didn’t quite understand um the elimination of bonus free throws and

Just shooting two free throws on that fifth foul and it’s something that um everybody but the top class uh has now uh from an official side it’s something actually we’ve been doing the last number of years in women’s college basketball um and in my opinion has

Cleaned up the women’s game and made the women’s game much better and I think it’ll do the same uh for the smaller two classes in North Dakota um of course we’re talking about um when you get to five fouls now in any quarter you start shooting two free throws and then at the

End of the quarter those files reset so from an officiating standpoint but also from a game standpoint what’s really nice is if you’ve got three or four fouls off the bat a lot of times as officials we would be like oh boy this is going to be a long game because we’re

Going to be shooting free throws from the time we get to Seven until the end of the half well now we’re only shooting free throws from the time we get to five to the end of the quarter in those games and it really just cleans things up so

Somebody has a tough start with fouls it’s not a free throw contest for the rest of the half it might be a free throw contest for a quarter but at least we get to reset so I think the reset part of it really really nice um other rules there’s still the misconception um

Over the back there is no such thing you can look through a rule book you will not find the words over the back um nobody can go over the back somebody can push you but you can’t go over the back so we hear about that one travel I think

With the NBA um with some of the uh steps that they’re using now uh in the NBA what is a travel what is not a travel it still comes down to the pivot foot and when the pivot foot uh starts and when it ends and and steps really

Don’t matter so just some of those things that us as officials we chuckle about because there’s some misconceptions on on a couple of rules and and uh yeah those are the things that that we find fun I guess and then that’s kind of the next point from the

Officials point of view you do have some who work both sides of the River Minnesota and North Dakota so now they got a shot clocked thiss year which I know that was the big thing on the Minnesota side um is there really any rules from a high school standpoint Ryan

When you’re going from Minnesota North Dakota class double A to class B in North Dakota that’s different or is it hey a hand check’s a hand check a block is a block you know is is that different from uh either perspective when you kind of talk about different classes or

Different states on how you officiate you know it’s it’s funny you bring that up uh from a from a rules standpoint virtually all the same other than the fowl issue um everybody’s is guidance by the nfhs the national Federation for High School athletics um so the rule

Sets are all the same however uh from from a fan standpoint I don’t I honestly don’t feel this as an official but from a fan standpoint people will say Minnesota is a more physical game than North Dakota people will say the eastern North Dakota and we hear this a lot in

State tournaments from fans Eastern North Dakota plays a much more physical game than Western North Dakota uh we will also hear that the big schools the class a uh is much more physical than others I don’t know if I buy that from officiating standpoint um I think we

Tried to call every game uh from an advantage disadvantage standpoint um and the physicality um if you’re bigger and faster and stronger I don’t know if that allows you more fouls or less fouls or what that would even equal out to but you do hear that I don’t know if there’s

There’s anything there rule wise there’s certainly not couple more questions here Ryan on the official point of view here um when it comes to someone who maybe starts out as an official whether they’re 40 years old whether they’re right out of high school into college at

19 and they one day want to officiate Valley City State basketball North Dakota State University ndsc if they want to get the taste of the college ranks what is the process to start with to finally get your way to becoming a college official is it simply as you

Take some classes you take some clinics two years later you get slapped a wrist and say here you go but or is it no there’s there’s a process there’s critiques how do you kind of go about it from you know the first start to if someone wants to you know a college

Official yeah there’s there’s processes there there’s critiques there’s all of that that goes into it first thing um you’ve got to be open to yourself you’ve got to see plays you’ve got to see games so you’ve got to work you’ve got to work the lower level stuff see plays see

Plays C plays that makes you a better official um and and then beyond that you’ve got to check the boxes um from the lower level stuff through the high school stuff once you’re comfortable at the high school stuff you can go to college camps and there are college

Camps all over the place Fargo Morehead area um I believe there’s there’s two College camps that come through here every single year and throughout the region there’s College camps that you can go to and at College camps you are working generally high school basketball summer camps um and you are working on a

