All In: Shorewood Girls Cross Country – Photographs by Lois Bielefeld

ALL IN LOI S B I E L E F E LD

ALL IN

ALL IN SHOREWOOD GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

LOI S BI E L E F E LD

ALL IN My daughter entered high school in 2014 and despite my anxiety, it was a smooth transition. I attribute this mainly to her joining the cross country running team. I was an art kid in high school and never participated in organized athletics. But even I recognized that there was something special about this team. The young women seemed to join for community first and running second. It was here that a 14-year-old could bond with new friends and navigate her formation of identity.

As an art kid often antagonized by jocks, I didn’t esteem organized sports in school, and I never thought I’d find myself creating a sports-themed body of work as an adult. Not long into it, I realized I wasn’t. Instead, I was documenting a coming-of-age project about bonding and self-development, about the safe and inclusive environment where any teenage girl could feel at home. This vibrant space is the vision and love of coach Sarah Kopplin, whom the girls affectionately call “Spence.”

I documented the Shorewood Girls Cross Country 2015 season, my daughter’s second season on the team. For over two months, I pushed myself to work in a journalistic manner. My practice previously involved composed, carefully lit portraits. Documentary photography was a new and terrifying process. Along the way, I met 61 high school girls and three inspired and dedicated coaches. I participated in a three-day camping trip, eight meets, in-home pasta dinners the night before meets (yes, with 61 girls!), bus trips to and from meets, and witnessed fascinating traditions including leg striping and a midnight run that kicked off the season.

The title, “All In” was the 2015 team motto and it symbolized more than winning. It meant embracing the culture of showing respect and kindness to every runner, regardless of what school mascot she wears. It also meant full participation in the traditions and rituals that helped the girls foster their community and feel a sense of belonging. It meant giving your all to your teammates and in turn, discovering a newfound inner strength.

Let’s be honest, running is not easy. These girls come from all levels of athleticism and ultimately they pushed themselves further than they imagined they could go. These girls and their coaches captured my heart and I feel beyond proud when I think of their journey.

Women’s sports are unfortunately over-shadowed by male sports in audience size, media coverage, budget, and pay. This is true of professional, collegiate, and high school sports and it directly communicates to our youth what is valued and more importantly undervalued within our culture.

Lois Bielefeld

To my daughter, Lydia, for being all in. And to Spence and the Shorewood Girls Cross Country team for welcoming me and my camera.

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Morgan, Kelly, Ava, Avery, Charlotte, and Team – Midnight Run 2015

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Camping Trip 2015

Ada and Azariah – Camping Trip 2015

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Camping Trip 2015

Stephanie, Lucy, Cora, Kateri, and Team – Camping Trip 2015

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Morgan and Team – Camping Trip 2015

Olivia, Julia Clare, and Team – Camping Trip 2015

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Ashley, Ava, and Team – Camping Trip 2015

Camping Trip 2015

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Lily, Azariah, and Ada – Camping Trip 2015

Camping Trip 2015

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Claire – Camping Trip 2015

Group Run Huddle – Camping Trip 2015

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Myrtles – Camping Trip 2015

Ashley, Maya, and Team – Camping Trip 2015

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Tulsi, Morgan, Maya, Isabelle, and Megan – Camping Trip 2015

Camping Trip 2015

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Active Warmup – Camping Trip 2015

Morgan and Becky – Sister Portrait 2015

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Camping Trip 2015

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Charlotte and Team – Tendick Meet 2015

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Junior Varsity Race – Arrowhead Meet 2015

Nick, Dalin and Team – Mustang Meet 2015

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Avery, Kate, and Mary Grace – Kern Meet 2015

Ava, Ada, and Team – Mustang Meet 2015

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Lucy, Olivia, Ellen, and Abby – Mustang Meet 2015

Rachel and Team – Tendick Meet 2015

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Lydia, Isabelle, and Madeline – Tendick Meet 2015

Junior Varsity Race – Arrowhead Meet 2015

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Lauren – Pewaukee Meet 2015

Claire and Olivia – Kern Meet 2015

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Griak Meet 2015

Layna, Olivia, Frannie, and Ellen – Bus to Mustang Meet 2015

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Impromptu Dance Party – Camping Trip 2015

Ashley, Mia, and Team – Griak Meet 2015

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Pasta Dinner 2015

Bus to Mustang Meet 2015

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Ashley with Greta, Ada, and Lindsey – Camping Trip 2015

Abby, Kate, Mary Grace, and Greta – Tendick Meet 2015

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Kelly and Rachel – Sister Portrait 2015

Claire and Ada – Sister Portrait 2015

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Mari and Madeline – Sister Portrait 2015

Lily and Ashley – Sister Portrait 2015

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Mary Grace and Abby – Sister Portrait 2015

