pg. 2
bout two and a half years ago, I was
recruited to be one of the guest
speakers at the Wisconsin Parks and
Recreation Association state conference in
La Crosse, Wisconsin. I presented two
sessions that day, “Trends in Youth Sports”
and “Learning to Live with Travel Teams.”
The basic topic of both presentations was
how different youth sports are now versus
the “good old days” of yesteryear. In the
process of delivering those sessions, I
discussed some of the current problems in
the world of youth sports and how we have
adapted to them in Minnesota. You see, not
only am I the Executive Director of the
newly formed Wisconsin Sports Services, I
am also the co-founder and current
Executive Director of the Minnesota Youth
Athletic Services, which is a 501c3 nonprofit
organization that began doing business in
Minnesota in 1991. For me, this is déjà vu
all over again.
Following both presentations, I was
surrounded by Park and Rec professionals
and all of them had the same message: “We
sure could use an organization like the
MYAS in Wisconsin.” I have heard that same
sentiment from numerous western
Wisconsin baseball, wrestling and
basketball teams that make frequent trips
across the border to participate in the
leagues and tournaments offered by the
MYAS. I had also heard that those same
teams weren’t too keen on the idea of
being from the Badger State and playing in
the Gopher State Baseball League or
Gopher State Basketball Tournaments.
Frankly, I don’t blame them! I was born and
raised in Bloomington, Wisconsin, so I can
totally understand why Wisconsin would
want their very own organization to service
their amateur sports. (How I ended up in
Minnesota is still sort of a mystery to me
and a much longer story than you’d care to
read, so we’ll leave that for another time.)
That WPRA conference was held in early
November, the week before the 2010
Minnesota deer opener. I spent the next
three days in my tree stand, wondering if an
organization like the MYAS could make it in
Wisconsin. The following January, I met
with the MYAS Board of Directors and
secured their permission to start a
feasibility study on the creation of a sister
organization in Wisconsin.
To make a long story short, over the next 18
months we made 22 trips to Wisconsin,
meeting with anyone and everyone who
would talk youth sports with us, including a
four-hour meeting with the WIAA staff. I
wanted to get a feel for the youth sports
A
BADGER TRACKS- NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DAN KLINKHAMMER
pg. 3
environment in Wisconsin. I wanted to
know what you had and what you didn’t
have. I wanted to know what you liked and
what you didn’t like. I wanted to know who
the “good guys” were and who the “bad
guys” were. I wanted to know who was in it
for the kids and who was in it to fill their
own pockets. If we were going to commit to
this project, we needed to know the current
lay of the land for youth sports in
Wisconsin.
Nearly two years after the initial thought
passed through my head, the MYAS Board
of Directors gave their blessing and
approved funding for the creation of the
Wisconsin Sports Services.
A lot has happened since then. All of the
necessary registration paperwork,
trademarks and documents were filed in
both Wisconsin and Minnesota, which was
a complicated and daunting task. Next was
creating the WSS website
(www.wisportsservices.org), which has
been up and running since mid-January. The
search for office space led us to 2317
International Lane in Madison. We signed
the lease on that space in February and
started painting and setting up the office in
March, with a target of an April 1 opening.
Staffing the WSS was a challenge. When I
polled the MYAS staff on who would like
the challenge of moving to Wisconsin and
taking on the task of building the WSS from
scratch, only two hands were raised. Yes,
you guessed it – my two sons Adam (31)
and Lance (28) would eventually be the first
two pair of boots on the ground in
Wisconsin. (I raised them as Packer and
Badger fans so it was a no-brainer for them
to jump on the bandwagon!)
Since then, we have been joined by Brian
Meeter, Marketing Director, and Beth Davis
and Jake Wenzel as two additional Program
Directors. They are all college graduates,
with degrees in Sports Administration. The
WSS full-timers will be assisted by six part-
time Area Directors who are located in our
hub cities of Eau Claire, Wausau, Green Bay,
La Crosse, Madison and Milwaukee. So all
together, we have 11 people ready and
willing to do whatever is best for
Wisconsin’s amateur sports population.
With all of that said, having an office, a full-
time staff and a website does not mean that
we are established – far from it. We fully
understand that we are the new guys on
the block and it will take some time to earn
your respect, trust and confidence. I have
repeatedly told the young and energetic
WSS staffers that this is not a sprint, it’s a
marathon. I fully expect that it will take 3-5
years before the entire state is aware of
what benefits the WSS brings to Wisconsin.