On a crew of three and you are constantly being evaluated throughout that camp so it might be a two-day camp and you working maybe five or six games but you’re also doing some mechanics in a side room and you’re constantly being evaluated uh by an evaluator and that

Evaluator is looking to hire officials in their college League it might be a women’s uh College evaluator that um is responsible for three or four different leagues and she might be looking to hire in one or potentially all four of those leagues it might be a men’s college

Basketball that’s um looking to hire in in junior college and generally officials will will take their invite wherever they get it not knowing if if you’re suited to be a men’s official if you’re suited to be a women’s official or what they’re looking for and then it’s just climbing the ladder from there

Working in the league that that you want to work in the truth is when you work college basketball um you’re you’re asked a lot uh high school basketball is a little bit more um I don’t want to say amateurish but it’s a little bit more give and take with your schedule where

You maybe have a little more control over your schedule when you get a College schedule uh backing out of a game or declining a game is a big big thing um and sometimes you can cut your own throat there so you got to be willing to work when you’re scheduled to

Work um you got to be willing to drive on bad roads you got to be willing to be able to get to the game early you’ve got to uh put up with there are coaches that will send in play after play after play to be evaluated based upon you so you’ve

Got to have a thick skin and be able to um tell the assigner why you call to play a certain way so a lot goes into it uh it’s very rewarding um but you’ve got to be ready and you’ve got to be real with yourself uh to be able to make that

Step which goes into my last question from officiating Ryan does someone come up to you during a game and say how hey I got a cousin I got a brother I got a sister I got someone that wants me an official how do they get involved is

There a website you know is there an email address or is it simply after or before a game when you see an official how did you get your stripes so to speak so what’s the best way you know if you want to become official to get in

Contact with someone Ryan well to answer the first part of your question people come up to me and say that their cousin their brother their father would be a better official than me that’s how a lot of those conversations start or a coach will say that they would be a better

Official um but no um the north CA High School Activities Association website is a great place to start uh they can get you to the local officials if anyone reached out to the High School Activities Association uh they would put you in the right hands no matter matter

The sport uh it’s a great organization and they really do uh treat their officials well and look for officials all the time um but locally uh there is a a supervisor for almost every official in in at least all of the big towns or regions have officiating supervisors

That you can get a hold of and figure out who to contact last case scenario just ask a referee ask an official who do I talk to I want to get started I don’t know where I want to get started talk to them ask them and uh officiating

Is a small group and um people root for each other and uh people will want to get other people involved it’s a it’s a great thing to do it’s a great give back um but there are ways to get involved and a lot of time it’s just talking to

Someone getting your name out there and then getting assignments there are assignments believe me there are assignments available if you want to work uh we can find a spot for you you will work as you go from there Ryan now to you kind of wear one hat to the next

Hat as we alluded to earlier from a more of a youth coaching system here you also work with the West Fargo Park District um from a youth coaches I know this question gets asked a lot from officials do we have too many do we have too few

From a youth coaches point of view same thing um do we have too many do we have to few in the area where we at with youth coaches in terms of all the sports which covers a myriad right now with how you know prep scene and also used sport

Of just really taking over it seems like any part of someone’s childhood a little bit here over the last handful of years yeah youth coaches are so important in the development of our young athletes but not just our young athletes our young people as well um I always say

That that there’s room for everybody if you want to get involved somehow in youth Athletics uh there’s room whether it’s a head coach an assistant coach a helper at practice ractice those people are just as important as the coaches um of course I think there’s always a need for more um I think

There’s some some expertise that that parents or and and again even just helpers at practice if if people want to volunteer their time and step forward um it’s a it’s a very rewarding aspect of Youth Sports is being a youth coach because just the little successes can

Mean so much um and those little success esses are are so are taken so many different ways it’s not just obviously the scoreboard but it’s things that happen at practice as individual successes um that you get to be play a major part in and uh you really can

Change or mold somebody’s life for the better it’s a really rewarding spot that that everybody that has played Sports should have to go back and do and be able to be a youth coach or a youth mentor and and be able to to be a positive change for someone you’ve been

