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O
ur family moved to the north side of Sheboygan from
the Milwaukee area in 1994, after I was hired at
Plenco. We were immediately immersed in the bas-
ketball-rich environment of the area. I went to games that guys
at work would tell me would be the best games of the week. I
played in high school, and our team played against teams that
Coach Tom Desotell helped coach when he was in Milwaukee.
Our three kids grew to love basketball because they were
coached by some great people.
Travelling teams and camps were coached by Tim Crowns,
Gordy Zastrow, Jeff Wolf and Tom Desotell.
We all became friends with some really fun families. Brian
Bastil was an outstanding guard at Sheboygan North High
School and lived nearby. He was extremely nice to our kids,
even inviting them into the locker room after games, and they
were his biggest fans.
Around 2000, I started to do some coaching of youth teams
that our kids played on. In 2003, I began coaching the
Lakeshore Force Amateur Athletic Union teams with Jeff
Pribek from Sheboygan Falls. We had some great fun and made
lifelong family friends while coaching together for three years.
The Lakeshore Force AAU Basketball Club is for boys and
girls ages 9-18 and focuses on advancing players through
fundamentals, skill development, and instruction in valuable
life lessons while playing in competitive tournaments through-
out Wisconsin and the Midwest. Players are educated on
teamwork, commitment, and sportsmanship while learning the
importance of leadership and relationship-building.
As our oldest, Matt, was entering high school in 2004,
we moved to Oostburg. Basketball is a huge part of life in
Oostburg, but not the biggest part. There is a great balance
there. All of our kids, Matt, Mike and Allie, thrived at school
and in sports, but basketball continued to be special.
Allie, now 22, has gone on to a professional college
coaching career and was selected by the Women’s Basketball
Coaches Association to the prestigious “So You Want to be a
Coach” program. This opportunity assists female collegiate
basketball players who are interested in pursuing a career
in coaching women’s basketball by providing them with
professional development and career advancement through
education, skills enhancement, networking and exposure.
I kept coaching youth travelling teams and got involved
with coaching both girls and boys Oostburg High School
summer league teams through 2011. As the kids played in
college, I kind of let that go, but now that they all have
graduated, I look forward to possibly coaching high school
teams again. Basketball always has been a way of life in our
family, and I don’t want that connection to stop.
Family Basketball Tradition Leads to
Great Friendships, Academic Success
By Steve Paluchniak
(Engineering)
What is it about…Basketball?
L-R: The Paluchniak
kids, Allie, Mike and
Matt.
Sheboygan North Coach Tom Desotell is interviewed by USA TODAY
NETWORK-Wisconsin's Andrew Hildebrand. Desotell talks about his early
years. Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY NETWORK -Wisconsin
WATCH VIDEO