Alice and Lydia – Sister Portrait 2015

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Sarah and Eva – Sister Portrait 2015

Frannie and Megan – Sister Portrait 2015

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Molly and Layna – Sister Portrait 2015

Alison and Clarity – Sister Portrait 2015

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Olivia and Lily – Sister Portrait 2015

Micaela and Lillian – Sister Portrait 2015

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Grace, Avery, and Cora – Sister Portrait 2015

Molly and Clara – Sister Portrait 2015

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Kenzie, Spence, and Nick – Coaches 2015

Molly, Alison, Olivia, Claire, and Morgan – Team Captains 2015

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Kelly and Kate – Arrowhead Meet 2015

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Tulsi, Lindsey, and Team – Tendick Meet 2015

Morgan, Meghan, Mari, Molly, Lydia and Sara – Arrowhead Meet 2015

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Ashley – Griak Meet 2015

Meghan, Morgan, and Varsity Squad – Leg Striping 2015

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Micaela, Meredith, and Zoe – Statebound 2015

Walking the Course – State Meet 2015

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Morgan and Allison – McCarty Sectionals 2015

Cora, Maddie, Mary Grace, Eva, and Greta – Hotel Room 2015

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Gillie – Griak Meet 2015

Azariah, Ada, and Team – Mustang Meet 2015

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Cora, Maya, Molly, Mary Grace, and Madeline – Arrowhead Meet 2015

Ashley – Mustang Meet 2015

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Junior Varsity Race – Mustang Meet 2015

Zoe – State Meet 2015

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WHAT IT MEANS TO BE “ALL IN” Sarah Kopplin Documenting and watching Sarah Kopplin work with the cross-country team, I was inspired by the detailed and thoughtful manner in which she organized and led the girls. Sarah’s deep devotion to both running and teaching was revealed through the development of the team, her training program, individual and group goal-setting, community building, and traditions of solidarity and friendship all of which continued to amplify each season.

Since Sarah possesses a keen understanding of teen psychology that allows her to skillfully nurture the team toward personal growth and accountability, I wanted to include her coaching philosophy in this catalogue. The following essay is, in Sarah Kopplin’s own words, the story of her twelve-year journey as a cross-country coach at Shorewood High School.

Lois Bielefeld, Milwaukee WI June 2017

When I began coaching the Girls Cross Country team at Shorewood High School in 2004 I had a specific vision to transform the culture. In 2004 the team consisted of 12 runners that were not very kind to freshmen, who had no interest in wearing school colors or jackets because they “wanted to maintain their individual identities,” and who did not particularly want to partake in summer training to prepare for the season. They also did not believe they should set or seek to achieve team focused goals such as winning Conference or making it to State. It has taken years, but the 2015 team achieved my vision and the culture has been transformed. This has

been a journey of passion and intense love to see young women grow personally and in their running. The team motto, which captains develop, sets a tone for the season and has shown the program’s metamorphosis.

The 2015 motto of “All In” has deep meaning for the team, for its history, and for all of us as individuals. Our cross country family, known as SGCC, is truly “All In” for each other. People often describe us as more than a team, we are a place. We have an environment that is inclusive, caring, supportive, challenging, fun and kind.

The 2015 motto “All In” was surrounded in controversy. The captains and I were all so passionate about helping the team to improve in their training and believed that they could aspire to win a JV Conference title and win a WIAA Division II State Team Championship that it was scary for people to articulate those goals aloud. We decided that no matter what happened, we were going to say them. We were “All In.” We wanted girls on the team to be all in for the idea that we could achieve big things. Oftentimes people do not want to articulate big goals because it is scary to think about what happens if we do not succeed in reaching them. Do we fail? We decided it was more important for people to aspire to greatness and say it aloud and work toward it and feel passion and envision it than it was to leave it unsaid and never aspire to greater things. This was a lesson in having confidence and being “All In” for yourself to have goals and to not fear failure. We decided that fear of failure is not conducive to believing in your ability to succeed. We also decided that the end was less important than the process and that striving to achieve the big goals is what is most gratifying. So, our goal was to be “All In” to win a Team State Title.

The next step was to help every team member feel like they contributed to the vision and achievement of the goals. Many people may wonder how I can convince a girl who runs an 11-minute mile and finishes dead last in a race that she is contributing to the team’s desire to win a Team State Championship. For those who do not know, only seven runners actually run on a varsity team to compete at State. How do we get the other 60+ girls to buy in to our philosophies? On our team everyone and their individual progress matters. Success inspires success. To see someone working hard, even if they are behind you in a workout or a long run is motivating. Our lead runner may finish her race 15 minutes before our last runner, but to see the effort and determination on the face of that girl who suffered on the course longer than anyone else is one of the most motivating and inspiring things anyone could witness. It makes everyone work harder.

