WISCONSIN TWISTERS

Holiday Greetings to all of our Community Partners and their families
We wish all the best to you in the coming year for your family and your business.  We also thank you once again for your generous support and commitment to our fastpitch softball program.  We cannot thank you often enough, but hope you realize how important your contributions are to our organization.  All of us hope that in 2011 you will be able to continue to support our teams and find some time to come see us play during the summer.  Also, we are trying to compile some “tried and true” family favorite recipes for our Winter Twister cookbook, and would be delighted to add some from our sponsors.  Just send your recipe by email to Deb Mikolajczyk at debeatle@aol.com before the end of the year.

WISCONSIN TWISTERS HOSTED 1ST ANNUAL MID-SUMMER BASH TOURNAMENT
The weekend of August 6th-8thth we hosted 14U, 16U and 18U teams in the 1st Annual Mid-Summer Bash

tournament at the Raymond School diamonds. Raymond Baseball Association and Raymond Elementary

School are the most gracious “hosts”for this and our Spring Fling tournament. We entered 4 Twister

teams into our tournament and were amazed and excited by their success.  The 18U and 14U DB each

won in their age bracket and took the trophy for 1st Place.  The 14U SC team was proud to take 3rd

place and the 16U team also brought home a 2nd place trophy.

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TWISTER HIGH SCHOOL HEROICS

This time of year we congratulate all of our Twister’s who have played Volleyball and are currently

on their basketball teams, and hold our breath that they don’t hurt themselves while contributing.

We applaud their participation in many activities at their school but cannot help our softball bias.  

TWISTER COACHING HIGHLIGHTS – FIRST HALL OF FAME AWARDS ANNOUNCED

At the end of the 2010 season picnic three Twister Coaches were honored for their contributions

and enthusiasm for making the Wisconsin Twister’s the “place to play fastpitch”. The first honoree

was Lou Aponte, founder, Head coach, Director of Coaching, Ethics Advisor, ASA Contact,

Umpire contact, Tournament Director and great softball fundamentals teacher.  Secondly,

DiAnna Johnson was recognized for her endless support and effort to advance the

Wisconsin Twisters as a premiere fastpitch league.  She has been Head Coach at 12U, 14U and

16U levels, Wisconsin Twister President, Sponsorship Committee advisor, Board Member, Website

creator and administrator, Tournament Organizer, League Contact, Photographer, Uniform and

Spiritwear Designer, wife of 18U Head Coach, mother of 18U player.  The hours spent working going

through handbooks, language, banners, spiritwear and uniforms, financials cannot be underestimated.  

We thank and honor both Hall of Fame Coaches for all they have brought to our organization.  

The third Twister Coach honored was Stu Feit, Coach of the Year, for dealing with the hardships

of fluctuating membership on the 16U team, and competing so hard with a team that had never

played together.  He brought them together from various high school programs and got them

some success on the field.

Callie M, Manager of the 14U SC team finished her second season of NCAA women’s tennis, and is

scheduled for two exciting coaching classes at UW-Stout in the spring, Coaching Youth Athletics,

and Coaching Women’s fastpitch softball.
Cristina A. has transferred to University of Wisconsin Parkside as a Chem major, and hopes to begin

coaching fundamentals for our younger teams in the spring.  Both of these two young coaches were

original members of the first Twister team, and have since had their numbers retired and are the

first two inductees in the Wisconsin Twister’s Hall of Fame.

TWISTER PLAYER CONGRATULATIONS

Some of our teams are going to try and make a difference this holiday by performing some community

service.  There are a couple of teams who will be requesting “Needy Family” opportunities from the

Salvation Army and there are a couple of teams who plan to spend time volunteering at an area soup

kitchen.  Another team has sent some requested items to a soldier overseas.  The Wisconsin Twister

Holiday Party will feature our Competitive Food Drive – each team trying to bring in  the most

non-perishable items.  We are hoping to have a huge delivery to a local food pantry.  

There are three Twister players who are active in the highly successful Oak Creek Knights Marching Band, Claire B (14U SC), Shannon S (16UGD) and Lauren C (16U GD).  Claire B also made JV Tennis team as a freshman, and took 2ND place at State Power Lifting Club, the A Honor Roll and is in her 3rd year of the District’s Chinese program.  Kimmy J took 1st place at the State Power Lifting Club tournament.  On another musical note, Autumn K. (14UMRT) is a member of Gilmore's Swing and Madrigal Choir, they took 1st place in both categories at a national competition held in Tennessee in March. Autumn also is A Honor Roll, a member of the all star team for rec. ball and, won the fastest pitch contest at the all star competition event.  Jaelen W., a freshman at Oak Creek has played volleyball, basketball, celebrated her Quincenera (15th birthday celebration for young ladies of Mexican heritage), participates on the forensic team, Spanish Club and is in her 3rd year of the District’s Chinese program.

A member of our new 18U SP team, Kayla D, recently was inducted into The National Honor Society,

made 1st team all conference and MVP for her HS volleyball team.   She is one of many new faces we

are just getting to know.

One of our 12U players, currently holds a 4.2 GPA, and works hard to maintain her grades and

participates on several sports

Teams, Eva B. who’s parents are both Head Coaches for the Wisconsin Twister.  Her older sister,

Zada has lead the way also with great grades and leadership on her sports teams.  Another 12U,

Jackie B is an A Honor Roll student and plays basketball, and trumpet in the school band.

Kim G and Bri M (18U BS) both spend the off season working hard on hitting and fielding skills with

their dad who is not only a Sponsorship Director, but Board Member and Assistant Coach.  Their little

sister Monica works hard in the off season as well, playing at the 14U level this coming year.

Sam K., and outstanding pitcher from Racine on the 18U BS team has been spending her off season erfecting a new pitch and has been accepted to West Virginia State University where she plans to play softball.