Able to do it here Ryan yourself what’s one or two memories that come to mind I know you have a couple of sons that you’ve been fortunate enough to coach and kind of you know go through particularly I just use baseball as the example you’ve had a lot of really uh

Success there on the West Fargo side from the baseball standpoint but what is one or two stories that come to mind for you that you would like to kind of share with those that might be thinking about hey my son or daughter wants to start up

A team and I’d be more than willing to be an assistant or a coach or a helper as you said Ryan what would be you know a reason why I think it’s it’s when you when you sit back at the end of the season I don’t think it matters on the

Sport and I go back to to a baseball season uh not too long ago and both of my my sons were very fortunate in the West Fargo program um to be able to play um at Regional tournaments at World Series um some of those things so the

Successes on the field but it’s some of those things I I think back to to um a couple of stories one time after practice we sat as an entire group and we had played an entire season and I think we were getting ready for a state tournament uh

I’m sure we were getting ready for a state tournament we had finished our last practice and we sat down in a group and all sat in a circle and these are nine-year-old kids and we went through a drill where we had one person tell the next person what they really liked about

Him so I would say you know Chase um I really like the your voice inflection when you call a basketball game when you get excited I get excited and that’s what I really like about you and then you would say something nice about the person next to you and we’d go all the

Way around the circle and then when we got done we went the other way around the circle and we talked about something we didn’t know about that person next to us before the season started and um The Honest true answers that came out of those those young kids nine-year-olds

Mouth um was was a moment just to step back and go wow look at look at what not not we’ve built but look at what what they’ve built together this is the true definition of a team at nine years old they’re starting to understand it’s not just about baseball they’re learning

Things from each other that we didn’t even know about I think those are some of the most special moments uh of course there’s wins there’s losses there’s uh Revenge games there are rivalries there are all of those things that go into Youth Sports that make them so much fun

But it’s things like that I think back to even youth basketball um when my kids were really really young um and then coaching and um making sure uh that every player had scored uh in a game or at least trying to make sure every player scored in a game and we get down

To the to the one final kid who frankly wasn’t very good at at basketball and he was just coming into his body and and uh when when he would score the feeling you got and the entire kids realizing you know yes he did it um really gratifying really really

Gratifying because you made a difference and then you saw the emotion in his face and and were able to watch that those are the special moments um you can get championships and awards and trophies and all of those things and those are great um those are fun uh but I don’t

Know that those are memories like the other ones so there’s some hidden gems in there that’s for sure last thing for you Ryan this is a loaded question and I’m sure you’ve been asked this a lot with your particular uh position and also having kids go through US Sports is

US sports today what US Sports was 10 20 30 years ago right uh the one thing that I’ll hear from some people is hey I can’t bring my group of friends to an open sand lot anymore and just go play whatever kind of of ball there you know

Now you have to be organized now you have to go into some type of monetary not donation but hey it costs you 50 bucks for an hour or two over here to you know maybe get into a baseball body or get into a softball body or get into

Basketball shape um where are we at today with us Sports you you’ve lived it you have it right now with the park district I know you get asked this question a lot from parents you know what is the the cost for time or money or stuff of that nature but uh just you

Know open-ended here Ryan where are we at for you Sports can pay be married to where you were uh you know uh during your time and even my time you know 15 20 years feels like now it was a long time ago when you’re kind of growing up

There yeah it was a long time ago and it is much it is much different um when I grew up um it was Youth Sports was very laid-back um Youth Sports was 100% about having fun and um winning mattered but it didn’t matter like it does today Youth Sports has

Become um expensive Youth Sports has become competitive and we have put competition kind of at the front of Youth Sports and the fact of the matter is it’s gotten in my opinion so far and I’ll call it because I don’t know a better word for it’s become so far out of

Hand that if you don’t join them you’re kind of on the outside looking in and it’s a very tough spot to be and I what I mean is uh if you want to play basketball uh there are opportunities to play basketball at every level that you can imagine and

There is a spot for you um but if you want to play high school and college basketball it seems like now we’ve set youth up that you don’t have to do it year round but you really have to be concentrated on it you’ve got to um go

