Players get together at Swan Park
By Greg Seubert
The weather was better suited for duck hunting, but that didn’t keep the Waupaca Youth Basketball Club from getting its message out.
That message? Basketball is a sport that can be enjoyed year-round.
Despite a steady drizzle, more than a dozen kids showed up at Waupaca’s Swan Park April 11 to play some pick-up games and have a cookout with their parents and other club members.
“I look at today as an opportunity to celebrate the game of basketball,” club president Jim Komp said. “A lot of development comes from just playing. Today, we just wanted kids to come out and take the opportunity to play. A lot of these kids are going to play with each other as they get older.
“I just want kids to understand that there are opportunities all over this community throughout the year that they can take advantage of,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a real nice day, but we do have some kids that have come out. Our goal as a youth club is to celebrate the game, promote the game and educate people about the game.”
Komp’s name should ring a bell with area basketball fans. He coached the boys’ varsity team at Wild Rose High School for several years and is now bringing his basketball expertise to the club as its new president.
“The club was conceived probably 10 years ago by guys like Brad Bogard and Paul Charapata to help grow the game of basketball here in Waupaca,” Komp said. “As their kids have moved on, we have a younger generation of parents who are coming in to take over.”
Waupaca High School’s boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball coaches, Zach Molner and Payton Mix, were on hand.
Komp said it’s important for the club to be on the same page as both programs.
“In my opinion, it’s tremendously important and I’m so happy to see coach Molner and coach Mix here,” he said. “As the incoming president, I want to make sure we have open lines of communication with our high school coaches. I want to take advantage of their expertise to help educate not only our younger players coming up, but also help educate our coaches so that everyone is on the same page and you get consistency throughout the program.”
Mix said her program depends on the club preparing players for the next level.
“There are currently only two girls’ youth teams in Waupaca and those are going to be eighth-graders and fifth-graders,” she said. “I am working extremely hard with the youth program to get more people out. Today is all about getting kids out here to play and getting them to know us.”
Mix had 15 players between a varsity and JV1 team last season and did not have a JV2 team, a trend that other high school programs – on the girls’ and boys’ sides – have experienced in recent years.
The club in the past has had up to 120 players in grades 3-8, Komp said.
“We’re looking to get as many as possible,” he said. “I know we’ve hit a tough time with the girls’ program. It shouldn’t be because we have 600 kids in our high school. We should be able to sponsor teams at all levels. We’re trying to promote that and get more girls out at the younger level so coach Mix has enough kids to field teams at the JV1, JV2 and varsity levels.”
“I totally believe that the youth is how you get a successful team,” she said. “There are so many sports going on at once. Club volleyball is huge. Basketball lost kids last year because of club volleyball. I tell my girls to play both. I want multiple-sport athletes. I was a three-sport athlete myself. Kids are committing to one sport. I’d rather have them play multiple sports.”
“A lot of it is a trend in society with kids focusing on one or two sports,” Komp said. “My dad coached football, basketball and track in Peshtigo. He’s one of the only coaches in state history to be inducted into the hall of fame for football and basketball. I grew up in a family where we were expected to play multiple sports and that’s what I want for my own children. I like kids to go out and be able to do a lot of things. It’s a shame when people are looking at that specialization because that’s not something that we as a club support. We want our kids involved in as many things as possible.”
“This year, we had small numbers because of covid and some people chose to play club volleyball,” Mix said. “We only had two teams and a total of 15 girls between the two teams. We are losing six people for next season. One of my goals is that we get enough (players) to have those two teams.”
Mix’s team last season included sophomore Finley Charapata, who also saw varsity action as a freshman.
“You can really tell the kids who commit to it, put the work in and have been playing, even if it’s just in their driveway,” she said. “As a head coach, you notice that stuff.”
Mix, who played basketball at New London High School and later at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point before accepting a teaching job at the Waupaca Learning Center, is glad to have Komp in her corner.
“He does a fantastic job,” he said. “He’s been talking to Zach and I about things we can do to get more kids out.”
The club works with players in grades 3-8 and has partnered with the Waupaca Parks and Recreation Department for a skills program for grades K-2.
“We offer teams for grades 3-8 and the opportunity for kids to get better, learn about the game and play and have fun,” Komp said. “Hopefully, it’ll put us at an even level with other schools and you’ll see Waupaca grow as a program in the future. I know Waupaca has struggled in recent years with the girls’ and boys’ programs, but I think there are lot of good things this community has to offer. We have the resources in our community to have good basketball. It’s about educating people about what’s available to them. The kids know that, ‘Hey, we can come out here with our friends and have full courts that we can play on.”
Successful varsity programs include a successful youth organization, according to Komp.
“If you look around Wisconsin and the best teams, one thing they have in common is kids playing from young ages on up,” he said. “We’re not looking for kids to specialize (in basketball). We’re all big believers in multi-sport athletes, especially in a community our size. We do think it’s important that kids learn the fundamentals and skills and that starts at the youngest level.”
Molner came to Waupaca after serving as an assistant coach at New London High School.
“He saw first-hand how they were able to turn their program around with a focus on the youth,” Komp said. “Sam Bertsch runs a great program in Iola and I had it down in Wild Rose when I was there. It all starts at the youth level where you have kids learning the fundamentals, learning how to be a good teammate and learning how to understand the game.
“The big thing here is developing the skills,” he added. “You don’t know when a kid’s in third grade what they’re going to be when they’re a senior in high school. If you teach them how to dribble, pass and shoot, then that should carry over as they get older.”