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The Wagner Rotarians met at their clubhouse on Main Street Wagner on February 25th with quite a few members missing again. Spring break vacations must be fashionable this year. President Jamie Soukup called the meeting to order with only fifteen members present. All those present gave thanks with our Rotary Prayer. Valley Pump provided lunch. We were once again without a song leader or an assistant leader so our usual “fall back” is the song Smile—and the whole world smiles with you.

Membership minute chair Patty Frei used her Membership minute time to talk about what the key aspects of a Rotary membership Minute consist of.

Purpose: To foster understanding of Rotary’s mission, encourage involvement, and build a stronger, more inclusive club.

Topics: These can range from highlighting local projects to discussing new membership initiatives and the importance of membership diversity.

Frequency: Often presented at each weekly meeting to keep the focus on growth and retention.

Rotarian Jeff Doom filled the Sergeant at Arms position (Gerrit Juffer) as the Assistant Sergeant (Bill Frei) was also absent for the day. $2 was levied to Jerry Weber for wearing a Grind House Sweatshirt and advertising the business; $2 to Linda Soukukp for asking Jeff Doom for information about twenty years old; $2 to Jamie Soukup for trying to avoid the singing portion of the meeting; $2 to Ted Honke for not calling Jeff Doom often enough; $15 to Jerry Weber for not having seen a basketball game in person for years; $2 to Jeff Doom for going to his first basketball game in years to see his nephew play; $2 to Jerry Weber again, for not having a dessert; $2 to Jordan Weber for getting desserts that are really good; $2 to Carson Koehn for accusing Jeff of not meeting him; $2 to Deb Houseman for shaking her head in amazement at Jeff Doom for levying so many fines. Rotarian Craig Krsnak gave an incredibly happy fine of $20.00 for a new grandson who is doing well.

Speaking of birth announcements, there is a correction to last week’s announcement by Patty Frei. I inadvertently used the wrong name for the new grandchild. It was Quincy Logan. Many congratulations to the parents and new grandparents.

Rotarian Jeannie Crowe drew the Joker from the deck of cards which is worth $10.00. She also received a lottery ticket. The Queen of Hearts is worth $48.00 at present. Treasurer Krsnak announced that there were three misses on the Honke team and two misses on the Houseman team with Honke’s team two points ahead of the Houseman team, eleven to nine.

Jerry Weber introduced his program which was Josh Davies from the Wagner Community School. Davies is the boy’s basketball coach and is now in his sixteenth season. Riley Kirwan is the assistant boy’s basketball coach. His first comment was that he has been having “a fun year” and that we all missed a great game this past Friday evening.

Davies spoke a little about several of the team members: Ty Arpan, Michael Koupal, Jesse Zephier, Carlos Galinda, and Leon Fields. The team has three juniors, two sophomores, and only one senior. He spoke briefly about the assets of each player, and it was obvious that he enjoys coaching them and speaks highly of their personalities and talents.

The team has fourteen wins and six losses. They are a fastpaced group with a bumpy record. “Very resilient” was how he described them for a group of sixteen-year-old young boys. Three or four of them can score well every game. The talent is there, and they are all hard workers. “Fun to coach and fun to watch,” Davies remarked with a smile.

Coach Davies has used a different method of coaching with this group. When he calls for a time out, he asks them questions about what they are doing as a group, or how they can find a way to work out some problems they are having. The old methods of coaching are not the way to go, especially with this young group. Screaming, yelling, or cursing is not something that Davies uses to inspire or instruct his team.

There was a lot of interest in this topic, and members offered their views and commented on how the coaching today is not as structured as it used to be when young players were sometimes cursed at or demeaned in playing in a manner that a coach planned to win. Josh likes to use questioning and then offers suggestions.

Davies ended his program by announcing that the Hall of Fame for Wagner Sports will be held on the 18th of April. Watch the papers for the times and location for the event. This year’s inductees are Devon Brecke, Brad Lhotak, Jon Doom, Wayne Scherr, and Tom Studelska.

Mr. Davies also reminded everyone that if they have any projects they need assistance with to let him know, as the athletes are still willing to help in the community as they did last year.

The membership adjourned by reciting The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, or do: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL&BETTERFriendships? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?