Winter Practice Notebook

With only eight days between the first practice of the season and the first game, the Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball team started this past Monday knowing it had little time to waste as it begins its Great Northern Conference title defense.

Fortunately, the Hodags return a number of key players off of the squad that shared last year’s conference title with Mosinee as they hit the ground running with two-a-day practices this week. 

“This is what’s nice with veterans and a lot of returnees,” said coach Derek Lemmens, who enters his 15th season leading his alma mater. “We can be quick but, at the same time, I don’t want to get away from the details. No matter how experienced or skilled we are, those details and those little things are what are really going to build on this season. Those are the foundational pieces and we want to have a strong foundation.” 

It also helps that there hasn’t been much deviation from the Hodags’ standard practice plan. There was plenty of skill work, conditioning and installation of some of the basic tenets of Rhinelander’s offensive and defensive philosophies over the first couple of days with this week’s later sessions focusing on developing the squads.

“I’m really excited for the middle of the week when we really start to figure out who’s on what team, we really start to get into what we do and we start to see things in practice. I’m excited to see this team and to start putting pieces together,” Lemmens said Monday. 

It’s a quick turnaround for the Hodags, who will scrimmage this Monday at Wausau West and play for real one day later at Crandon in the regular season opener. Though the Hodags will have some time until they play again Dec. 6 at home against Antigo, Lemmens said his team will be prepared for the opener, despite the short turnaround.

“We know a lot of our stuff and we know enough to get through a couple varsity games and survive,” he said. “We’ve got that experience. We’ve got that knowledge before hand. I’m excited about the position we can be in the right of the bat and I’m excited about the pace that we can kind of move at.”

Lemmens noted while there it a little added pressure on the team this year, coming in as defending GNC champions for the first time in six years, some of that has been mitigated by the fact that a number of statewide publications are favoring Mosinee for this year’s conference title. 

“People are planning on us being right there at the top, but there are other teams that people think will do it as well,” he said. “That’s a nice little challenge for us. We’re confident in it, but we know that just being confident and being capable of it just doesn’t happen. Every day it’s about executing details and really becoming the team that we can be.”

Boys’ swimmers looking to keep success going

    Rhinelander’s High School boys’ swim coach Jenny Heck addresses her team while assistant coach Brent Olson looks on during practice at the Heck Family Community Pool Monday, Nov. 18. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Just days after wrapping up a third-place finish at the WIAA Division 2 state swim meet with the Hodag girls’ program, coach Jenny Heck was back in the pool Monday as the Hodag boys began what they hope will be another successful season. 

Much like the boys’ basketball team, Heck said a veteran foundation has allowed her to jump right in as her squad gets ready for a non-conference pentathlon this Tuesday at D.C. Everest. 

“They’ve been swimming, most of them have been swimming,” she said. “They’re ready and they want to be here and see what they can do. We’ll get their goals worked on this week. It will be fun to watch and see what they can do.”

While the vast majority of the team trained in the summer and/or got a head start on practice via the Rhinelander Swim Club, Heck said the first week of practice still boils down to the fundamentals.

“We’re going to be starting slow and getting some of the habits in place,” she said. “That’s a lot of it, just getting good habits formed and getting into a routine of consistency. I think they all know that the consistency has worked really well for us, so we’re going to keep it going.”

The Hodags will have the bonus of some added depth this year after graduating only one senior — Zacha King — from last year’s squad. The team welcomes in five freshmen, bumping the opening day roster up to 14 swimmers. 

“It was nice to come in and have so many familiar faces and new faces. Some of the new faces, these guys were swimming over the summer and at club, so I’ve gotten to know them. It’s great to have 14,” Heck said. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had 14 guys on the team. That gives us a lot more options and gives us those relays. It’s more fun when you can have that extra relay for them and for us as well.”

Rhinelander will open Great Northern Conference play Dec. 3 at home against Medford.

Wrestlers welcome new girls’ coach

    Rhinelander High School wrestling coach Scottie Arneson demonstrates a drill with assistant coach Caleb Radtke during practice at James Williams Middle School Monday, Nov. 18. Radtke has been tabbed to lead the Hodags girls’ squad this winter. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

While many of the faces within the Rhinelander High School wrestling room have remained the same over the offseason, there was one noticeable change Monday as the season got underway. 

Caleb Radtke has taken over as the lead coach for the girls’ side of the program, stepping in for Eric Gobin who has moved to the middle school level this year. 

Hodag head coach Scottie Arneson, who wrestled with Radtke when the two competed at UW-Platteville, said he’s excited to see Radtke take on a larger role within the program. 

“As soon as there was that vacancy he said, ‘hey, I wouldn’t mind taking that,’” Arneson said. “He has a lot of energy, a lot of good ideas. He came from a strong high school program. He was brought into a successful college program and has been around a lot of different coaches. New ideas are always good.”

Numbers were solid from the squad on the opening day, with roughly 20 boys and four girls in the wrestling room. Arneson said the energy in the room was high as the team got back onto the mats.

“Energy’s going to be as high as it can be. We’re trying to have a lot of fun,” he said. “Our senior group has really taken over the leadership. Last year as juniors, a lot of them were our team captains.”

The Hodags will have some time to prepare for its first invite — the John Roberts Scramble in Antigo. The girls’ side of the tournament has grown large enough where that will take place separately on Friday, Dec. 6, with the boys’ brackets being contested Saturday, Dec. 7. 

In the interim, Arneson said the team will spend the next three weeks getting back into wrestling shape and building stronger bongs with one another.

“Today we did a lot of functional wrestling, is what I call it. It’s a lot about just learning different ways that your body might be put in a wrestling match,” he said. “Then it was a lot of culture building. We did a lot of team-building activities. We’re going to be doing some different activities to try to get them a little more comfortable with each other. Then, when it comes down to getting good technique, it will be the end of this and the start of next week.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].