It will take some time to build those
relationships. It will take some time to
figure out the Wisconsin sports puzzle, but
we are up to the task. We’ve done it before
and we WILL do it again…or die trying!
So now you know how we got here. In a few
years, I hope you are all saying,
“We are glad that you came!"
pg. 4
isconsin Sports Services officially hit the ground running this spring
with the launch of a dynamic web site and the launch of a
sophisticated marketing attack with the help of Wisconsin Sports
Network. In addition to an online ad campaign on the WSN web site, WSS was
featured in an article in WSN Illustrated, the print and online magazine of
Wisconsin Sports Network. Click here for a link to the magazine:
http://wissports.uberflip.com/i/134392
The programming staff at WSS is busy putting together a series of youth and adult
sporting events across the state. With that, businesses are asking how they can
get involved with our growing number of events and marketing opportunities.
There are many ways, from sponsoring single event, multiple events, and
programs in general. For example, in August, Dudley softballs and Combat bats
have signed on as sponsors of our USSSA State Softball Tournament in Janesville.
There are many different ways to get involved, please contact Brian Meeter at
[email protected] to find out how!
Marketing Tip # 1: Offer Exclusive Deals to your Social Media Customers Social marketing through Facebook and Twitter can be a struggle for some businesses, especially new businesses trying to navigate the complex world of social media. Start with offering exclusive deals or content to your social media customers. Contests with prize giveaways are a perfect example to reward your customers, activate their interest, and create a buzz about your business. This can be a low cost effective way to increase your customer base and reward those who are active on your social network!
W
MARKETING OF WSS EVENTS ON THE RISE By Brian Meeter, WSS Marketing Director
pg. 5
isconsin Sports Services
(WSS) baseball staff is
proud to announce a
new end of the year baseball event,
the Badgerland Tournament of
Champions (BTC). The BTC is the
sister event to the Gopher State
Tournament of Champions (GSTC),
administered by the Minnesota
Youth Athletic Services (MYAS).
Widely regarded as the most
prestigious youth baseball event in
the Upper Midwest, 474 teams
participated in the 2012 GSTC at
three competitive divisions over six
different age levels.
Due to the success of the Minnesota
program, the BTC aims to replicate
the GSTC in bringing together the
best teams in the state by selecting
local invitational tournaments ran by
local associations and awarding them
qualifier status. The top finishing
teams in each local tournament are
awarded Automatic Berths as well as
BTC points to all participating teams
that can earn At-Large Berths through
the BTC Points system.
This year, the BTC will be offering
tournaments at three age levels (10u,
11u and 12u) in three different
communities in August. Consistent
with all WSS sanctioned events, we
provide fundraising opportunities to
a local youth sports group that
provides the volunteer workforce and
retains all concessions and
admissions. We believe by partnering
with our customers and allowing
them to raise funds for their
programs, it will result in a stronger
local athletic community as a whole.
This year, the Host Groups for the
2013 BTC are Holmen Youth Baseball,
Onalaska Park and Rec and the
Waukesha Blazers Baseball program.
We would like to thank these groups
for their time and effort to make this
inaugural event a special one.
Besides first-class communication,
timely delivery of tournament related
materials and utmost
professionalism, we believe the
biggest draw to this event are the
unique awards. Every player on the
championship team in this year’s BTC
will receive a customized Jostens ring
W BADGERLAND BASEBALL UPDATE By Adam Klinkhammer, WSS Associate Director
pg. 6
complete with name, player number
and team record with lifetime sizing
available. We’d like to think our
ability to administer first-class
programs is the reason so many
teams are scrambling to get in this
tournament, but we’d be kidding
ourselves if we didn’t acknowledge
the Rings as one of the biggest
reasons that the Tournament of
Champions is the crown jewel of
baseball tournaments in Minnesota
currently and Wisconsin in the future.
We have also created webpages on
our WSS website that are specific to
each individual tournament including
photo galleries, brackets, maps to
fields, tiebreaker information, links to
local hotels and weather updates
specific to the location of the event!
In an effort to take this event to the
next level and really knock it out of
the park, we have reached an
agreement with the Milwaukee
Brewers to be able to bring the
championship teams to Miller Park
and parade them around the warning
track before arriving at home plate to
receive their championship rings.
Ticket deals will also be offered to
participating teams to encourage
family and friends to be a part of the
experience and watch their player
receive their ring on the field and up
on the Jumbotron. Bring your
cameras!
