Not long ago, Mason Stokke and Terrin Vavra were young aspiring athletes looking for advice on how to realize their dreams.
Last Wednesday, the two Menomonie natives were on the other end of things as they spoke to several dozen youngsters at ETS Performance in Menomonie.
ETS Performance is an athletic training organization with locations in five different states, with Menomonie being one of seven in Wisconsin. Stokke and Vavra utilize ETS’ facilities and spoke of the company’s benefits and also took questions from the audience and posed for photos. Stokke is a former Menomonie football and wrestling standout who went on play fullback for the University of Wisconsin and was signed out of college by the Carolina Panthers in 2021. In the spring, Stokke will get another chance at his professional football dreams when he plays for the Pittsburgh Maulers in the United States Football League. Vavra recently completed his first season in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles, where he hit .258 with a .340 on-base percentage in 40 games and was a hockey and baseball star in his high school career in Menomonie. Both Stokke and Vavra work with ETS as professional athletes and were excited to be able to share their experiences.
“I know when I was growing up I was in those seats looking up,” Vavra said. “It wasn’t necessarily at ETS, but it might’ve been somewhere else. I was the one sitting there listening to the guys speak and just in awe and trying to take what I could and hopefully I was able to provide that for them tonight.”
Stokke first connected with ETS as he trained leading up to the 2021 NFL Draft and liked the results he was seeing. He returned with the organization after being released by the Carolina Panthers later in the year and works at its Middleton location as a performance coach as he prepares for his next chance at pro football.
Stokke’s Badgers have been in the news throughout the fall amid a coaching change. Paul Chryst — who Stokke played for from 2016-20 — was fired in early October. Jim Leonhard took over as interim coach and led the team throughout the rest of the regular season with Wisconsin hiring Luke Fickell a few weeks ago. Leonhard announced on Tuesday evening he would not be returning to the Wisconsin coaching staff after the team’s bowl game later this month.
“Outside looking in (it’s) hard to see the coaches go,” Stokke said. “Those are coaches that I really respected and really liked as a player. So it’s hard to see them go. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like they brought in a good coach. I think that’s good.”
Menomonie native and Menomonie ETS director of operations Neico Stokke — a former stellar high school athlete in his own right who went on to play football at Minnesota State University-Mankato — spoke to the group before the others shared their experiences.
Once the speaking was done, the players they fielded questions — everything from the toughest opponent they have faced to advice for three-sport athletes — and posed for a group photo with the youngsters and also took time to sign autographs and chat.
“It’s very special coming back,” Mason Stokke said. “Growing up here is a special place I call home here and I can remember going to things like this, camps and such and having a role model (with) a guy that’s done it before come talk in front of me and I’m thinking how cool it was and taking his words of advice. So to be able to do that is very special to me.”
Full article can be found at: https://chippewa.com/community/dunnconnect/sports/local-sports-menomonie-natives-stokke-vavra-return-to-speak-about-athletic-experiences/article_deaaa74b-b007-5f30-953e-f4f8fe513395.html