Two other members of the 18U BS team are patiently awaiting spring and softball.  Katie I has been

named captain of her Varsity High School team, and Aly P. away at Concordia University is doing

off-season lifting to prepare for the coming season.   Also on the 18U BS team, Amber J, has been

busy with JV tennis, managing h.s. football, Peer Mentoring and
Tutoring.  We are always proud to see when our players perform these types of service activities.
Many other Twister players are busy with student government, peer programs, drama, art and

music programs.  We will continue to highlight their accomplishments with each newsletter.  We

are quite proud to boast about the quality people who we have on our rosters.

NFL MANIA/SUPER BOWL – SUPER MATCH TICKETS

Dave Chars from our sponsor committee has worked tirelessly to continue a wonderful fund-raiser

for the Twisters, similar to the Hoops Mania that was organized around March Madness, this one is

based on the NFL games each week.  This year to date we have had one really big winner - $500.00…

and hope that there are more to come.  Dave is getting together a Super Bowl card fundraiser based

on the “squares” pools seen during football season.    The cost for these tickets will be $5.00 ea.

And you can get them through Bill Gemmel (Director of Sponsorship)  – get your tickets early!

HIGHLIGHTS ON OUR SPONSORS

We are starting a new sponsorship season drive and would love to spread the word about your

business or service on this newsletter and to our families.  So please send any information you

would like to see on our newsletter as soon as possible for submission in a future newsletter.  

We look forward to learning more about your company or family.  

LEO T. JACKSON JR. SCHOLARSHIP FUND ANNOUNCED

Originally Leo’s family (the Mikolajczyk’s) donated to the Sponsorship fund as a memorial after his

passing, in October of 2009.  This year the Sponsorship committee started thinking about turning

this into an annual Scholarship Fund which the family will continue to gift each year, as well as the

addition of specific fund-raising opportunities.  The criteria for winning one of the two annual

scholarships will be based upon: Service, Academics, Leadership and Athletics.  Players will have

to be entering college in the coming fall season, and a member of the Twisters for at least 2 full years.  

They will write an essay to explain how they qualify and exemplify these qualities.They will be required

to provide documentation for history of community service and academic success. Leo Jackson would

be very proud of this wonderful opportunity being given to young ladies in his honor. He was born

in 1930 southern Arkansas in a logging camp, and worked and studied and served in the U.S. Navy,

graduated with honors from Oklahoma State University and got his Masters Degree in Electrical

Engineering to provide a better, easier life for his family than he had known growing up. Leo was a

champion of United Way and Junior Achievement programs at Wisconsin Telephone and Ameritech Inc.,

as well as a sponsor for many major charities and a Regent for MSOE.  His life was well-lived and full

of service to his country and community.  He loved sports, which he could not play growing up

because of his chores and working…so this honor is very special because he loved that his

granddaughters could afford to participate in sports and community clubs outside of school.  

This annual gift will give that forward to other daughters and granddaughters.

KIND WORDS FROM OUR COACHES AND FAMILIES
From time to time a coach will receive an email from a parent or player that we feel should be

acknowledged and highlighted here.  This edition, we have a few… the first from Lindsay Jones,

our “resident” pitching coach:  Hi DiAnna, How have you been these days? What is new?

Of course I hear about you so much indirectly through all those that I work with and I have to say, f

rom what I've heard it sounds like the travel team is really growing and starting to make a name for itself!

How exciting! You and Brian really have done a great job and have come a long way and so much is thanks

to you guys. I also have been meaning to thank you for all that support and gratitude you have given me

over the years.

I was just thinking about it the other day and I really appreciate all that you two have done and I admire

the opportunities you've created for the young girls in this area. Keep up the good work! How is Amber

doing? Tell her I say hello :)  Really that's all I am writing for. I just wanted to say hi. I hope the rest of

this year goes well for you.

The second came from our 12U coach and is a great reminder for us all:
I like the Twisters so much because it is not just about the “win”.  It is about building the girls skills and

confidence both on and off the field.  Teaching the love of the game and have fun during the process. 

There will always be a winner and loser.  If they (we) continue to learn and improve…the score really

doesn’t matter.  Of course I want us to be competitive, but if we give it our all, we did the best we

could at that given time – no matter the score – we win!

Next, we got this email from another fastpitch organization and our fabulous t-shirt vendor –

Gus’s Grafix:  Hi Deb, We have developed a group of very faithful partners in the last five years, and

we treasure those relationships.
The Twister group is definitely one of those.  Your program plays competitive softball, and manages

to keep values and respect at the top of the list.  We also have a great time while we're at it! Gus Grafix

will always support your events and your program.  Just let us know the dates, and we'll plan on being

there. I was really amazed at the sales for the Midsummer Bash, but that is because of the Twisters positive

attitude about what we do.  I hope it is OK if I share you opinion about us, because your comments mean

a lot to us. Have a great off-season.  Oh yeah, there is no off-season anymore.  We play Fall Ball, then

Winter Tournaments in the Dome, then Winter Training, then we start all over again.
I'm sure we'll run across each other soon.
Take Care, and Thanks,
John, Jeanelle, and Gus-Gus

FINALLY…A SAVE THE DATE:  The 2nd Annual Twister Golf Outing - August 13, 2011 at South Hills, Save the date. Details available at http://www.eteamz.com/wisconsintwisters/news/index.cfm?cat=661384.  We are looking for raffle items/door prizes, if you would like to make a donation please contact Rick Ballew at rballew@neo-brake.com

THE ENTIRE TWISTER ORGANIZATION WISHES YOU THE VERY HAPPIEST AND HEALTHIEST OF HOLIDAY SEASONS

WWW.ETEAMZ.COM/WISCONSINTWISTERS