Ann Schraufnagel has traveled the country as a medical student and across the globe as a healthcare writer. She says her formative years as an Oak Park Windmill helped to lay the groundwork for her career in medicine. 

“The years spent practicing and competing taught me about teamwork and commitment, how to gracefully celebrate wins and to temper the lows of losses,” she says.

A Windmill from 1996 to 2005, Dr. Schraufnagel was a three-sport athlete at Oak Park River Forest High School (volleyball, basketball, and softball). In softball, she was a member of the 2005 OPRF Softball State Championship team and the 2004 State Runner-up team. After graduating from OPRF, she played softball for two years at Northwestern University. She was a member of Wildcats teams that placed second at the Women’s College World Series in 2006 and third in 2007.

After graduating from Northwestern, Dr. Schraufnagel took a short hiatus from being a student to work for a year as an English teacher in France. She returned to Chicago to obtain her medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and then earned a Master’s in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She left for the Great Northwest to complete her residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. 

She now lives in San Francisco, where she is finishing what she hopes is the final stage of her medical training — a Fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. 

Beyond her medical training, Dr. Schraufnagel enjoys writing. In fact, in 2015, she traveled to India as a Pulitzer Center Global Health Reporting Fellow. She also taught narrative medicine to medical trainees and won a Story Slam competition while in residency. 

In her free time, she enjoys traveling, biking, and hanging out with her family and friends, including former Windmills Mia Zinni, Jane Nightengale, Kealan Waldron, Erika Rosenwinkel, Kate Ziegler, Stephanie Bernthal, Sam Pehlke, Caitlin Morocco, and Jessica Rigas.

When asked about her youth playing softball, Dr. Schraufnagel cannot understate her time as a Windmill, which she says instilled values like a work ethic and personal commitment. It also taught her the importance of maintaining friendships and enjoying life.

“I played with the same group of girls — many of whom are still my closest friends — from ages 12 to 18,” she says. “It taught me how to have fun regardless of the time or location, and how to play a good practical joke!”

The spring uniform shop will run from November 18th through December 4th (this will be the last uniform shop of the 2022/2023 season). Delivery of these items will be late February

Our 10U squad is seeking a couple of additional players to add to its roster. If you are interested in a tryout, contact Coach Ryan McCarthy at RyanPMcCarthy46@yahoo.com.

All Windmills players/parents:

Please click on the below link to formally register your player for the 2022-23 season.

Most of our coaches for the 2022-23 season have filled their rosters, although a few are still adding players. If you did not attend our tryout and are seeking a private tryout, please contact a coach at your age level.

Our coaches this coming year are as follows:

8U/Pinwheels Program: Katie Brennan (keightbrennan@gmail.com)

9U: Brian Alvers (Brian_Alvers@hotmail.com)

10U: Ryan McCarthy (RyanPMcCarthy46@yahoo.com)

11U: Nick Sakellaris (NSakellaris@op97.org)

12U: Damian Cruz (damianc192@gmail.com)

13U/14U: Adam Young (AandDYoung@yahoo.com)

15U: Mike Solberg (msolberg99@aol.com)

15U: Elizabeth Kiefer (enkiefer@gmail.com)

16U: Laura Chambers (lchambers11@comcast.net)

18U: Emily Noel (EmilyNoel139@gmail.com)