The last runner is just as important as the first runner. Her 11-minute mile is just as long a distance as a six-minute mile. If she is not improving and seeing progress, none of us are making progress.

Another important value of our team culture is to be inclusive. I believe this is the most important. Our team is a place where every girl is welcome regardless of her speed, her natural talent, or her experience level. We welcome her regardless of who her friends are, what she looks like, how she is shaped, or who she loves. We feel it is really important for our team to be a place where women learn to build each other up and not spend time being terrible to each other. We begin this journey to connect the team and build our sense of community and to pass along the message to the new batch of runners at a team camping trip during the first week of the season. There is nothing like three days without cell phones and the internet to help a young girl realize that she can let her guard down and connect to her team. This environment encourages girls to take risks with their bodies in workouts, and in building connections to teammates. The captains and I set the tone by communicating what the team values in relationships, training and racing.

The transition back home from the trip is the beginning for the routine of daily practices after school and we help girls develop their individual goals

as they progress each week. At times over the years, goal sessions, team dinners and talks have seemed almost like therapy sessions. Each season we pair freshmen with upperclassmen so every team member has an SGCC “sister.” The team “sister” is a person who is a mentor and a support system in practices, and at school. Sisters encourage each other, give fire-ups and check in with each other after races or hard training days. This is a tradition I enjoyed as a collegiate athlete and it helped with my confidence and made me feel connected to the team. Having a team sister has nothing to do with running. We want everyone to be all in to the concept of being connected to the team.

Another aspect of team culture is to help girls feel good about their image and confident as athletes. So many girls do not feel confident in their physical being and do not view themselves as athletes. Often runners talk about their weight or are self-conscious about running in their sports bras without a shirt. Being female is difficult with the insecurities fueled by public perceptions about female bodies. Girls feel too skinny or too thick, too tall or too short, too muscular or not muscular enough. We want them to view running as something their bodies can and will do, no matter their shape or size. The goal is to help our team view their bodies as strong for running. We strive to create a culture with positive views and self-talk about body image. This is paramount to feeling confident as an athlete. Young women change the way they see and talk about their bodies if they are surrounded by other women who think and talk in the same way. Strong will always trump skinny on our team.

While training begins over the summer pre-season, it is totally optional.

Surprisingly, we had 20-30 girls show up every day last summer. It was inspiring. We train hard in practices every day, running on the pavement, through the wooded trails and up hills along the lakefront in Milwaukee.

The training is so difficult that race days seem like a break. We have a saying that was gifted to us from NCAA Cross Country Champion Molly Seidl who visited the team in 2014, “Embrace the suck.” This is what you do when things get terribly difficult. You just step up to that pain with

open arms and give it a hug. Let the hurt happen. This is a difficult thing to do and it helps each runner have the support of their team to do so. The team runs an average of 20-35 miles per week. Not one girl would do this without lots of team encouragement. The support the team provides during difficult moments encourages girls to push their bodies until they can go no further.

Often, the season’s non-running/team building events become the most memorable. Once, after our longest ten-mile training run we gathered for ice cream. I watched the smiling, sweaty team licking ice cream cones, each face fully alive with the satisfaction of pure accomplishment. Then there was the toilet paper on my house and trees that my seniors lovingly distributed in the middle of the night, the wild costumes at the Roy Griak Invitational that our JV team wore to inspire cheers in support of our Varsity team as they faced a tough race experience, the post-workout weight training days that turned into a dance party meets Jane Fonda-style workout in our school’s weight room, and the jokes, nicknames and stories about “nature peeing.” While these things have little to do with training or races, they have everything to do with building a sense of fun and community. Sometimes it feels like we forget that we are actually here to put on a jersey and compete.

Our race days are always simultaneously stressful and rewarding. It is amazing to see the range of emotion that a runner can go through on race days. The team is there to support each other through every moment.

There is thick anticipation that hangs in the air leading up to the starting pistol each week. Then there is the uncertainty and doubt about taking risks in the scariest moments of a race. Then there is the laughing, smiling, pure exhaustion and often crying that is seen at the finish line. The emotional intensity of a race is something that I think everyone should feel. It really shows you who you are inside. We always say that the way you step up to your fears during a race is a true metaphor for any challenges you will find outside of running. We try to help them focus on racing just like you train in practice: run as a pack, run in training groups, break the race down into manageable segments, run each mile separately and just be in your moment and focus on confidence and your breath. The roller coaster of emotions on

race days allows the girls to lean on each other to get through their doubts and fears. Running through the threshold of pain in a race and crossing the finish line is the most rewarding feeling of accomplishment.

