View from the cheap seats
A weekly perspective on sports
Casey Krautkramer Reporter The Record-Review
I knocked off my rust of not playing basketball in a long time by trying my hand in a halftime skills contest, which was organized by St. Mary’s Catholic School principal Joseph Koch, while taking picture of eighth grader Maddy Lang playing against Immanuel Lutheran of Wisconsin Rapids last Thursday.
The halftime basketball skills contest required me to make a layup, free throw and three pointer in 30 seconds. I easily made the layup, but then I air balled my first free-throw attempt. St. Mary’s seventh/eighth grade girls basketball coach Scott Baumann instructed me to bend my knees more when I shoot. I took Scott’s advice and swished my second free throw attempt.
Now all I needed to do was sink a three-point shot. Sounds easy, right? Well, I airballed my first three-pointer attempt, and then I threw up a shot at the buzzer that rimmed out on me. Oh well, I figured I’d try participating in the halftime basketball skills contest. Hopefully I’ll shoot better next time.
After the St. Mary’s eighth grade girls basketball game concluded, I joined my parents from Marathon to try eating an old-fashioned German supper at Kurt-n-Jo’s Eats-n-Treats. My last name Krautkramer does stand for German sauerkraut peddler, so I figured I should at least be eating German food to support my heritage.
My father and I were brave enough to try the Thursday special of Schnitzel, which is a Handrick family recipe. It was mighty tasty!
I discovered some interesting information from Doreen Wiese of Athens this week, after she read my recent sports story on Edgar native Lindsey Schneeberger playing on the Winona St. women’s rugby team that won the 2019 national championship.
The letter I received states Kadia Fau was also a member of the Winona St. women’s rugby 2019 national championship team. I learned Kadia is the great granddaughter of Eugene and Doreen Wiese and Bitsy Ewan of Athens. She is also the granddaughter of Butch and Sue Ewan, former Athens residents who now live in Wisconsin Rapids.
Unfortunately, on Tuesday night I accidentally cut the knuckle on my right ring finger on a sharp piece of glass in my home. I couldn’t stop my finger from bleeding so I took a trip to the Marshfield Medical Center ER. I talked sports with the physician, Jordan Hooyman, who stitched up my finger.
He told me he grew up in Shiocton, and he played varsity high school boys basketball for Chieftains head coach Chad Schmidt. Chad is the twin brother of Stratford varsity high school boys basketball head coach Curt Schmidt. I know Curt’s son, Chandler, has told me in the past that his father and uncle talk to each other on the phone nearly every day to talk basketball strategy.
