MONROE - Diane Hawkins is no stranger to Monroe.
The 2001 Monroe High School graduate is no stranger to basketball, either.
On Tuesday, Hawkins, a graduate assistant women's basketball coach at Edgewood College, brought the majority of her team to St. Victor School in Monroe to teach grade-schoolers basketball skills.
"It's great for the kids to have a role model and see how hard these girls work every day, on and off the court," Hawkins said. "These girls came down on their day off out of the goodness of their heart."
The Eagles performed drills with the students, including shooting exercises, dribble drills and defensive maneuvering.
St. Victor physical education teacher Dave Gissing also is the aquatic director at the Green County Family YMCA, where Hawkins is the director of program development.
Gissing knew he was going to teach a basketball unit in January. He asked Hawkins if she would come to the school on a day off and teach a clinic, or spend some time with the students.
"When we arranged this, I only expected a couple players to come down with her," Gissing said. "When she got here this morning, she had most of the team with her."
Gissing wanted the sessions with Hawkins and her players to give the students a better understanding of how much work college athletes put in, and teach them fundamentals of the game. A little fun wasn't going to hurt, either.
By the looks on students' faces during their time with the Eagles, fun was in full supply. Most of the students interacted with the big girls with smiles. Some took a little longer to come around, timid at the sight of a girl more than twice their size.
Still, Hawkins wouldn't trade the experience.
"We want to show the kids so many of the things we do," Hawkins said. "We showed them you can be active and have fun getting red in the face."
The trip from Madison was fun for the Eagles players, too. Two local girls, junior forward Megan Scheele of New Glarus and senior guard Jenny Updike of Monticello couldn't come due to work commitments, but the players who did had fun.
"We get our college's name out there, because a lot of people don't know where Edgewood is," said Hannah Schultz, a sophomore forward from Clinton. "Quite a few of us are majoring in education and most of the girls like kids, so it's fun."
For Hawkins, choosing the handful of players Gissing anticipated were coming with Hawkins would have been difficult.
"All of the girls were more than willing to come," Hawkins said. "I didn't need to bring them all down, but I had to, because they wanted it to be a team thing."
Gissing was happy with the Eagles' day at St. Victor.
"The students may learn to love basketball and other exercise from this," Gissing said. "They were real excited for the team to be coming, and the Edgewood girls have been outstanding, just phenomenal."
The 2001 Monroe High School graduate is no stranger to basketball, either.
On Tuesday, Hawkins, a graduate assistant women's basketball coach at Edgewood College, brought the majority of her team to St. Victor School in Monroe to teach grade-schoolers basketball skills.
"It's great for the kids to have a role model and see how hard these girls work every day, on and off the court," Hawkins said. "These girls came down on their day off out of the goodness of their heart."
The Eagles performed drills with the students, including shooting exercises, dribble drills and defensive maneuvering.
St. Victor physical education teacher Dave Gissing also is the aquatic director at the Green County Family YMCA, where Hawkins is the director of program development.
Gissing knew he was going to teach a basketball unit in January. He asked Hawkins if she would come to the school on a day off and teach a clinic, or spend some time with the students.
"When we arranged this, I only expected a couple players to come down with her," Gissing said. "When she got here this morning, she had most of the team with her."
Gissing wanted the sessions with Hawkins and her players to give the students a better understanding of how much work college athletes put in, and teach them fundamentals of the game. A little fun wasn't going to hurt, either.
By the looks on students' faces during their time with the Eagles, fun was in full supply. Most of the students interacted with the big girls with smiles. Some took a little longer to come around, timid at the sight of a girl more than twice their size.
Still, Hawkins wouldn't trade the experience.
"We want to show the kids so many of the things we do," Hawkins said. "We showed them you can be active and have fun getting red in the face."
The trip from Madison was fun for the Eagles players, too. Two local girls, junior forward Megan Scheele of New Glarus and senior guard Jenny Updike of Monticello couldn't come due to work commitments, but the players who did had fun.
"We get our college's name out there, because a lot of people don't know where Edgewood is," said Hannah Schultz, a sophomore forward from Clinton. "Quite a few of us are majoring in education and most of the girls like kids, so it's fun."
For Hawkins, choosing the handful of players Gissing anticipated were coming with Hawkins would have been difficult.
"All of the girls were more than willing to come," Hawkins said. "I didn't need to bring them all down, but I had to, because they wanted it to be a team thing."
Gissing was happy with the Eagles' day at St. Victor.
"The students may learn to love basketball and other exercise from this," Gissing said. "They were real excited for the team to be coming, and the Edgewood girls have been outstanding, just phenomenal."