Performance: Camden-Frontier's Jordan Stump
November 2, 2018
Jordan Stump
Camden-Frontier junior – Volleyball
Stump did a lot of many things well in leading Camden-Frontier on Saturday to clinch its first league championship in more than a decade, filling the stat sheet with 36 kills, 46 assists, six aces and 38 digs during the Southern Central Athletic Association Tournament. The Redskins, then ranked No. 5 in Division 4, beat rival North Adams-Jerome in the semifinal and No. 3 Battle Creek St. Philip in the championship match, earning Stump the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
The 5-foot-6 junior joins sophomore Heather Shaw as a setter in Camden-Frontier’s 6-2 alignment, allowing both to direct the offense and pile up kills as well. Stump is averaging 4.8 assists and 3.1 kills per game with a .322 hitting efficiency and .897 serving percentage. The win over St. Philip avenged an earlier sweep by the Tigers at the start of October, when the Redskins were ranked No. 1 in Division 4 by the state coaches association. Saturday’s win and the league title are just the latest highlights from an impressive run for a team that started this season with eight players and has seen three, including Stump, work through ankle injuries. Camden-Frontier is 38-5-4 heading into tonight’s District Final against Pittsford, and moved up to No. 3 in the Division 4 rankings heading into the postseason.
Stump is a second-generation player for longtime Redskins coach Dawn Follis. Jordan’s mother Heather played for Follis and came back for a second run as junior varsity coach this fall, and she stepped in to guide the team during Saturday’s SCAA championship run. It was the first time Jordan had played for her mom – Jordan has been on varsity all three years of high school and is a three-time all-league first-team selection. She also has begun coaching, at the club level, and spends much of her off-court time and energy raising and showing livestock at the statewide level with her family. Stump is considering studying agri-nutrition or criminal justice after high school – but has plenty of time to decide and plenty of volleyball left to play with this season’s run and high expectations for next fall as well.
Coach Dawn Follis said: “Jordan, as well as many of her teammates, have put in endless years of extra work and dedication to make this year possible, and it has been such a joy to see all of their work come full round. Jordan started in the third grade playing club ball as well as managing my varsity team. Ironically, her mother was my first setter when I came to Camden-Frontier 29 years ago, so setting runs in her blood. Jordan not only has very good volleyball skills, but she has a high IQ of the game. She will come off the court often with great suggestions of how to beat the defense or score against the blockers. She doesn't power the ball through, but has a great court sense and knows where the holes are and can place the ball in those areas. Jordan not only sets and hits well, but many times has turned games around for us at the serving line. She is my floor general and has led her team this year to an unforgettable season.”
Performance Point: “Our team is really small, and I really enjoy that because we'll walk into a gym and everyone underestimates us. Our coach wasn't there on Saturday because her daughter's Senior Night was that night (Kasey Follis plays at Spring Arbor University), so as a team it was cool because we all just stepped up because we knew what needed to be done. And it was kind’ve a now-or-never situation. As a manager, I've always watched the older girls almost beat St. Phil, and they’ve come up just a little bit short. So I was like, you know, it's our time to do it. And when we played, it never crossed my mind, ‘What happens if we don't win this?’ It was just pure determination, and I think my adrenaline was so high. We just kept going, and it was a blast.”
‘Coolest mom of all-time’: “It was pretty cool to have my mom alongside and experience that with her. She's what got me into (volleyball). When I was littler – we live in a log cabin that has a tall ceiling – she kinda started me in the house, and we played there. Then she became the (JV) coach my eighth grade year, so it's just been really fun to watch her grow. We've kinda grown together – she'll bounce drills off of me, be like what do you think about this, and I'll go to her and be like, how do you think we should run this? It's just been really fun to experience that with my mom. … Passing, setting, and then it got to the point because our ceiling comes together at an arch, and I'd be jump-serving at the ceiling. Many broken blinds ... but she says, ‘Oh well.’ – it's made me a better player. It was just fun growing up. She started me in the third grade, just peppering back and forth. … We didn’t really tell my dad. It actually taught me a lot of control, because I didn't want to break stuff, so that's where I think I got a lot of my ball control from – so I didn't break things in the house.”
