Like Parents, Ayrault Twins 'Born to Play'

By Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half

November 30, 2017

GROSSE POINTE WOODS – Kim Ayrault and her husband Andy were careful not to overly encourage their children to play sports, specifically basketball, the sport they played so well for so long.

But if their children did decide to play, they would teach them to play the right way and be there every step of the way.

Julia and Joe Ayrault, juniors at Grosse Pointe North, are the first set of twins born to Kim and Andy. Annabel and Adam are the second. Born nearly four years apart, all four play basketball and the younger pair play multiple sports.

The Ayraults are a family whose lives often revolve around practices and games, and driving to and from said events. It can be simultaneously rewarding and tiresome, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kim recalls one of her first memories of Julia, a 4-year-old bouncing up and down the court.

“She went to the basket and scored,” Kim said. “Then she came back down with her ponytails flying and waving her hands up in the air, and I said to myself, no, no, no. I went up to her and said, you can’t do that. You can’t celebrate like that. She learned. She never did that again.

“She was competitive at that age. She was born ready to play.”

Julia Ayrault started bouncing a basketball just about the time she learned to walk. When her parents introduced her to the sport, she dove in head first and hasn’t looked back.

She tried soccer. That didn’t last. As a second sport she preferred baseball, but basketball was always first.

Julia and Joe, 16, both play varsity basketball and anticipate having more than just a good season. Their parents were also fine basketball players in the Pointes, Kim at North, Andy at Grosse Pointe South. The Ayraults’ other set of twins also play basketball, at Grosse Pointe Shores Our Lady Star of the Sea. Annabel and Adam are in the seventh grade and, yes, they’re good players, too. Annabel plays volleyball as well and Adam plays baseball. He was a member of the Grosse Pointe Shores/Woods Little League team that reach the World Series in Williamsport, Pa., this past summer.

After graduating from high school, the Ayraults began dating while playing basketball at Wayne State University. Andy was a junior, Kim (Reiter) a sophomore. Both had fine careers, both played four years and Andy went on to have a brief career professionally in Europe. The two are tall: Andy is 6-foot-7 and Kim is 6-foot, and, not surprisingly, their children are tall. Julia is 6-2, Joe 6-5.

It’s too early to tell, but Julia just might be the best. A three-year starter for longtime coach Gary Bennett, she has committed to Michigan State and is one of the state’s top players in the class of 2019. Bennett coached Kim in high school, and he first saw Julia play when she was in elementary school.

Andy has coached Julia, on and off but mostly on, since she started playing. Currently Andy is Bennett’s assistant coach. Andy also coached Julia at Star of the Sea and began coaching his two eldest children when they were in elementary school.

“From third to sixth grades I had her playing on the boys AAU team,” Andy said. “I used to put them on the same team because she was so good. In the seventh grade we switched out of AAU to the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). Going on a weekend and playing four AAU games in one day wasn’t doing her any good. Playing two CYO games and practicing three days a week was better.

“Joe should have a breakout season. Julia had a breakout summer. She played more on the perimeter. She’s athletic enough to cover the post and take the ball to the rim.”

Andy has never stopped working with Julia, even if he wasn’t officially her coach. She developed a love for the game at an early age and Andy continued to teach, lending support as Julia’s game continued to improve.

“She blows our mind all the time,” Kim said. “We’ll say to each other later, did she really do that? When I watch, I see it from the stands and it’s a different look than what Andy sees. I’ll yell something at her during the game. Andy doesn’t like me doing that. I still do it.”

In addition to her playing basketball with the boys for three years, the athletically gifted Julia also played outfield and was a pitcher on a little league baseball team with her brother for two years. Also teaming up with Julia on that little league team was Evelyn Zacharias, one of Julia’s best friends and now a member of the North varsity basketball team as well.

One of Julia’s first memories of playing sports is a positive one.

“I remember when I was at Star of the Sea, we went a long way (in the playoffs),” she said. “It started to be a lot of fun. A lot of those girls who were on that team are at North with me. Evelyn and others. We have the memories.”

Kim and Andy have memories, too, and there are many more to come.