To camps you’ve got to go to just a shooting gym it’s not just an open gym anymore it’s a shooting gym now uh where you are working on your shot for 30 minutes or an hour consistently making sure the arch is correct and making sure um that you’re left and right I mean

Dialed in specific shooting camps you want to play baseball it’s not just pick up the bat in the spring and play through the summer it’s playing through the winter and getting batting practice and working on certain things um and and I don’t think it ever was that way

Before and we turned out just fine but now it seems like from parents perspective if you don’t do those things you’re behind and those things are awfully expensive and I think we’re we’re in a place right now that that makes it tough I think youth sports are very tough like I said they’re

Competitive and they’re expensive and it makes it very tough um on the parents financially it makes it very tough on the student athletes um just from a from a Time perspective um and it is hard it’s hard to find gym space it’s hard to find field space SP it’s hard to uh fit

In sometimes if you’re not on the Travel team is there a second travel team is there a third travel team maybe you don’t want to play travel well there is there a recreation team and I think we’ve done a really good job at at West

Fargo Parks um to be able to provide all of those Avenues the basketball league that we play in now um has three different competition uh where your your child ranks uh so we can get them against like opponents so when you’re playing games um you know the score isn’t 70 to

14 um it’s a little bit closer than that hopefully but more important the practice times the skill levels are as equal as we can make them so if you’re five years old and you don’t know how to dribble hopefully the other four kids on your team don’t know how to dribble and

We can work on dribbling and we can get you as a six-year-old then and as a competent dribbler to just to be able to get better and better and better um so I think we’ve done a nice job I think we’ve given those opportunities um to

Parents and to youth to be able to do some of those things but at the same time like I talked about I think we’re going down a slippery Road where we’ve really made it competitive from a very very young age um and you know as a

Youth coach I’m just as much to blame as the next guy um and as a youth parent I’m just as much to blame as the next guy as well I don’t like where we’re at I wish we could go back I wish we could pick up just baseball games or

Basketball games in the driveway I don’t see very many kids playing basketball in the driveway anymore I don’t see very many kids playing on an open field anymore um it still happens and it instantly Chase as I’m sure it does you makes you think back um some of my

Greatest games were um this time of the year December 27th at uh 10 pm on a minus 10 degree night in Min not uh playing basketball in the driveway with not two or three friends with literally eight or nine or 10 kids playing five on five basketball gloves on hats on uh in

The driveway because there was nothing better um now we’ve found apparently better ways to do it I just don’t know if it’s better yeah it’s a loaded question which is why I appraise it with it is a loaded question nobody the better ask than you Ryan kind of living

Through it and yeah when Mom called you at 10:30 to come in when it was dusk out you didn’t want to come in you know on a on a summer night that that is for dark we used to steal salt out of the you know the kitchen drawer table salt to

Sprinkle across the basketball floor um just so we could shoot our five- foot jump shots uh and not break ankles and I don’t I don’t remember anybody getting hurt either but I do remember chipping away a lot of ice and using a lot of Mom’s salt to be able to salt down the

Driveway just to be able to play those times have changed yeah the table talk again with officiating is always there good bad or ugly the table talk with you Sports is there as well good bad or ugly how times have changed sometimes the old adages they stay the same but we’ll see

What happens moving forward Ryan as always thanks so much for your time happy holidays to you and yours and we’ll see you at a court I’m sure sometime sooner rather than later my friend yeah I’ll be there Chase let me know if my toss is crooked or not um

Happy holidays though than thanks for what you do uh what you guys do to give back to Youth Sports uh it’s it’s so important um what you learn in athletics uh our life lessons and you’re able to broadcast those to people’s homes and and um that’s pretty cool so thanks for

What you do as well and Ryan gilner with us here on our your live event.com coaches show will continue after this here’s Trail District Health Unit director Brenda stalman with some holiday health tips we’re looking at a lot of family and friends gather in and with that comes more food and alcohol