The WSS staff is very excited about
the future of Wisconsin baseball and
the Badgerland Tournament of
Champions. Please stayed tuned as
we look to expand our baseball
offerings in future. To check out all
the tournament web pages and to
learn more about our current
baseball program, please visit our
website at www.wisportsservices.org
pg. 7
ello to all of you involved in youth basketball around the great state of Wisconsin and though it is still “Vacation
Season”, the start of Fall & Winter youth basketball is right around the corner. Don’t get us wrong, we don’t think anyone is excited for the snow to start flying again quite yet, but here at the WSS, we are very excited about our plans for the upcoming Fall & Winter basketball season!
In the Fall of 2013, the WSS will be offering a pair of Invitational tournaments to your teams in an effort to help your players warm up for the Winter. These events will be coordinated over two days and our goal is to place them in a location that will be accessible to all teams around the state. Provide your players some ever-important playing time early in the season!
Tired of playing the same teams in your local basketball league every weekend? The WSS will be coordinating a number of our Badgerland Super Saver events all over Wisconsin throughout December, January & February to offer your teams the ability to play against competition that you may not otherwise experience through your league play. We designed these events to save time for your parents, players and coaches by providing an efficient schedule format. How does that work? Teams that play in these events will be guaranteed three games and have a total time commitment of only 5 hours which means, are you listening Moms and Dads…. You get your weekend back!
Last but not least, we’re working diligently out of our office in Madison to bring an all-inclusive State Basketball Tournament to Wisconsin in March of 2014. This program will offer every team in your community, regardless of your competitive level, the chance to play in a season-ending tournament against equal competition. We believe that all youth basketball players deserve the opportunity to play in this prestigious event and we think all of you do too!
Watch our website for more information about all of our plans for youth
basketball!
WWW.WISPORTSSERVICES.ORG
H BADGERLAND BASKETBALL UPDATE By Lance Klinkhammer, WSS Associate Director
pg. 8
First, a little history…
he United States Specialty
Sports Association (USSSA) was
founded as the United States
Slow-pitch Softball Association in the
spring 1968. Over that last weekend of
August 1968 the first USSSA World
Softball Tournament was played in
West Allis Wisconsin. Over the past 40
years USSSA has grown from a couple
of thousand slow-pitch softball
players to over 3.5 million participants
playing 13 primary sports. In fact,
USSSA sanctions teams and
individuals in 38 sports.
USSSA’s first decade was a turbulent
one. USSSA led the charge to allow
amateur athletes to play slow-pitch
softball in whatever league or
association they wished. Prior to
1975, ASA, then the largest slow-pitch
softball association, barred any of its
teams from playing in any non-ASA
sanctioned event or league. This rule
was first challenged in ASA’s internal
process and then brought to a close
after USSSA successfully filed suit in
Federal Court to stop ASA’s
discriminatory practices. People
playing softball, and now playing
many other sports, is what USSSA has
always been about and has served as
a foundation for its continued growth.
In the eighties USSSA grew by leaps
and bounds. USSSA purchased a
building in Petersburg, Virginia for its
National Headquarters and Hall of
Fame Museum. By the end of the
decade USSSA membership had
surpassed 100,000 teams and USSSA
toured the world to promote softball,
sportsmanship, and good will.
The nineties were the best and the
worst of times for USSSA. The
association continued to grow,
however softball was decreasing in
popularity. The various associations
were cannibalizing each other in order
to inflate their team registration
numbers. In 1998 USSSA suffers a
tragic loss when its longtime CEO
passes away. The Board of Directors,
immediately named the Assistant
Executive Director, Don DeDonatis, as
the new CEO. DeDonatis initiated
sweeping changes. The changes
included branching out into sports
other than softball. By the end of the
nineties USSSA had grown to over 1.6
million participants, with 300,000
being non slow-pitch softball.
In March 2003 USSSA moved its
national headquarters from Virginia to
Osceola County, Florida. This move
T
BADGERLAND softball UPDATE By Adam Klinkhammer, WSS Associate Director
pg. 9
has benefited USSSA and Osceola
County in many positive ways. In 2007
USSSA had over 3.5 million
participants and is solely responsible
for 58,044 room nights in Central
Florida, of which 45,307 room nights
are in Osceola County. This means
millions of dollars in positive
economic impact to the region.
