Next Meeting - July 5, 2011 - The first meeting of our new Lion year, and we're into summer, we think. Since it's the day after a special holiday, we have a special program, put on by all (or at least some) of us. Having heard of some of Pres. JIM's travel adventures, we will all have an opportunity to tell our travel stories - both kinds, the best and the worst. It will be a contest to see who has the most memorable, with the TaleTwister as judge. And there will be a TROPHY, donated by JIM and said to be fabulous, with the possibility of it becoming a traveling trophy. (We had one of those once before, but that bottle of Thunderbird finally evaporated.) So, everybody show up with your stories, and we will entertain each other.

Last time, Pres. JIM opened the meeting, LINDA BERGREN prefaced our attempt at song with a short exhortation to fire up the troops, and it worked! We sang, enthusiastically for once if not exactly in four-part harmony, and Pres. JIM led us in the full version of the Pledge of Allegiance, with no omissions. You would have thought it was the Fourth of July! PHIL INGWELL, who does most everythING WELL, gave the invocation, even though for the first time in many years we had a professional in the room. That would be the Rev. DENNIS URECHE, newly graduated from seminary, former VP of our Club and PP of the McFarland Lions, who was back with us for the day. We hope he comes again so he can practice on us. Other guests were RICK DALUGE, PDG, PP of the West Lions, and representative of the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin, who came to thank us for the $5000 USD our Club gave them, and a friend of JERRY HODDINOTT, Dave Enselke.

Our Officers and Directors for the coming year, who for the most part were our Officers and Directors for the past year, were installed by TERRY SCHAR in a brief ceremony, which noted the responsibilities they have, particularly in choosing and managing our charitable work.

We have seen the awful pictures coming out of Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, AL showing the devastating tornado damage. Lions are responding as always through LCIF, but PHIL INGWELL is working on local efforts to assist Joplin with items donated in our community.

Pres. JIM hustled through the business items with all deliberate speed, so JERRY HODDINOTT, who was Program Host for the day, could introduce our speaker, Asst. Coach Kyle Rechlicz of the Badger women's basketball. When she played here about ten years ago, she was Kyle Black, and her team won the NIT. She told us about new head coach Bobbie Kelsey, and their plans for building success for the women's team. If enthusiasm, determination and concentration will do it, then we're on the way, for Coach Rechlicz demonstrated all of them in her talk.

The coaching staff hopes to regroup the alumnae around the program, and they recruit only student-athletes. The first thing they do is check the transcript. They're working hard - she's been in 7 cities in 9 days and 6 in 4 days, and they are determined to keep the best players in Wisconsin high schools here at Wisconsin. They'll play an up-tempo game that will be fun to watch, aggressive on both offense and defense. They are looking for good perimeter shooters at all positions, just as the Badger men do, because it stretches the defenses. Coach Kelsey comes from Stanford, coach Rechlicz was at Dayton, and all the coaches come from programs with winning histories. Today's coaches have a lot more to offer than X's and O's and you can't help being impressed with the quality of this new staff for the Badger women. Your editor has watched Badger teams since Bud Foster, Harry Stuhldreher and Guy Sundt were coaching, and there have been highlight and low spots, but the last few years the men's programs have been highly successful, and now comes a big effort to extend that success to the women.