Building for something big: “It’s just been a great experience, coming from a small school, and having all the support behind us, and just watching us grow. I think that's one cool thing about volleyball, is watching the team and watching them grow and improve as time goes on. It's just been really fun, especially bringing up newer players and getting them into the group. When it all comes together, it's just a great experience. I love it. … Our overall goal is just to go as far as we can and work as hard as we can. Initially yes, it would be great to go all the way, but we're just going to keep on doing what we're doing and work every day and work super hard and see how far that takes us.”
Making the offense go: “I love setting, because when you get that perfect set, and your hitter puts it in, it's just a great feeling. Hitting is kinda secondary (for me), I'd say, because I'm not super tall. So I do have to find my way around the court and be smart about where I place the balls, because I can't go up and just go out swinging. But I still enjoy both very much.”
Family show: “We have a small farm; it's kinda my farm. I really want to raise show cattle when I get older, so when I turned 9 we started buying some cows and grew that little farm. We have 11 commercial cows that calve every year and we raise them and we sell them. My parents are a big help with everything that I do. My sister is involved. … We're big on family help and doing it together. My parents enjoy it do, so they support me in whatever I want to do, and that's pretty great.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2018-19 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Past 2018-19 honorees
October 25: Danielle Staskowski, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep golf - Read
October 18: Adam Bruce, Gladstone cross country - Read
October 11: Ericka VanderLende, Rockford cross country - Read
October 4: Kobe Clark, Schoolcraft football - Read
September 27: Jonathan Kliewer, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern soccer - Read
September 20: Kiera Lasky, Bronson volleyball - Read
September 13: Judy Rector, Hanover-Horton cross country - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Camden-Frontier’s Jordan Stump prepares to serve during a match this season. (Middle) Stump, right, works to put the ball past a block. (Photos courtesy of the Camden-Frontier athletic department.)
Wroubel Continues to Champion Athletics
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 20, 2016
Betty Wroubel still remembers the first pop fly she caught 57 years ago.
Perhaps fleeting for most, it was one of the earliest memorable moments that eventually led to a career stretching four decades and impacting thousands of high school athletes across our state.
Wroubel – one of Michigan’s winningest high school coaches in both volleyball and softball with more than 2,000 combined victories – also has served as an athletic director and in various other leadership positions since beginning her educational career in 1975. Her contributions to educational athletics over the last 40 years will be celebrated Sunday, Feb. 7, when she receives the MHSAA’s 29th Women In Sports Leadership Award during the WISL banquet at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West.
“When I look at all of those names (of past WISL winners), knowing what they meant to the advancement of girls sports in schools and the total sports culture, it boggles my mind that I can be mentioned in those,” Wroubel said. “I’m not so sure I belong in there. I’ve had great leaders; my high school teachers and coaches were great leaders. I know nothing more than to work hard to make things better, sometimes inch by inch, sometimes two inches forward and one back – and sometimes leaps forward.”
The honor, given annually by the MHSAA Representative Council, recognizes the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics.
Wroubel, a 1971 graduate of Clawson High School, first returned to teach and coach at her alma mater, and currently serves as the athletic director, varsity volleyball and softball coach at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep. She also continues to teach sports medicine and leadership classes at the school.
She’s served in the athletic department at Notre Dame Prep since the school opened in 1994 and also coached and served as athletic director at the former Pontiac and then Oakland Catholic high schools after her stint as a coach and teacher at Clawson. She’s third on the MHSAA coaching victories list for volleyball with a record of 1,306-290-122. In 2015, she became the 14th coach in MHSAA softball history to win at least 800 games and sits 12th on that career wins list with a record of 826-293-3.
Wroubel also has been a registered MHSAA official in both volleyball and softball since the 1975-76 school year and has held numerous leadership positions as part of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, her sports’ coaches associations and the Detroit Catholic High School League. She’s hosted numerous MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program sessions and mentored young officials as part of the MHSAA Legacy Program.