And we want people to exercise moderation of course with those activities and at the same time keep check with their mental health sometimes the added activities to our schedules and the kids activities brings a little bit more stress to our life so I’m reminder to Pace yourselves and enjoy

What the season has to offer happy holidays from Brenda Kelly and Chris at Trail District Health Unit this is Austin Reed with Dakota Heritage Bank at Dakota Heritage Bank we have a strong background in egg and business lending but we can also help with any auto recreational personal or Home Loans

Including home equity lines of credit if you’re in need of a loan visit us at one of our locations across North Dakota and Northwestern Minnesota Dakota Heritage Bank Equal Housing lender member FDIC Dakota Heritage Bank sharing our heritage sharing our future treat yourself to a great career at American Crystal Sugar Company team

Up withal quality people making quality products full-time and yearr round in a stable business with great pay and benefits including time off available from day one American Crystal Sugar Company invests in you to promote your continued growth and career advancement grow your career doing your best work within the world’s best beat Sugar

Company apply online today at American crystalc careers.com well it’s a perfect way to end the your live event.com coaches show with a Minnesota State High School lead recap here here our conversation with John Malay well happy holidays to you John thanks so much again for making a

Time very similar to early on when we start of the 2023 24 school year crazy to think we’re nearly halfway home as we get ready for 2024 uh John before we talk about the winter the shot clock and some story lines as we look forward to

You know the second part so to speak of the Season uh what was one storyline or two that kind of caught your attention in the fall of 2023 here John you know we had a couple of things here Chase thanks thanks for having me on this is

Always fun you know we’ve really we’ve really pushed on the high school level this is nationally treating officials right sportsmanship all of that and there are two things as as I look back now that stand out one was from a year ago now a young man from uh uh La

Crescent Hoka way down in southeast Minnesota his name’s Noah buy wiser this story was pretty big after a basketball game that he played in at La Crescent he wasn’t happy with how the fans treated the officials kids a senior team captain he wrote a Facebook post that just went

Viral I wrote about it I interviewed him and uh he’s he’s received it’s it’s a misual award in St Louis named after Stan musu this I didn’t know anything about this um so he received one of the musu awards it’s it’s a it’s a it’s a nonprofit dedicated to sports and

Sportsmanship so he was down in St Louis they had a really nice ceremony and I believe that’s going to be televised by CBS on Christmas Eve he’s one of the recipients so I’m going to tune in for that and then I just posted this week a story uh there’s there’s an award the

National Federation I encourages states to name a spirit of sport Award winner in each state and I just wrote about this this week uh at a volleyball match a section tournament match between Concordia Academy down here in Roseville and St Croy Lutheran which is in West St

Paul these two Lutheran schools are in the same conference they’re Rivals kids know each other it was pretty incredible what went on at this volleyball match I wasn’t there I was at other things but basically the two student sections just you know went at each other in a in a

Great way you know we really really had a great time cheering for their teams and then after the volleyball match ended you know the volleyball teams line up and shake hands the two two student sections did the same thing they formed a handshake line and I talked to the

Some administrators and some kids and to me that’s really been a big deal this last year is you know we’re making we’re making progress in in treating officials the way they should be treated um we’re doing great things I think sportsmanship line schools really stress stress

Behavior for kids I think we’re we’re in a good spot it can always be better but when I think back to this year that’s what I that’s what I focus on is sportsmanship and you know all the great things that we all know are part of High School athletics and activities and yeah

Th those are special things to me yeah and it’s funny John because I did not tell you this I was talking with someone who dabbles as both as an official at the high school and the Collegiate level and also is a youth sports coach right before you join the conversation so you

Just kind of rolled the the the the stripes so to speak in a really good way and those are the stories that the old adages sometimes people might say news is never positive it’s always well this happened in our industry or this happened in the city or this happened in

The county and when he can share those stories that just kind of brings it to a different level and it’s really cool John too when you get to go to venues or see highlights or see clips of a packed environment as you kind of alluded to there where the student sections as much

As they’re cheering for their team they’re also you know not razing the other team or razing the officials oring so to speak that’s always some of the positive things John here yeah that’s what people stress now you’re not cheering against the other team you’re cheering for your team and I

