Pioneers’ Ranney gets hands-on experience during championship season

Platteville, Wis.- The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Men's Basketball team picked up another Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season title and post-season title. It is the Pioneers' 22nd regular season title and third WIAC post-season tournament title. The Pioneers also picked up some young fans in the Southwest part of the state along the way.

Senior Alex Ranney (Waterloo, Wisconsin/Lake Mills High School) spends two days a week at Saint Joseph's Catholic School teaching physical education to children in 4K to eighth grade.

Saint Joseph's – a small school located between Hazel Green, Wisconsin, and Dubuque, Iowa – does not have a full-time physical education teacher, so Principal Barb Wills reached out to UW-Platteville's Health and Human Performance Department head Dr. Scott Ringgenberg, asking for students who may want to experience some hands-on learning.

"Our relationship with UW-Platteville has developed into a strong, as well as helpful, relationship," Wills said. "Dr. Ringgenberg has been so easy to work with. In the summer, he will forward me names and contact information of possible students who would work well for our school, and then I get in contact with them to see who would work best with our school."

Ranney was on the list in the summer. He accepted the position to take what he has learned in the classroom and try it first hand, as well as experiment with new ideas.

"The head of the HHP department, Scott Ringgenberg, reached out to me with the opportunity to possibly teach physical education at Saint Joe's and use it as an independent study credit towards graduation," Ranney said. "I was only supposed to do it during the fall semester, but Saint Joe's gave me the opportunity to do it during the spring semester as well."

Ranney has been a part of three NCAA tournament teams, three regular season WIAC titles, and two WIAC post-season tournament titles. The Pioneers would have been selected for a fourth straight NCAA tournament if it were not cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the fall semester and leading into the spring semester, Ranney and the winter sports were unsure if they would have a season to compete in. The WIAC cancelled the fall sports and postponed the start of the winter sports. When the WIAC announced that winter sports would start and play a shortened season, Ranney's schedule became a little more hectic.

Ranney balanced a full class load, practice, games and teaching twice a week at Saint Joseph's.

"My schedule was very hectic, between basketball, teaching and taking 17 credits this semester," he said. "With the addition of the business minor and added courses, it has not been easy budgeting my time. I am very grateful that Saint Joe's has been willing to work around my schedule and fit teaching in on my time, not to mention dealing with COVID on top of all of it. That just made it more chaotic."

Ranney has finished a majority of his HHP requirements, and will be finished with his classroom learning at the end of the semester. All that is left is a full semester of student-teaching in the fall of 2021, for which he will soon find out where he is placed.

Ranney is just one of the many HHP majors who have taken advantage of the relationship between the two schools. Wills has seen the growth and willingness to change when something isn't working. "Alex is not afraid to try new activities and adapt if things don't go well," Wills said. "During one of his classes, he was working on a skill with the students and the students were having a difficult time with the skill, and a few could have been injured. Alex realized that he had to adapt to the situation to teach the skill. He realized the activity did not go well and came up with a new activity."

"I am very appreciative for this opportunity; it is incredibly beneficial for my future in teaching," Ranney said. "I can try new techniques and activities before even getting my first job. Obviously not everything I try works, but sometimes the best teachers are failures."

Other qualities that Wills has seen is the personality, attitude, and Ranney's ability to connect with not only the students, but the whole Saint Joseph's staff. "He always has a smile and greets me every morning with a smile," Wills said. "He is a very positive person. We will chat every morning he is here. When he was in his walking boot with an injury, I remember him saying 'it could be worse, I will get through this.' What an awesome attitude for someone so young."

"He can talk to anyone, from our 4k students to our seventh and eighth grade students," Wills stated. "This is a great skill to have and will help him as he moves towards starting his career in life."

Ranney uses his athletic background to connect with students. "The students will ask him how his team is doing, and Alex takes an interest in the students' sports and activities," Wills said.

Ranney credits the HHP department for preparing him for the opportunity. "I have experienced all the classes that HHP has to offer," he said. "The entire department does a great job of providing us classes that correlate to the real world. The opportunities and situations that they put us in throughout the degree program prepare us for teaching in different ways. One class that really benefited me teaching at Saint Joe's is Elementary Methods with Susanna Swenson. She does a great job of giving us real life experiences that we can translate to real world situations."

A college athlete teaching young students who barely stand as tall as his waist could be intimidating for young students. Wills noticed Ranney's ability to connect with the young students to create a positive classroom.

"Alex makes sure that all of the students are participating, and he helps them if they are struggling with a skill," Wills said. "He teaches four different classes within the short time period he is here. He has to adapt from a class of seventh and eighth graders all the way down to a class of 4K students. He is always prepared and ready for each level that he teaches. He also is not afraid to participate right along with the students, but still maintains that leadership position at the same time. I love how he will take some of the little students by the hand and run with them in order to encourage and help them participate."

As the spring semester finishes, Ranney will move on to student-teaching in the fall and another student will teach at Saint Joseph's.  "We have always had excellent students from UW-Platteville who are interested in helping our students learn and grow," she said. "They have taught the students skills and activities that will help them as they continue to grow and mature. St. Joseph's has been truly blessed by this program, and I hope that we can continue it well into the future."

Ranney will be back for a fifth season as the Pioneers look to add another WIAC championship to the trophy case, all while some of his smallest students will be his biggest fans.