WEBVTT

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hello, I'm John Wolinichuk, a three-sport athlete

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at OSCHS, and I'll be attending the University

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of Wisconsin Parkside in the fall to continue

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my baseball career.

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This is the Spartan Podcast for Friday, April

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17, 2026.

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Join us to learn more about the great

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things happening in District 229.

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In this episode, Superintendent Dr. Bagdasarian sits down

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with Athletic Director Jeremy Krein to discuss the

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successes of our athletic programs this year.

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Welcome to this edition of the Spartan Podcast.

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Today is Friday, April 17, and this is

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your superintendent, Dr. Bagdasarian.

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And today, our special guest with us is

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our athletic director, Mr. Jeremy Krein.

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Welcome, Mr. Krein.

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Thank you for having me.

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Excited to be here.

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It's been a really exciting year this year

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with our athletic programs.

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There's been a lot to celebrate with, you

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know, in the fall, in the winter, and

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in the spring.

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And we just had a big event this

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past Sunday that we'll talk about here in

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just a few minutes.

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But just tell everyone about yourself and your

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background and how long you've been at Oak

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Lawn Community High School and what led you

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into the athletic director position here.

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Sure.

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I've been in education for 22 years now,

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20 of those here at Oak Lawn Community

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High School.

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I started my career as a math teacher

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and loved teaching math, and I was also

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a cross-country and track and field coach.

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That's what I grew up participating in through

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my youth and wanted to continue coaching or

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get into coaching after high school.

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And that's kind of what led me into

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education was the desire to want to coach.

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So after many years of doing that, kind

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of the opportunity came up to look at

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the athletic director position and see what it

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had to offer.

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And, you know, I loved helping cross-country.

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I loved helping our track and field athletes.

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But the opportunity to kind of help our

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student-athletes as a whole with that position

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was really an awesome opportunity.

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So it's really rewarding to get to work

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with all of our programs, whether it's coaches,

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student-athletes, you name it, and see their

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growth and development and success there.

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So it's been a really great experience in

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that position.

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That's great.

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And I think, you know, in your role,

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you have – it's a little bit less

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traditional of an administrator.

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You have a lot of activities and sporting

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events that you attend after school hours.

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And those range from maybe two, three times

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a week, four times a week, depending on

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the time of year, right?

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Seems like it's every day, but, yeah, it's

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– I mean, we're always going.

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That's great.

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And talk a little bit about this year.

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I know we've had a lot of success

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with some of our teams in the fall.

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We had some great success with some of

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our programs in the winter.

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And then also we're seeing some of that

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here in the spring.

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But just provide some of the highlights of

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some of our seasons here.

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Yeah, I was, you know, thinking about that

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earlier this week.

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I think there have been a lot of

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moments this year that, you know, my seven

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years as an athletic director or even overall

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that are going to be top five moments,

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you know, that we've experienced this year.

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But a lot of the success, whether it

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was from the fall with the football program

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gaining success and qualifying for the playoffs there

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and hosting a home game, or even our

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journey for our boys' bowling team going to

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state and making day two and putting up

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a good showing there, or even recently our

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Cubs game at Wrigley Field with our baseball

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program versus Revis was an incredible moment just

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not for the players, but the coaches, the

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families, and the community.

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And those are definitely moments that our student

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-athletes are going to take with them forever.

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And, you know, I'll never forget either, but

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it's been a great year.

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And whether it's individual team successes, whether it's

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championships or state qualifying or individuals qualifying for

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state or moving through the state series, you

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know, there's a lot of moments there that

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are important to those student-athletes too that

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happened.

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And just seeing the success, seeing the growth

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of our programs over the last few years

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has been awesome to watch, whether it's adding

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lower levels for some sports.

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We've done that in many sports like golf

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and wrestling and soccer and basketball, adding freshman

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levels or even B levels, and also seeing

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growth of new sports like flag football and

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girls' wrestling over the last three or so

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years has been phenomenal.

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And just seeing the amount of students getting

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into athletic programs and having and creating those

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moments and experiences has been great.

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And one of the things I do, you

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know, we've added some programs.

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You mentioned the lower level of some of

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our programs and then flag football.

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One of the things that I really think

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is great here is that we allow, first

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of all, our students are multi-sport athletes.

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We have so many multi-sport athletes here.

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And in addition to that, most districts or

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most schools may have, they won't put out

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a B team or a C team at

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times at the freshman level.

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And I think it's so important to let

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kids develop.

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And I think that's something that, you know,

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over the past few years, having those opportunities

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to create different levels and add levels of

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competition for our students so they don't get

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cut, and I think that's great.

