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.
Marian Avenges Season's Lone Loss in Clinching 3rd-Straight Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 19, 2022
BATTLE CREEK – Izzy Busignani spent most of the Division 1 Volleyball Final on Saturday smashing the ball through the court at Kellogg Arena.
But when it came time to close out Bloomfield Hills Marian’s third straight title, the sophomore went with finesse.
“I saw a triple block in front of me, and I saw that the defense was back on their heels, so I knew that if I tipped it short, it would either be out of system or it would go straight down,” Busignani said. “I was just kind of watching it and waiting to see what the result was.”
Busignani’s 27th kill on the day was a tip over the block that the Northville back line couldn’t control, ending a 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-11 victory for Marian.
The win avenged top-ranked Marian’s only loss of the season, and gave the program its fifth Finals title.
“The biggest thing we talked about is that this is our home court,” Marian coach Mayssa Cook said. “Yes, we were the home team on the scoreboard, but we’ve been here now, our third year in a row, so this is our home court, and we knew we had that advantage. We had the experience of playing on this stage, in this gym. We know the way it smells, it looks, it feels, all that stuff.”
That experience came through in the third set, when Northville (47-4) looked to be in command, taking a 19-12 lead. The Kalamazoo Christian student section – waiting for its team to play in the Division 3 Final – had even joined the smaller group of students from Northville to put some more energy behind the Mustangs.
But Marian (49-1) got its own boost from the Pewamo-Westphalia students section, and rattled off seven straight points – six on the serve of senior Lauren Heming – to put Northville on its heels. Not long after, a pair of kills from Busignani closed out a 25-22 set and gave Marian a 2-1 lead.
“That’s not the first time that’s happened,” Marian senior setter Ava Sarafa said of the student section invasions. “Last year we were staying at the same hotel and we had multiple schools come and watch us from the stands. I thought the Marian students did a really good job of being loud, but adding that student section on both sides upped the amount of momentum that each team had. It didn’t increase the pressure, but it also just lightens the vibe and makes you really pumped up. It also fueled us a lot, having that extra support on our side.”
From there, Marian would roll, dominating the fourth set on its way to the title.
“I think they got mad,” Northville coach Sarah Lindstrom said of Marian. “A team like that, when they’re angry, is a scary team. You just kind of saw them realize, ‘We’re not going to let Northville do this to us.’ That’s at least how it felt for us. You have to give kudos to Mayssa for controlling their emotion and realizing a team that can be down to a team as good as mine, to get that many points and come back, you have to give credit to them.”
Busignani’s 27 kills led the Marian attack, and she also added 20 digs, tied for the team lead with Heming, who added four aces. Schomer added 14 kills and 17 digs, while Sarafa had 45 assists and 10 digs, and Molly Banta had 14 digs and three aces.
“Kids that don’t normally make spectacular digs and defensive plays were making them,” Cook said. “It was so beautiful to finally see us play the kind of defense – and I won’t name what schools – but there’s many times this season I said, ‘So and so plays defense like that,’ or ‘Their program is playing defense consistently point for point, there’s no reason we’re not, other than we’re choosing not to.’ It was so beautiful to see all our hitters be huge contributors in set 3 and 4, and all our defenders be contributors. Every kid went on a serving run. More than any year, this has felt like a true team effort.”
The Marian defense struggled to solve Northville star hitter Abby Reck early in the match, and she still managed to finish with 21 kills. But Marian eventually found a way.
“They started scrapping, they got a closed block,” Reck said. “We were out of system a lot. They started serving super aggressive, so our pass faltered a little bit. As soon as that happened, they can set up and it’s pretty hard to hit around. They’re a great team.”
Reck added 19 digs and three aces for Northville, which was making its first Finals appearance. Avry Nelson had 12 kills and three blocks, Taryn Rice had 20 digs, and Greta McKee and Ashlee Gnau each had 13.
PHOTOS (Top) Bloomfield Hills Marian’s Mckenzie Swanson (5) and Izzy Busignani (16) put up a block during the Mustangs’ Division 1 championship match win Saturday. (Middle) Northville’s Abby Reck (17) sends a kill attempt at Swanson and Ella Schomer (12). (Below) Marian celebrates its third-straight Finals victory.