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The Slammers were born in the fall of 2000. Dave Broberg talked me into helping him coach a girl's basketball team. Most of the girls had actually been playing together already that summer as the "Bluebirds" softball team. Dave and I just converted them over to basketball.
The original Slammer team members were Kati Broberg, Mandy Watts, Leslie Carillo, Kirstin Steckline, Kassi Nudd, Katie Trollope, Emily Trollope, Kiana Johnson and Emily Meyer.
The SLAMMERS played their first basketball game on January 6, 2001. We won that game 16 to 12. When the season ended on MArch 17, 2001 the Slammers had a record of 4 wins and 6 loses. The coaching staff knew that there was work to be done.
We were back at it in the fall of 2001. The team had our first major change in players. Kati Broberg, Katie Trollope, Emily Meyer and Kirstin Steckline were all that remained of the original squad. We added Taylor Connolly, Elaine Adamson, Jenna Golay, Emily Lantz, Katie Maloney, and Lauren Fahsholtz to the mix. The face of the Slammers was beginning to take shape.
The 2001 fall season brought us closer to where we wanted to be. We finished the abbreviated season with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. The Slammers had their FIRST winning season!
In 2002 we were back again with the same team. We decided to make the jump from YMCA rec ball to YMCA spirit league. Coach Broberg was on a flight home from Seattle when he came up with the Slammer motto; Slammers are we, mighty as can be. We come to play our best but first we play as a team. The Slammers needed a challenge and the coaches hoped the spirit league would be that challenge. The Slammers had 8 wins and 2 losses for the season. We were on a roll going into our first ever tournament. Our first tournament game was a big 14-3 win that sent us to the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! That game was a disappointing loss for the Slammers to our arch rivals of the season, the Jayhawks. We took home the 2nd place trophy though and enjoyed a great season.
The summer of 2002 brought the Slammers to an ENTIRELY different game. Coach B thought the team could benefit from some Biddy Ball exposure. We signed up for Biddy 3 on 3. We wanted an education and we got one! We took 8 of the 10 players from our last season and jumped in to the deep water. We played 10 games. It was tough. We scored an average of 7.5 points per game. Our opponents scored an average of 37.4 points per game against us. You do the math. It wasnt pretty. We did learn from the experience and gained a lot of speed to bring into our 5th season in the fall of 2002. Besides that, we got some really cool uniforms for that season and forever changed the look of the Slammers!
The team changed looks slightly again in the fall of 2002. Coach Broberg and Kati took a season off to play with the Red Devils Biddy Ball team. Alex Van B was added to the team and John Adamson stepped up to be the assistant coach. We ended the season with 4 wins and 3 losses. The Slammers were back on a winning track. We were ready to take on the YMCA Spirit league once again.
For the 2003 spirit league Coach Broberg and Kati were back. We also brought back one of the original squad, Kassi Nudd. This season also brought the birth of the term SLAMITUDE! The team had 6 wins and 4 losses that season. We went into the post-season tournament a little shaky and were eliminated in the first round. That was our last YMCA ball game. Coach Broberg and I wanted something else for the Slammers but we didnt know exactly whatyet.
MAYB was the answer and in the summer of 2003 we took them on. Thats were we are now. We changed the roster around again. The current Slammer team members are Kati Broberg, Katie Trollope, Emily Lantz, Lauren Fahsholtz, Paige Bergmeier, Jessica Dixon, Bethany Hermreck, Taylor Connolly, and Rochelle Schoffner. Whats next for the SlammersWHO KNOWS? I guess youll have to keep checking back to find out.
Coach T
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