See that more and more certainly there are chance and cheers that we don’t like and you know we’re not gonna this isn’t going to be watered down and you know but the administrators at all these schools in all our states mostly you know largely do a great job of of

Letting the talking to the kids you know as the school year starts this is how we want to behave we don’t want to do this this and this let’s do this this and this and I think I think you know I I’ve been doing this a long time you go back

Decades and it it wasn’t this way you walk into some of those especially basketball games where it’s a pretty tight environment and it was not always the greatest examples of sportsmanship but we’ve made great strides and I think we’ll continue to do that we finish on

This topic John my grandma grew up in SS North Dakota so a really small town in North Dakota and she told me a few years ago at the Christmas table and I ate about my JW going you said what she goes yeah when our rival came in we we

Chanted rah rah you know kick him in the knee and all that type of stuff but then she goes kick him through the collar bone sock him in the jaw drag him through the cemetery rah rah rah that was I’m drag him through the cemetery oh

Man yeah like you say that today you ain’t staying around that much longer anymore right that’s hardcore man I don’t I don’t think we better try that it’s funny it’s funny but it’s hardcore yeah you can laugh about it now but you know I don’t want to see that obviously

Especially when it’s when it’s Grandma telling you this oh that’s beautiful you know it was a good rivalry back then no doubt about it great John as we kind of alluded to um a few months ago it I know the two topics that were kind of new so

To speak in terms of how are they going to develop and what’s going to happen was the shot clock and basketball and also boys volleyball weren’t 100% determined on you know what time of the year it’s going to be what would be the classes how many participants you know

The first time around um let’s start about the shot clock now that we’re kind of a couple weeks in um as we get through the holidays here good bad or ugly what have you heard from the Minnesota side you know getting into the shot clock era of high school Hoops I

Was I was part of a meeting earlier this morning and this was one of the topics there were a million topics but uh the quote I heard from somebody pretty high ranking in Minnesota basketball was the shot clock has had the hugest largest zero impact on basketball that anyone

Expect it and that’s what I’ve seen I’ve been to a lot of basketball games I I I heard it go off once you know and and it didn’t impact the game it just it’s had it’s had minimal impact I don’t think there have been any headaches with it I

I’ve seen a few instances where you know people knew to running shot clocks there’s a lot there’s a lot you have to know couple of times officials will will come over consult for five seconds okay set it at 35 or set it at 20 there’s differing differing uh things that

Happen but it it’s had to me and from what I’ve heard minimal to zero impact on basketball in Minnesota and then from the second part here the boys volleyball um if folks kind of uh didn’t hear John when the news kind of broke what’s the latest again with boys volleyball kind

Of moving forward into next school year here yeah a year from next spring so spring of 2025 boys volleyball will become a Varsity Sport in Minnesota um there was a discussion this was studied by by a committee is it a fall sport is it a Spring sport decision was made

It’ll be a Spring sport and this is largely the big schools in Minnesota they’ve already had boys volleyball as a club sport for quite a number of years and the high school league will take it over starting in 2025 uh as a Spring sport and you know

There are a lot of questions Spring weather as we all know can really be an issue here and the question that that most people raised was when the weather in the spring is bad when all the outdoor spring teams have to practice indoors you know is there enough gym

Space for everybody plus two or three levels of boys volleyball that’s going to have to be wrangled with and it will be but uh yeah I think the volleyball people are just happy they’re going to be a a Minnesota State High School League sport as we look into 2024 now

John whether it’s stuff coming up here in the winter the spring or maybe there’s another agenda item so to speak on on for the Minnesota State High School league anything in particular that high school or Prep sports fans should be aware of as we turn the

Calendar coming up here to 2024 you know Chase I don’t want to jinx anything but I think everything is pretty good right now everything’s calm one thing that that’s that’s coming down the pike you know in Minnesota the way we seeed teams at state tournaments there’s eight teams

At basically every state tournament the system we use is the eight head coaches get online they seed the teams and we we basically announce here’s the top five and then the other three are drown out of a hat for those you know four will play five and then one two three their

