A full slate of activities at Central Cass

0:00Welcome to Afternoons Live. My name is Joe Doich and I am filling in today with producer Eric Johnson for Tyler Exodus. I couldn't be more excited to be here today Tyler. I'm sure I'm excuse me Eric. I'm already messed one thing up. Happy birthday. You know Amy said it in the crosstalk but the fact that you're willing to come in on your birthday to help us out was super special. This is gonna be a lot of fun. I'm gonna flip the script on that. This is bucket list. I didn't hear that. I've always been in the seat for the last 20 years as a guest or being called in but I finally now get an opportunity to sit in the golden chair that's sat in by Joel Hyde Camp and Tyler Exodus and everybody else. Anyway I'm super excited to share some awesome guests with everybody today. As much as I was afraid last night I'm thinking, guys, I hope to see you guys on the screen. I hope to see you guys on the screen. I'm gonna watch the end of the football game last night and drink me. Showed us what it takes to screw up something holy and I can't do worse than that right at this point.

1:03So there's that. You're not wrong. That is an unfortunate way to go out of a three point lot in field go range. It is. It is. Well I want to bring in. I got several guests today. The guests are very important and dear and dear to me in my lives. I've got to travel some are coming in from Central Cast School just to keep wears a million hats and we're gonna and we're gonna talk about that. Then I get to bring in. I remember and appreciate and love as as two of my favorite students in Trey Drake and Avery Coney. You might know them as the backup quarterback for NDSU football and the star women's basketball player. After that I get to bring in the Fargo Park district. Our executive director Susan Fauss will be here. We're gonna talk about all the great things that happened over the course of this summer. All the great things we got going on the park district is coming fall. The sports center you name it. We're gonna talk all about it. And then after that we're gonna bring in Corey Anderson from Valley City State University's foundation. We're

2:06gonna talk about their fall sports season, the school year kicking off, the addition they got coming on. Transitioning into the to the Special Olympics of North Dakota. Special Olympics is obviously a big part of my life. A lot of people's hearts. And so Nancy Hansen, executive director is gonna come in and talk to us. And we'll finish it up with the guy named Nick Stokey who owns an organization called Below Zero Professional Wrestling. And I'm super excited to hear about that because I don't know much about professional wrestling. So we'll get into that. But right now we're gonna get into things right away with Travis Lamar. Travis, welcome. Hey thanks. Thanks for having me, Joe and happy birthday. Thank you. I appreciate that. So, you know, I wanted to make sure I got all of your titles correct. So we at student ambassador, activity instructor, assistant football coach, head wrestling coach, assistant track coach, PA announcer for baseball in the summer. Am I

3:09missing any other titles that go along with you, central cast? Basically at the bottom, I at the bottom of my contract every year. It says other duties as assigned and I just kind of live by that day to day. Yeah. Well, that's yeah. That's great. I mean, that's the most important thing is that, you know, I wanted to celebrate and talk about about central cast. And how it's a mere 20 miles west of West Fargo. But it's a beautiful small community where all students are involved in multi activities. The community supports the school, the school supports the community. And you got a very special thing going on out there. Yeah, we really do. I mean, you know, when when Sam and I were young in our marriage, you know, we were living in Fargo and we talked about trying to get out of Fargo and where we would eventually raise kids if we had them. And Castleton was kind of a natural choice for us.

4:11And we made the move and man, I'm so happy we did. I love this community. I love the school. I love everything about Squirrelville out here. And it's just awesome to be to get to be able to play a part in that. Yeah. Yeah. This is a this is your empty nester for the first time. I first time not having a student in your family at the school. That's got to be a change. It definitely is, you know, you know, when Peyton wasn't high school, him and his buddies used to come into my my office pretty much every day at lunch after eating lunch and raid my snack cabinet. And then, you know, then Grace, when Peyton graduated, then kind of transition to Grace. And now lunch is a lot quieter. On the days I'm not supervising and the snack cabinet stays a little bit fuller. So, yeah, it's different, but it's good. Both kids are doing what they love

5:13and it's super excited for both of them. Well, I'm an educator too. And as you know, you know, these other kids as much as they aren't true and personal children, they are they are important to you and we appreciate everything and we still continue to appreciate everything that you and central cast do for our kids while they're going to school out there. So, let's talk a little bit about what's coming up here in like 15 minutes, right? Isn't the central cast girls volleyball team playing a game at the lights here in West Farms? Yeah. Yeah, such a cool experience, you know, the big schools kind of did it last year and they talked about expanding it. And we were lucky enough to get an invitation for it. So, we're playing a region match there against Valley City. And then when that's done, then we're hosting ninth grade C squad and JV here at our place with the rest of Valley City Squad. So, a good full day of volleyball for all of our volleyball fans and just a cool experience for our girls to, you know,