“Betty Wroubel has dedicated much of the last four decades to assisting student-athletes and is passionate about the mission of educational athletics,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts said. “Education is her life’s work, and that remains clear in her emphasis on coaches training and desire to continue teaching students as well – both in the classroom and on the volleyball court and softball diamond. We’re pleased to honor her with the Women In Sports Leadership Award.”
Wroubel earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Central Michigan University and her master’s in classroom teaching from Michigan State University. She was a five-sport athlete at Clawson High School – participating in basketball, volleyball, track & field, tennis and softball – and went on to play volleyball, tennis and field hockey at CMU.
Among those who provided Wroubel early mentorship was Judy Hacker, a teacher and coach at Clawson from 1962-95 who died in 2011 and like Wroubel was a pioneer in girls athletics during their early growth in the 1970s and 80s. Wroubel also was impacted athletically by her parents Marshall and Lucille; Marshall was a recognized youth baseball coach in Clawson and with Lucille provided opportunities for Betty to compete during an era when they were only first starting to emerge.
During her early years coaching and teaching at Clawson, Wroubel also worked as an assistant athletic director at Pontiac Catholic. She then took over as fulltime athletic director there, leaving her alma mater, but continued to pass on those many lessons learned to another generation including her Pontiac Catholic volleyball coach at the time, Dianne Phillips – who has gone on to rank 11th on the MHSAA volleyball coaching wins list with 986 victories mostly over the last 17 seasons at Dearborn High.
“Betty has dedicated her expertise, time and energy to coaching hundreds of young women in more than just sport, but in life lessons as well,” Phillips said. “Betty’s leadership skills and grounded philosophies are a model to all who aspire to teach and coach. The positive impact Betty has made on the lives of so many young people can never be overestimated.”
Wroubel led teams to MHSAA championships in two decades; her Pontiac Catholic softball team won the Class C title in 1983, and her Notre Dame Prep volleyball teams won Class B titles in fall 2007 and 2013. In 2010, Notre Dame Prep dedicated its new athletic facility in her name: the Betty A. Wroubel Athletic Performance Center.
She is a member of various Halls of Fame – she’s been inducted by the Detroit Catholic League, Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association, Michigan High School Coaches Association, Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association and the Michigan chapter of the United States Specialty Sports Association. She received the MHSAA’s Allen W. Bush Award in 2010 for her continuing service to high school athletics, with the WISL Award her second from the association.
Her administrative efforts were recognized twice by the Detroit Catholic League with its Tom Kelly Athletic Director of the Year Award in 1994 and 2007. Wroubel also was named National High School Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2007 and state coach of the year by MIVCA for Class B in 2007, 2013 and 2014. She also was named Michigan High School Coaches Association Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2014.
Wroubel served on the Catholic League’s executive board and as an officer for more than 30 years and on a variety of MHSAA committees during her long tenure as an athletic director. She has served on boards for the statewide volleyball coaches association for more than 30 years and statewide softball coaches association for more than 25.
As would be expected by a coach with such success across multiple sports, Wroubel remains an ardent supporter of athletes playing as many as possible despite a recent shift toward specialization.
“By (coaching both), I hope it sends a nonverbal message that if I can coach, they can certainly play multiple sports,” Wroubel said. “That’s been the biggest change; kids are so specialized. The pressure is on us (coaches) to do more and more training. But during the school year, we don’t do anything; I don’t get out a softball. That tells them to go play basketball, ski, go cheer, go bowl.”
Wroubel also volunteers for her church and the American Red Cross, and with a local food bank and soup kitchen.
The first Women In Sports Leadership Award was presented in 1990.
Past recipients
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
2013 – Barbara Beckett, Traverse City
2014 – Teri Reyburn, DeWitt
2015 – Jean LaClair, Bronson
PHOTOS: (Top) Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball coach Betty Wroubel, left, celebrates the 2013 Class B championship with her team. (Middle) Wroubel instructs her players during the Semifinal match that season.