Opponents five six and eight or or six seven eight will be drawn out of a hat uh the coaches associations in a lot of sports just want to seed one through eight and I think that’s gonna happen it’s not a huge thing I I I think we

Should seed one through eight that’s how section tournaments do it it’s pretty cut and dried the coaches will still do it electronically so you’ll have the one seed versus the eight seed and and we we know how that work that’s probably going to happen in the next year it’s a slow

Process um right now Sports have options they can they can ask to do that they can stick with the way it is you know in football we we for state tournaments it’s kind of a rotating section versus section I think we’ll we’ll probably have some adjustments to football and

Football’s so different from everything else you know we have seven classes and it’s it’s it’s kind of hard to Wrangle some of that sometimes but yeah see will be it’s it’s a continuing discussion it was also talked about in a meeting I was in earlier today and and that’s it’s not

A huge thing to most people it’s it’s a non-factor but it’s probably going to be adjusted I think the one thing I hear from most people if you’re going to see five why don’t you see the remaining three right to get one through eight and I know some people say well you don’t

Want to have that one team be the number eight seen and feel like they shouldn’t be there but then I come at from the media perspective John going hey if Goliath goes down and it’s the eight seed that does it it just makes it more

Of a story that they were the e seed very similar to Maryland uh you know BC University of Maryland Baltimore County defeating Virginia as the first 16 seed ever I never knew what they were almost until that night John that’s it and that’s one thing we’ve heard you know do

You want to designate this team they’re the eight seed they’re the worst team at the state tournament yeah well that’s better than not being at the state tournament you think they would trade that for not being there no of course not so I think that’s I think that’s

Almost a no-brainer and John last thing for you here I know people are going to be asking you to come to Morehead to check out the new digs that we have on this part of the state obviously some really nice facilities going there also 6A basketball adab West you know early

On in the preseason rankings and there’s a ton of section 6A 8A just on the boys side of things so uh from your point of view taking a look at it I know you were just in Albany checking out a really good 2A game making your way up 94 and

Hopefully went to the A&W because that’s always a great little spot to find as well but um at the end of the day here John what are some things up here that you’re looking forward to seeing or just kind of seeing some teams continue to develop throughout the year here yeah I

Did go to the A&W in Albany last night I I I first I got there in the afternoon I’m doing a story on their gymnastics team which is their first year as Varsity program and then uh the basketball game Providence Academy girls at Albany last night class 2A state

Champ Championship rematch it was great I did hit the A&W drive-thru on my way from the gymnastics center to the high school and I think I’m I I’m tentatively planning to be in Morehead uh over the holidays for I know they’ve got their basketball deal the 27th and 28th of of

December with the first day games in the old gym the next day in the new gym I’m I’m hopefully going to be there for the second day because I I’ve toured up there when the gym was basically the walls were just up I was up there and

Got a tour and and I’ve seen all the renderings and photos looks fantastic morehead’s just the coolest place in the world so I may I may you know weather permitting as we say if the roads are good I may be in Morehead on the 28th of

December I’m hoping I can get there to see the new school and I know how proud everybody is up there of what they’ve done and what they’re what they’re continuing to do and so hopefully I can get up there I love I love 94 man that’s

The best road in the world yeah when it’s not snowing and there’s no wind it’s a great Ro there’s no there’s no exactly exactly John it’s gonna be a lot of fun to see as the teams make their way again down to Minneapolis St Paul area for the upcoming Winter Sports

Seasons as well with their respective championships coming up it’s crazy to think it’s couple months from now we’ll be crowning Champs Nets we be cutting down for hockey for basketball for gymnastics you name it it’ll be happening but as always John thanks so much for your time happy holidays safe

Travels to you and yours and best to you again covering uh Prep sports across state of Minnesota happy holidays and happy New Year again to you and your family thanks so much for joining us for the your live event.com coaches show and continue to join us in 2024 same time same place

Wednesday nights at 7:00 I’m Chase Miller and enjoy the rest of your holidays and happy New Year