The following story is from the December 2019 edition of the "Roar Report". It is authored by Gary D'Amato, the former longtime sportswriter and columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who joined the staff as the feature writer for the Roar Report in the Fall of 2018.

Alyssa Fischer: Leading by Example

What does it say about redshirt senior Alyssa Fischer that she has been elected co-captain of the Milwaukee's women's basketball team three years running despite starting only two games in her career and never, until this season, averaging even 10 minutes per game?

What it says is that points and rebounds wind up in box scores, soon to be forgotten by all but a few, but that character is forever.

Not to discount her contributions on the court, because "Fisch" gives the Panthers energy and a deadly shooting touch off the bench, but her greatest value to the team is her infectious positivism and how much she cares about the people in her orbit. Teammates follow her lead because they know that in every situation, on and off the court, she has their best interests at heart. They trust her implicitly.

"She connects," said Panthers Coach Kyle Rechlicz. "She connects individually with every single player on the team, every member of our coaching staff. She just has this ability to reach beyond the surface and dig deeper and really get to know you as a person.

"When we do captain voting, we get our player votes and our coaches votes and she has 98 percent of the people voting her into captainship. That's a true testament of somebody that is genuine. She's a remarkable leader, probably the best I've ever had."

Fischer, a 5-foot-9 guard, grew up on a dairy farm outside Manitowoc and witnessed in her grandparents, father and uncles the importance of a good work ethic.
"I saw how hard they had to work," she said. "I didn't necessarily have to do a lot of work on the farm. I found it kind of fun to feed calves and rock pick and things like that. But where I saw the hard work come from is my uncles and dad and grandpa working their hardest at all hours of the day."

A star basketball and volleyball player at Manitowoc Lincoln High School, she made her first recruiting visit to UWM and came away so impressed that on every subsequent recruiting trip, she compared the school du jour to Milwaukee. It became apparent to her that if UWM was the standard, then that's where she needed to be.

Fischer played in all 32 games as a freshman but suffered a season-ending foot injury nine games into her sophomore season and was granted a medical hardship waiver.  The injury and rehab forced her to look at basketball through a different lens.

"It was an extended healing process, not knowing if I was going to ever play without pain again," she said. "I think getting hurt, ironically, was a blessing in disguise for a lot of different reasons, in terms of not finding my identity in just a sport and knowing that I'm loved and adored first and foremost by a God who loves me. My faith is huge in knowing that.

"That injury kind of taught me you're going to be whatever you can be for the success of the team. Keeping that mindset as a competitor – the team's success rather than just as an individual."

That's not to say Fischer hasn't had moments of individual brilliance. Last year, in a 73-71 loss to Saint Mary's, she exploded for a career-high 23 points off the bench, hitting 7 of 13 three-point attempts and grabbing eight rebounds. She almost single-handedly kept the Panthers in the game.

"She was just lights out and our team was looking for her every single time down the court," Rechlicz said. "It was, like, 'Where's Alyssa? We have to find her and get her the ball.' It was just cash, and they were difficult shots. Some of them were six feet behind the three-point line, hands in her face.

"It was just really fun to see her be able to shine the way that we know she can shine."

Fischer has been instant offense off the bench on a number of other occasions, but ask her to name her favorite moment on the court and she speaks of the "joy of wanting to play" or the thrill of seeing a teammate hit a difficult shot. Ask her how she thinks she best contributes and she talks about relationship-building.

Shots fall or don't fall. Teams win or lose. Fischer is all about what happens after the buzzer sounds and the arena lights go out.

"I don't think being a leader means having a title," she said. "I think it all has to do with how you're supporting and helping others be the best they can be. A lot of times it's doing things maybe you don't want to do, but you know it's beneficial for someone else. That's been kind of where my qualities have come in, is just being there for other people and genuinely loving others in that process."

She has naturally gravitated to leadership roles outside basketball. She is president of UWM's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has been involved in Athletes in Action, the Ignite Leadership Institute, the Athletic Board Committee and Nonprof-IT, which helps nonprofits in the Milwaukee area with their websites.

"I'm not involved in anything I'm not passionate about," she said. "The things I'm involved in revolve around the people that I love. The different boards and committees that I'm in, it's just kind of preparing me for my future and I get to learn from some really genuine people. It doesn't seem like I'm that busy because it's super fun. I love learning."
Speaking of that, Fischer managed to complete her undergraduate degree in 3½ years, with a double major in psychology and information science and technology. She has been on the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll every year and is working toward her master's degree in administrative leadership.

"I love actually doing homework," she said. "I like feeling productive. I like cleaning my room."

Talk about self-motivated high achievers. Not intentionally, of course, but Fischer makes just about everyone else sound like a slug.

Her experience at Milwaukee has her eyeing a career in athletics, either in coaching, academic advisory or some other administrative capacity. If she can stay at UWM, all the better.

"She's going to be a huge success," Rechlicz said. "Just intellectually, she is off the charts in terms of having an understanding of how the processes work. Then you put the work ethic level on top of that, it's a no brainer. I was actually speaking with our senior women's administrator, saying, 'At the end of this year, let's hope we have a position somewhere here in our athletic department where we can take her in.' Because you don't want to lose somebody of that quality."

Rechlicz has coached a lot of good players, and good people. She puts Fischer at the top of the list.

"I always say that Alyssa is who I want my daughter to be like," she said. "I don't know if there's any higher compliment I can give. She hasn't been that person who has scored 1,000 points for us but she's definitely left her mark on this program. When I talk to my daughter about examples and people that I would love for her to be like, Alyssa Fischer is the first person I mention on our team because she is just such a good person.

"Her character supersedes everything. She's unreal, I'm telling you."