Dawn Plitzuweit, the head coach of the Gophers Women’s basketball team, has a saying that you’ve probably heard if you’ve spent any time around her since getting the job in 2023.
“Be an energy giver,” he says, “not an energy taker.”
Simple right?
Plitzuweit lives it every day, though. From the mixtape playlists featuring her favorite, MC Hammer, and songs from the musical Hamilton, to her upbeat press conferences and how she bonds with her team, she’s all about giving energy, especially to the community. That was especially apparent in the Gophers’ summer workouts, during which the team was first able to engage in organized activities together.
Even before practice, the first team activity on the agenda was a trip to St. Cloud to meet with Miracle League and learn about youth and adult athletes who have learned to play baseball despite disabilities, while also cheering the ball players on.
The trip has a few purposes for the Gophers. One is to give back to the community, and another is to bond as a team. For Plitzuweit, it’s a great opportunity to show how impactful being an energy giver can be, especially for disabled athletes who have found new ways to play sports they love.
The following day, Plitzuweit has her team wake up early for a meeting and breakfast before the real practices begin. At 8:00 AM, after they feed the team, around 200 young ladies aged 6 to 13 flood the newly named “Barn” for Plitzuweit’s annual three-day basketball camp. As she welcomes the young girls, her student athletes prepare for a long day. They are the camp counselors, coaches, drill instructors, and energy bringers.
Plitzuweit expects her players to bring the energy and excite the young players.
“What a great opportunity to see what it can do right?” Plitzuweit asked me on Day 2 of the camp. “Not just for the camp, but how it can impact the rest of your life.”
As I sat with Plitzuweit, she explained further that she has her players lead every drill and trusts them to adapt and adjust it based on the skill level and ages of the girls who rotate to them. After a couple of hours of running the drills, her players get the opportunity to coach the campers as they play 2-on-2, 3-on-3, and 5-on-5 games.
“It’s funny, sometimes I’ll hear one of our student athletes tell a girl to set a screen better…” Plitzuweit laughed. “Then, I’ll see them do the same thing, and I’ll say, ‘Remember what you told that girl about the screen.’”
For the players, it’s an opportunity to bond, bring energy, and have some competition.
“I think it’s just a good way for us to stay together and know how much energy to bring with kids, and then that transfers over to practice and everything else we do,” as senior guard Grace Grocholski explained. “So, I think it’s a great way to start off the summer and with a new team.”
Mara Braun also spoke about the camp when asked who the better coach was.
“Me,” she said. “I’m kidding. No, I think all of us, honestly, Tori (McKinney) is very good with the young kids, like a lot of energy and likes little ones. But I feel like we (Grace) like the older ones because we like to teach them more.”
As the camps wrap up, Plitzuweit gathered all the campers and her team back together for a debrief, during which she again expects her players to give energy, especially since on Day 2 she had the entire group do defensive slides together. As the older players were doing slides, I heard the father of one of the campers say to someone behind me.
“(Plitzuweit) has so much energy,” he said. “She was taking charges today in drills.”
I have yet to verify with Plitzuweit if she was taking charges in drills. However, given her personality and how much she values that energy, it would be no surprise if the 53-year-old coach was still falling to the ground teaching campers to draw a charge. However, that’s not the end of the day, though. Plitzuweit then gives the campers homework each day.
Day 1 is pretty simple. She had the campers get out of their comfort zone. She asks all of them to try doing something with their off hand, writing, walking the dog, eating, anything. Just as long as they are doing something out of their comfort zone.
Day 2 fits her values perfectly. She teaches them by being an energy giver and not an energy taker. If their parents ask them to do a chore, she challenges the campers to respond with energy and positivity even if they don’t want to do it. I found out the homework isn’t just for chores, though. After I joked that “parents must love her on Day 2.”
“It can be anything,” Plitzuweit said. “Even if it’s raining out, they could say ‘those are just drops of sunshine.’”
Even on Day 3, the final day of camp, she sends them home with homework. First, she asks all the campers who paid for the camp themselves, and after thanking them for being there, she gives her assignment.
All remaining campers are to thank whoever paid for them to attend, and to do so sincerely. No mumbling, and using more than two words, they are to say thanks. As Plitzuweit explained the homework to me, she acknowledged how hard it can be for kids to talk in full sentences. Still, she pointed out that even her son, who was refereeing the game in the barn, still occasionally struggles with that.
Now, truth be told, camp is just the start for the Gophers players. After each day of camp, they practice as a team, do drills, and prepare for a big season. However, starting each day by bringing the energy and working in the community has been a chemistry-building tactic for Plitzuweit throughout her career. That has led to a lot of success, including the Gophers’ Sweet 16 run in last season’s NCAA tournament.
For Plitzuweit, though, this year’s camp was special, as she explained afterward.
“This camp this year, the little girls who were there, I thought they really brought energy, and you could feel that in there,” she said. “I think there’s quite a few girls that have been in the camps for a couple of years now, so to have them keep coming back and to see them getting better and then to see them have so much fun getting better, it’s really just a lot of fun.”
Being an energy giver will be my takeaway from camp, and because of that, it does feel fitting to end this article with some homework. Let’s all try to be a little better at energy giving this weekend. After all, Coach Plitzuweit still had a smile after doing some charge drills with the campers.