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Yeah, and we want to develop opportunity, you

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know.

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And you said it, like we'll say this

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to incoming eighth graders and things like that,

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like we're the home of the multi-sport

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athlete here.

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We truly are.

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We've got over 700 students who participate in

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our athletic programs here across the board, which

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is phenomenal.

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And many of them are two or three

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-sport athletes here, which is incredible.

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But, you know, we are education-based athletics

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here.

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You know, we want to create those out.

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We want to provide and develop competitive programs,

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don't get me wrong.

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You know, the goal is to go in

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and win every game, match, you name it.

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But we also put as much stock into

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developing the character of the person and the

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individual they're going to be after they leave

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our programs, no matter what level they're competing

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at.

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So, no, we definitely really want whatever our

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students are looking for, we want to have

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a place for them and provide those opportunities.

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Absolutely.

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So we talked a little bit about the

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Cubs game on Sunday, and our baseball team

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had an opportunity to play in Wrigley Field.

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And that is, what an opportunity that was

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for our kids, our community, our families.

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Talk a little bit about that.

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How did that whole process start, and where

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did that come from?

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Like, you know, we're playing in Wrigley Field.

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Like, how did that happen?

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What an incredible honor, right?

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Not only just the opportunity, but the fact

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that our game was the first game.

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This is their first toe into the water

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into bringing high school games into that field,

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into that historic venue.

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So, no, Cubs were reaching out.

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They reached out to us, and, you know,

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immediately, you know, we had to jump on

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it.

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It was amazing.

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But just the feeling of getting the community

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behind it, the staff, the students behind that

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game, and coming out and buying tickets and

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rolling, you know, weather could have been whatever

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it was.

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Right, we were lucky.

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We lucked out with the weather.

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But the support was amazing, and seeing that

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crowd of 2,500 people between our fans

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and the Revis fans and the Revis community,

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which was great with this endeavor too, props

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to them as well for being a partner

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in it.

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But, man, what a great experience.

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And I was there when the coaching staff

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and the kids got to walk out on

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the outfield for the first time.

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It was just seeing the look in their

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eyes was, it's why we do these things.

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So, and just really awesome that we were

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able to provide that opportunity for everybody.

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Yeah, and the best part about it is

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we walked away with a win.

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That's right, yes.

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That always makes it better.

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It was a great, great day.

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But, yeah, and once again, we appreciate your

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efforts to make that happen and work through

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that.

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There was a lot of logistical pieces.

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I know that had to be worked through.

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And at the end of the day, we

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were able to pull it off.

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And a lot of that had to do

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with the work that you did behind the

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scenes to make those things happen.

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I mean, even the little things like from

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the officials getting that opportunity or even our

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announcers that we typically have at our games

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going up to the booth and calling the

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game too, which was awesome.

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Right.

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Great.

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And then the last question I have for

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you.

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We've had a few of our alum that

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have gone on to play at the highest

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level, whether it's the National Football League, at

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the NBA, any particular alum or athlete, former

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student-athlete here that has done some things

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that we look at and say, that's awesome.

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Yeah, you know, like most recently, the one

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most recently I can think of is like

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Sam Yasmani playing for Creighton for four years,

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which was phenomenal.

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You know, going back to CJ Kupec and

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things like that with basketball and things like

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that.

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But, you know, just recently yesterday, we celebrated

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this year's crop.

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We have 16 student-athletes that are going

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on to and have committed to play their

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sport in college for next year.

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So we always have an awesome crew that's

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moving up like that too.

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So, yeah, seeing them continue their success at

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the collegiate level or even above that has

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been awesome.

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Yeah, and I know this is before I

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got here, but Jalen Gaines was with the

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Seahawks for a little bit.

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That's right, this season, yeah.

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He came in this fall and talked to

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some of our football players too, which was

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incredible to hear his experience and everything.

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That's great always to have those alum come

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back and speak to our students, student-athletes.

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And just, you know, there's always opportunities there

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and you got to work hard and you

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get those things done, right?

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That's right.

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All right, well, great.

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Well, thank you for being our guest this

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week on the Spartan Podcast.

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And, you know, we're winding down here with

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our spring athletics and it's going to be

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busy.

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But once again, the kids are out there

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competing and doing a great job.

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And, you know, we have great coaches out

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there, great staff.

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So I appreciate all that you do and

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I want to thank everyone for listening today.

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And go Spartans!

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The fight song is courtesy of the Oakland

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High School Marching Band.

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To learn more about the Oakland High School

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District 229, go to www.olchs.org.

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Go Spartans!