West, East boosters come together

When it comes to sports, everyone loves a heated rivalry. But good things also can happen when rivals team up.

Thanks to the combined efforts of booster clubs from Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa West high schools, as well as the contributions of students attending the Tosa School of the Trades, the construction of team shelters at Breitlow Field should be completed on Saturday when the Trojans and Red Raiders square off at 3 p.m.

Adding shelters to Breitlow's baseball diamond was the brainchild of West parent Linda Carlson, who was inspired while watching her freshman son play on a particularly hot day last summer.

"(The fans) watching the game were sweltering, my son was sweltering; it was hard not to wonder, 'Why doesn't this field have dugouts?' " Carlson said.

Serendipitously, Carlson was in that sun-drenched frame of mind when she glanced across the park at the Tosa School of the Trades, a charter school founded in 2009 for students more interested in pursuing skilled trades than liberal arts. That's when a passing musing transformed into a dedication to action.

"It seemed like a good educational experience," said Carlson. "I thought it would be beneficial for these students to see how the (construction project) process works, how a conceptual idea progresses to actually being built."

School of the Trades Principal Jason Zurawik agreed and pitched the idea of designing team shelters to his students. The students responded and one in particular, Eric Wolterman, drafted and submitted a blueprint to Zurawik. The two shelters each cover 240 square feet (30-by-8-feet), with roof lines that reach seven feet high in the back and ascend to eight feet in the front.

Everyone on board

Along with the Tosa West Baseball Club and the Tosa East Athletic Booster Club, the organizations responsible for funding the purchase of the project's construction materials (estimated at $2,500), Zurawik took the plans before the city's review and design board, which approved the project without opposition.

However, that was just the beginning of the cooperative effort between these two rival schools, as construction of the shelters required a strong volunteer effort from parents and students.

Mark Koebernik, a contractor whose wife teaches for the school district, supplied construction equipment - included was the automatic two-man post hole digger Zurawik described as a "beast" - and, just as importantly, directed the eager but inexperienced volunteers and students.

"Mark saved us," Carlson said. "He has all the equipment and volunteered to be the construction lead. We had a lot of workers but not a lot of expertise. Mark brought in some of his own crew and directed us where to go and what to do. Without him, we would have been up a creek without a paddle."

Carlson also credited Dave Dvorak, a parent of a graduated West student (Rob) with coordinating the volunteer effort and Mike Sylvester, a Tosa East booster, with drumming up support from his side and recruiting Northway Fence owner Tom Smith, an East alumnus, to donate the fencing needed to complete the project, worth more than $1,000.

"It's the dedication of people like that, who don't directly gain themselves, that made this project possible," said Carlson, referring to local residents without school-aged children who still volunteered to contribute.

Students from the School of the Trades were also present throughout construction, providing labor where allowable but mostly soaking in the real-world lessons at hand.

Mutual benefits gained

Baseball teams from both East and West High School use the diamond at Breitlow as their home field. Freshmen games often start at 10 a.m., with junior varsity games at 1 p.m. and varsity games at 5 p.m.

"It was very energizing to see both East and West come together to help our student-athletes," said Zurawik. "It was a great overall effort from everyone."

With the beams and rafters set and only shingling of the roof left to do, the shelters are almost finished, and Zurawik was optimistic they would be completed in time for Saturday's game.

There, the lovefest between East and West parents and students will be put on hold for a few hours as the competition on the field heats up.

But it will be hard for either team's fans not to notice the fruits of their collaboration on both sides of the field.

FYI

East vs. West varsity baseball game: June 25, 3 p.m. at Breitlow Field, 12100 W. North Ave.

To learn more about the Tosa West Baseball Booster Club and Tosa East Athletic Booster Club, visit their respective websites at wauwatosawestbaseballclub.info and teboosterclub.org.

To learn more about the Tosa School of the Trades, located at 12121 W. North Ave., visit wauwatosa.k12.wi.us/schools/high/trades.