6:17get to play outside on a different court, you know, if you're a volleyball fan, you probably, you've probably followed Nebraska volleyball and all the different things that they've done. So it's kind of like our little version of that, I guess. Sure. And, you know, for the listeners out there also, it's the Landon's Light volleyball classic. And if you know anything about Landon's Light, Landon Solberg was diagnosed with a rare aggressive brain cancer in 2017 and passed away in 2019. But the community got to know him and his love and appreciation for life. And so this tournament or showcase probably because it's not technically a tournament has grown in the last couple of years. And now, central caskets will be a part of it. And for a free-wheel donation, I think of about $15 maybe to support the foundation, fans can go over to the lights and watch volleyball all day today. And then again, on Saturday, I believe, correct? Yep, correct,

7:22correct. Yep. It's just a number one great organization, great cause. And again, we're just, we're super excited that we get to be a little bit of a little part of it. So. Great. Well, all right, Travis, if you can hang on with us through the break here, I'd really appreciate it with you. We're going to we're going to talk about football, right? I think you got a big, a big first home game of the season coming up here on Fridays, all right? We do. Yeah. And I had to be home. Yeah, you started open up on the road, but we'll get into that as soon as we get back from break. How does that sound? Sounds perfect. Thanks, you're all right. You're listening to afternoons live Joe Deutsche filling in today for Tyler Aksness. I got my producer Eric Johnson over here carrying me and we're talking to Travis Lamar from central cask, where's many hats? And we're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we'll talk about central caskets upcoming

8:22football home games to kick off the home part of the schedule. Let me get back. Welcome back to afternoons live. I am Joe Deutsche and I'm being carried by producer Eric Johnson. And we're filling in for Tyler Aksness. And right now, still on the phone I have with me, my special guest, Travis Lamar, student ambassador, activities director, assistant coach of every sport, no one under the sun. Thank you, Travis, for sticking around with me through the break. And we're super excited to talk about what we got coming up. We not only have our first home game of the season coming up here on Friday, but we also are rolling right into homecoming week, I think, after that. But why don't you start off by telling us how the season's going so far and tell us about this matchup you got on Friday? Yeah, you know, we're one and one right now. We open the season up with a W against Watford City. I traveled out there and then we were back on the road last week up to Devil's Lake defending state champs. And, you know, two really good games

9:29felt like, you know, probably against Devil's Lake offensively. We left some points out there that could have led to a win. So, but, you know, they're non-conference games. It's right now, it's about learning and just trying to get better each week. And, you know, James Towne comes to town tomorrow night for our first home game. And similar situation for them. They're one and one on the season. You know, both teams we're looking for their second win of the year. And for us, it's, you know, it's about improving and from me, specifically offensively, just about trying to find a way to score more than 21, 24 points. You know, we've kind of been stuck in that area the last two weeks and feel like we're ready to kind of explode. And if we do that, man, it could be a fun year. So, yeah, you got some explosive players out there on the field, right? You're starting quarterback. Yeah, Brody Kebley broke the school record, yes, for all time

10:32leading yards passing last week. Is that correct? Pretty early in the season. Yeah, yeah, no, it is. And he's had a great career. I mean, he started at the top more for us. I got to coach him a little bit as a freshman at the JV level and, you know, just, you know, talk with coach Butler and stuff. I'm like, and this kid different. He's the best JV quarterback I've ever had. He's going to be all right for us. And any has been, I mean, he's an all-state player. You know, he can he can swing it with the best of them. And he's got he's got a football IQ that's just crazy. You know, we let him. You know, I told him you're going to have freedom at the line of scrimmage to go up and check out a place that I call on a bad play. You check into a good one, you know, and you know, he's knowledgeable enough and what we do offensively to be able to do that. And honestly, any any college out there looking for their next great quarterback, this would be a kid that I would be on the phone with instantly. And, you know,

11:35outside of him, I mean, we got some great weapons on the outside, you know, with guys like Blaze Cotton and Parker Wick, so in Kellenkruche and and Jerstall. And we got a stable of running backs that, you know, if we can make some holes form up front, man, they could they could run for a while. So we're we're excited about this upcoming season. We're definitely excited about getting to getting to play it home this week. And you know, I think it's going to really kick us off into into the rest of the season. So really looking forward to what our boys can do tomorrow night. Yeah, I mean, and one of the things that impresses me the most about about your kids' travels, they're not afraid to put in the extra work. One of the one of the students or one of my next guests, I have in the next segment, one of my students, Trey Drake, who's the backup quarterback for the biasing right now, told me that he worked extensively with Brody this summer. So, you know, not only are they doing the extra work in the weight room, not only are they, you know, are they the study in the game, but they're working with people at the next level to continue to to get better. And