Currently, USSSA nationally governs
13 amateur sports. Slow-pitch
softball, baseball, fast-pitch softball,
and basketball athletes make up
approximately 90% of USSSA’s
membership. The remaining 9 sports
account for over 350,000 registrations
in USSSA, including Tae Kwan Do and
Soccer, two sports that USSSA holds
events in Osceola County. Over the
past ten years USSSA has not failed to
increase its year to year membership.
In fact, for all but 3 of those 10 years
USSSA’s membership has grown by
over 10% per year.
Over four decades ago, a group of
ballplayers got together and decided
they wanted to run a softball
tournament. They envisioned an
event that would bring together the
best slow pitch teams in the land but
were at odds with the then-
governing body, disputing rules and
gameplay. Word spread quickly
about the new game being played in
the Midwest and the new format
grabbed the attention of teams far
and wide. In 1968, the tournament
they would eventually name the
“World Series” was held in West Allis,
Wisconsin. The USSSA was born.
Fast forward to 2013. The USSSA is
the largest multi-sport organization in
the nation. State associations are
operating in every corner of the
country as playing opportunities
continue to grow. Over 200 teams
participate in every class and division
at the USSSA World Series every year.
In Wisconsin, the birthplace of the
USSSA, sanctioned softball has fallen
by the wayside and has been
replaced by cash tournaments and
independent event operators. Long
gone are the days of bragging rights
and the opportunity to continue
competition on a regional and
national stage.
In December 2012, the USSSA brass
approached the newly-formed
Wisconsin Sports Services (WSS) and
appointed a new State Director with
years of experience participating in
Minnesota’s vibrant USSSA softball
community which happens t be the
largest in the nation. The WSS got to
work right away on organizing an
event for 2013 and are proud to
announce that the Men’s State
pg. 10
Tournament will be played on the
second weekend in August at Dawson
Fields in Janesville, WI.
Offering Upper and Lower divisions
and a total awards/equipment
package over $1,700, the USSSA is
back! Softball giants, Combat and
Dudley, have been secured as
tournament sponsors and will have a
presence at the event. The Janesville
Park and Rec will be providing the
host responsibilities and be
offering concessions
for the hungry.
Easily the
most
popular
place at
any
softball
tournament,
the Janesville CVB
will be donating a beer
tent and will be serving cold glasses
of hops and barley all weekend. After
Saturday’s competition, the teams
along with their friends and family
will be invited to join the after-party
at Time Out Pub and Brewery just
down the street from Dawson.
Registrations into the tournament
will be accepted until 32 teams are
registered or until August 2nd, so
don’t wait and sign up today. A State
Tournament webpage has been
created that includes brackets, rules,
hotel info, photo galleries, weather
links and more! Going forward, the
WSS/Wisconsin USSSA has plans to
build the prestige of the State
Tournament through offering
regional qualifying tournaments that
allow the awarding of berths to
national and world competition.
Plans are in the works to expand the
Wisconsin USSSA by offering the
online/administrative
capabilities of the
WSS to
softball
leagues in
every
corner of
the state.
Look for Mixed
(Co-Ed) and
Women’s divisions to be
added to the State Tournament line-
up card in the future.
Even though Wisconsin is the
birthplace of the USSSA, 2013 will
hopefully be considered the re-birth
of the prestigious organization in the
Badger State. Come on down to
Dawson Fields in August and help us
celebrate the waning days of summer
with some good softball and a cold
beer!
pg. 11
BADGERLAND FALL
FASTPITCH PROGRAM
COMING SOON
JOIN US IN SEPTEMBER FOR OUR FIRST EVER BADGERLAND GIRLS FALL FAST PITCH PROGRAM!
3 AGE DIVISIONS: 12u 14u and HIGH SCHOOL DEER WOOD PARK, HOLMEN
DOUBLE HEADERS EVERY SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH, 15TH, 22ND AND OCTOBER 6TH
REGISTER AS A TEAM OR INDIVIDUALLY $80.00/PLAYER OR $70.00 IF REGISTERED AS A TEAM
EVERY PLAYER WILL RECEIVE A JERSEY AND VISOR
QUESTIONS? CALL WISCONSIN
SPORTS SERVICES @ 608-210-1710
OR EMAIL
pg. 12
Wisconsin Sports Services
2317 International Lane- Suite 210
Madison, WI 53704
Phone: 608-210-1710
THANKS TO OUR
SPONSOR!