Every year we ask ourselves, “Why do we run?” Running is not easy. Running hurts most of the time and it is difficult. The most interesting thing about running is that nobody can make you better at it but yourself. So every year when we discuss this important question, they say similar things, “We feel strong. We feel connected. We feel accomplished. We feel fearless. We feel transformed. We feel healthy.” The team is a place for acceptance.

In 2015 our team of 60+ girls decided to be “All In.” They showed up at the races as a sea of red jackets with the Greyhound logo proudly stitched across the chest. Girls walked the course arm in arm and joked and smiled between talking race strategy and finding a surge spot on the course. They dominated starting lines in JV races, ran in packs that swallowed up other teams and, in most races they entered they crossed the finish line in races as one of the best teams. They were able to achieve a JV Conference title and a podium finish of 2nd place for the first time in school history. The first runner stood on the podium as one of the fastest runners in the state, and the last runner kissed the team trophy at the State awards ceremony.

We are SGCC. We are “All In.”

2015 TEAM COACH Sarah “Spence” Kopplin

ASSISTANT COACHES Nick Szczech Kenzie Vicker

STUDENTS Anshus, Lydia Apfelbach, Alice Berg, Charlotte Berzsenyi, Sophie Bockhorst, Zoe Boehm, Emma Bryant, Azariah Burghardt, Molly Carlson, Marlee Cheever, Kate Curtis, Meghan Davis, Lauren Eder, Molly Florsheim, Morgan Gamblin, Morgan Gayner, Micaela Giordano, Maya Gravelle, Maddie Grizzle, Megan Gruenewald, Lily

Guequierre, Clara Hade, Kateri Hamrick, Sarah Haubrich, Eva Heinen, Cora Holbrook, Olivia Holmes, Avery Jonen, Becky Keane, Lily Kessenich, Mari Kinnard, Ashley Kirn, Dalin Kostic, Sara Lawnicki, Maya Liegel, Julia Clare Lock, Morgan Maierle, Greta Merkel, Lucy Nesler, Frannie O’Brien, Grace Oechler, Meredith

Oldfather, Ada Pergl, Mia Poole, Olivia Reinhoffer, Alison Reinhoffer, Ava Repins, Lindsey Robrecht, Rachel Ruzicka, Stephanie Saigh, Clarity Schill, Abby Shah, Tulsi Stowe, Claire Stowe, Kelly Terrink, Ellen Wagner, Lillian Wagner, Mary Grace Wang, Layna Wilson, Isabelle Wilson, Madeline Yanoff, Gillie

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Charles Allis Art Museum was designed in 1911 by prominent Milwaukee architect Alexander Eschweiler for Charles Allis, the first president of the Allis-Chalmers Company, and his wife Sarah. This unique Tudor-style mansion and art collection was built with the sole purpose of bequeathing it to the public to delight, educate, and inspire. The permanent collection features 19th century French and American paintings, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, Renaissance bronzes, Japanese netsuke, and original antique furnishings.

Copyright ©2017 by the Charles Allis & Villa Terrace Museums, Inc. All rights reserved Library of Congress Control Number: 2017947066 Printed by Burton and Mayer, Menomonee Falls, WI

The Charles Allis Art Museum is a rich cultural institution that serves the entire Milwaukee community. Museum exhibitions and programs celebrate Milwaukee’s cultural diversity and Wisconsin art and artists. With strong private and public support, and ongoing help from the Friends of the Charles Allis, the museum continues to grow and flourish.

Ms. Bielefeld’s work exhibited courtesy of: Portrait Society Gallery 207 E Buffalo St, Suite 526 Milwaukee, WI 53202 www.portraitsocietygallery.com

The Charles Allis Art Museum 1801 N Prospect Ave Milwaukee, WI 53202 414-278-8295 www.charlesallis.org Board Chair: Steven Delears Executive Director: John Sterr Senior Curator: Shana McCaw Assistant Curator and Collections Manager: Jenille Junco Marketing Manager: Kayle Karbowski Curatorial Advisory Committee: Melissa Dorn-Richards, Shelby Keefe, Ken Treis Curatorial Interns: Taytum Markee and Kelsey Kuehn

Published by The Charles Allis Art Museum in tandem with the exhibition All In: Shorewood Girls Cross Country – Photographs by Lois Bielefeld July 20 to October 22, 2017

Lois would like to personally thank: · Mark Brautigam for his countless hours of working on this exhibit · 2015 Shorewood Girls Cross Country team and parents · Sarah “Spence” Kopplin · Lydia Anshus · Shana McCaw, Jenille Junco and Kayle Karbowski from the Charles Allis Museum · Debra Brehmer from Portrait Society Gallery · My wife, Jackie, for continuously supporting my work · Everyone who donated shoes and items for the installation Catalogue Credits Editors: Debra Brehmer and Barbara Smith Design: Mark Brautigam This book is typeset in Trade Gothic and Adobe Garamond.