12:40that's a commitment that, you know, I'm sure is fun to see in your in your athletes. Yeah, it really is, you know, I think, you know, we're we're blessed to be as close to Fargo as what we are, right? There's a lot of opportunities in Fargo for kids, no matter what what program they're involved in. And we're blessed that we got parents that are willing to, you know, get their kids involved in those programs, whether it's a Stanford power or athletic republic or or specialized training with with certain coaches or certain position people, you know, at the college level, you know, like I coach Reflin, we've got a bunch of guys in at NDSU right now already for like fall workouts and stuff like that, that, you know, that coach Nick McGee's putting on. And just being able to have that is awesome. And, you know, I think when I took over as AD, we kind of met as a collective group of head coaches and we just said, look, if things are going to change, you're

13:41going to have to raise a standard. And, you know, kids of kids have risen to that and they're not only doing the extra work that we're asking them to do, but they're going above and beyond. And man, if you've got kids that are willing to do that on their own, you've got something special. And we have that right now. We have that with all of our with all of our programs. And when you've got kids that are willing to be coached and, you know, by you and willing to go out and get the extra work in, man, it's just an awesome thing to be a part of. Yeah, I mean, you know, you have all those things as you said, but then at the same time, you still have that whole small town feel and atmosphere and vibe. I mean, tomorrow night, you might as well lock the front door of the gas station as you head over to the football game, right? Because there isn't going to be anybody, anybody coming in to get food or drinks because the entire community will be at central cast high school for the football game, supporting the team, supporting the school. And that's the

14:45beauty of the situation you have there is is that you are close enough to Fardo that the kids or that the athletes can come in or the students can come in and get those next level trainings and opportunities. Yet at the same time, you maintain in that community that that feeling that that a lot of communities have lost. Yeah, and it really is. I mean, it's something special here. You know, it's it's a great small town, but you get the big town feel because you're so close to Fardo, right? So you get all the amenities that Fardo has to offer, but for those of us that are still traditionalist class B, you know, small town type of people, it's still the same feeling that we have here. And we got a great community that, you know, shows up in supports, whether they got a kid in the program or not, they're coming out and watching. And it honestly, it doesn't matter what the program is, right? I mean, you know, we try and have a ban concert here on a Tuesday night and we're setting up chairs because our theaters full, you know,

15:50so it's it's such a I'm a super lucky person to be able to be sitting in the chair that I'm sitting in in the community that that we we are in and and getting to watch these kids go out and do what they love, put the time in and see see the success pay off for them. It's it's truly a gratifying thing that I get to be a part of every single day. Yeah. And you know, it's it's neat. I have friends that'll come and talk to me and say, oh, you know, my my son is participating in two sports and two sports in his entire school year. You have kids participating in two sports in the same season, you know, and or maybe, you know, you're the title behind your name is activities director, not athletic director, just as important as it's the sports are as is the, you know, is the the band choir and the and the drama and all those other activities that come because

16:55they're all important. They're all important for students. Yeah, they are and it's, you know, we've we've done a pretty good job, I think, as central cast trying to provide the opportunities for kids, whether it's through clubs or extracurriculars or co-curriculars and and we have kids that are, you know, very active. I mean, we have a participation rate here of over 90% where at least each student is involved in at least one thing here at central cast and and you don't see that in a lot of schools and, you know, so with dual sport kids and stuff like that, we we try and keep those doors open with coaches working with each other to, you know, to to allow a kid to do two things, no matter how hard it is, you know, like, you know, your son was a dual sporter for us with with wrestling and basketball and, you know, a lot of people talk about dual sport between golf and baseball or something like that and and you know, ah, you know, you really think they can do it and I always use Jake as my example. I'm like, we had a kid dual sport in wrestling and basketball,

17:59you can't pick two harder things to do a sport in than that and he was successful in both. So, you know, it's it's a ball. And he started in five sports that season. So yeah, yeah. Anyway, Travis, I appreciate you so much, my man, but I got to get you to that volleyball game. It's about to start right now. So thank you so much for coming in. Best of luck in your game tomorrow and we appreciate you and central cast sports. So thank you very much and that's afternoons live. I'm Joe Doich. We'll see you after the break.