Wrenshall's lesson plan

Posted at 8:30 PM on January 21, 2010 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Life

The Wrenshall (Minn.) High School Wrens girls basketball squad is 0-14 this year, but that's not the worst of it. The worst of it was when the story of their 65-0 loss to Moose Lake/Willow River in December made the Associated Press wire and they got to be the butt of jokes across the country. Funny stuff, unless you're a hard-working kid in Wrenshall -- population 386 and one German exchange student playing basketball for the first time.

I wondered at the time what lesson high school athletics has to teach a team that loses 65-0, and then I realized -- as I followed the team's woes since then (they lost by 106 points to Barnum a few weeks ago ) that maybe the lesson is one that's intended more for us.

So, today I drove up to Wrenshall to watch practice and meet the team and its coaches. I was not disappointed. Eleven players (5 starters and a gaggle of junior varsity kids) started the season and nobody has quit. They're working hard in practice and keeping things in perspective. The kids on the teams they're playing are encouraging them as much as their own teammates are. They vowed never to be held scoreless again and they haven't been since. They scored a season-high 29 points in a 93-29 loss last week against Cromwell.

Graduations wreak havoc on small-town schools and, no doubt, someday the Wrens will be back at a state tournament level. When they are, they already know what they'll tell the kids on the lesser teams, they told me today. "Keep your head up and keep working hard."

You're going to love these kids. I'll tell you their story next week, after I get back from New Orleans and get back to Wrenshall for Tuesday's game.

In the meantime, Julia Schrenkler will keep things updated here on News Cut until I get things running in New Orleans through the weekend.

---

Comments (8)

Thank you for sharing their story with us. I can't wait to read it next week.

Posted by Sara B. | January 21, 2010 9:36 PM

---

Sport builds character, not esteem.

What a great bunch of characters!

Posted by GregS | January 22, 2010 7:38 AM

---

Good story!

Posted by rich l | January 23, 2010 4:03 PM

---

Very nice story~And thanks for the coverage on the team..My daughter is a coach and my son is helping too.

Posted by mary | January 23, 2010 4:07 PM

---

Thank you for taking the time to find out more about this great group of girls. They are an inspiration.
P.S. My daughter is the assistant coach. :-)

Posted by Evelyn | January 25, 2010 11:07 AM

---

Hey, good job, girls. Keep up the hard work. We miss being at the games!
Mr. Peterson and Ms. Carlander

Posted by Burnell | January 27, 2010 11:50 AM

---

Nothing funny about getting up early, going to practice and getting beat badly time and again. But if you recognize that only the people who won a state championship say 18 or 19 years ago remember the championship year, then the true lessons of sport emerge.

These girls are dedicated. Let's hope for that one win. Lots of people are pulling for them and as for people who would make fun of kids losing basketball games....all they need to do is repeat the jokes ...while looking in the mirror...Nothing of lasting value is obtained by tearing down others.... A few Minnesota retired Hall of Fame basketball coaches should be out in Wrenshall helping..That would be nice...and a great story!!! Go girls!!!

Posted by 3for5spotshooter | February 2, 2010 4:10 PM

---

Keep up the good work, girls!! Two wins in two games... and new high scores. Way to go! Continue showing the world what small-town committment and perseverance achieves!

Posted by Megan Stadin | January 26, 2011 12:54 PM

---

Post a comment

The following HTML tags are allowed in your comments:
+ Bold: <b>Text</b>
+ Italic: <i>Text</i>
+ Link: <a href="http://url" target="_blank">Link</a>
Fields marked with * are required.

Name*:

E-mail Address*:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments*:

Comment Preview appears above this form upon pressing the "preview" button. Edit your comment and press "preview" again, until you are satisfied with your comment.

Your comment may not appear on the blog until several minutes after it was submitted.

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Tweet this page
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories