MHC Dish From the Pitch 2013 MHC Dish From the Pitch 5

WEEK 5- June 23, 2013

COACH TOOMEY HELPS CULTIVATE
THE PERFECT SPORT
by Aislinn Leonard

Any
one
of us who came
up through the
youth league, and
those who played
in
the
still
fledgling
adult
league from 2000
to 2005, knows
what
an
encouraging,
supportive,
and
interesting
guy
Dan Toomey is.
As an MHC U15
coach, Stars and
Stripes
Honor
Flight
board
member,
and
Wisconsin
USO
supporter;
he’s
involved in such a
wide variety of
things that it’s
hard to imagine
one person so
willing and so
able to give as
much as he does.

In
November
of
1999, a friend of
Dan’s,
Chad
Kooch, invited him

to play a game of
hurling. Dan says
he
arrived
at
Riverside
High
School
to
a
“collage of people
including
Doug
Berigan, towering
over
his
opponents,
and
Matt Larsen, who
was wearing a
blue
skateboard
helmet!” Dan says
he thought, “What
is this?” as he
looked across the
field watching the
game.
“I
was
handed
a
39”
hurley
and
marked up against
Russ
Fink.
I
blocked
three
shots from him
and
after
the
game when we all
went
to
drink
together,
I
thought ‘This is
the
perfect
sport.’”

Coach Dan “Ring of Fire” Toomey