Right now, their lives are often discombobulated trying to give the four equal time. It’s a great goal in theory, but much more difficult to accomplish in reality.

A typical day will find Kim driving home after work as an elementary school teacher to pick up Julia from practice and get Adam to his game at Star of the Sea on time. One particular evening the MSU women’s team is playing the University of Detroit at Calihan Hall and Kim and Julia are going. Home by 10 p.m., there’s time for a snack before the good nights are said.

“People, many of our friends, tease us that we make them do this,” Kim said. “We’ve never done that.”

Kim keeps a schedule of all the comings and goings on a board hanging in the back of the house. She does it alone. She doesn’t trust anyone else to keep track.

Andy is in between jobs so his free time, if you can call it that, consists of completing Kim’s honey-do list.

“We were laughing the other day,” Kim said. “How did we do this before when (Andy) was working? I’m just trying to be patient.”

At the very least, 20 years of marriage will teach you that.

In addition to his work with Julia, Andy coaches Adam’s team at Star of the Sea, and he’s usually the one taking Julia and Joe on trips, whether it be sports-related or the occasional trip to check out a college campus.

Julia said with every member of the family involved in sports in one capacity or another, it helps keep them all together, at the dinner table, riding in a car or wherever.

“(Sports) is a big topic all of the time,” she said. “We have fun with it. We mess with each other.

“My dad has taught me a lot about the game. The biggest thing is to put others before yourself. My biggest thing is to get my teammates involved. Even if they’re not going to play in college, it should be a good experience for them. I try to make sure everyone has their role. I don’t want it to be about me.”

Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) The Ayrault family, from left: Annabel, Adam, Andy, Kim, Julia and Joe; inset: Julia and Joe suiting up for Grosse Pointe North. (Middle) Julia and Joe celebrate a birthday together in 2012. (Below) Julia and her dad/assistant coach Andy anchor the right side of the team photo after last season’s District title win. (Photos courtesy of the Ayrault family.)

Jokela Caps LL-H Career As 3-Sport Star, Among Track's Most Accomplished Greats

By John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com

June 26, 2025

ESCANABA — It would nearly be an understatement to say Emily Jokela has enjoyed a stellar high school athletic career.

Upper PeninsulaThe recent Lake Linden-Hubbell graduate earned a dozen victories at the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Track & Field Finals during her prep career, winning the 400-meter dash and 300 hurdles four times apiece, taking the 100 dash three times, adding a 200 title as a sophomore and 100 hurdles championship this spring.

Jokela also owns the all-time U.P. Finals record in the 300s at 44.8 seconds and the UPD3 record in the 400 (58.61) set a year ago – with school records in those events as well.

“I started running in fifth grade and fell in love with hurdling,” she said. “All my events were close together. I do weight training four times a week and sometimes go to the Michigan Tech track to get a break from our asphalt surface. The asphalt track is harder on the legs. It’s nice to get on a rubberized track.”

She concluded her prep basketball career here June 12 by leading the West All-Stars past the East, 50-41, at the 39th Annual Upper Peninsula All-Star Basketball Game.

Jokela, who scored 18 points in her final prep hoops appearance at Bay College, was selected Most Valuable Player. She finished her Lake Linden-Hubbell basketball career with a school-record 2,010 points, leading the Lakes through a 17-7 season this winter and earning an all-U.P. Division 4 first-team honor.

Jokela did double-duty this spring, also as a pitcher in softball. Lake Linden-Hubbell went undefeated in the Copper Mountain Conference (10-0) and finished 28-7 overall after dropping a 2-0 decision to Gogebic (Bessemer/Wakefield-Marenisco’s cooperative team) in their Division 4 Regional Final.

“I started playing basketball and softball at a young age,” she said. “I made some of my best friends in basketball. I’m going to miss all the girls I played with for four years. I’m so proud of how far we went in softball. I’m also very happy with how basketball went and quite happy with the way our track & field season went.”

LL-H brought home the Division 3 runner-up trophy from the U.P. Track & Field Finals at Kingsford by scoring 76 points, just eight fewer than Newberry. The Lakes were crowned U.P. champions last season and shared the title with Stephenson in 2023. Jokela was four-time all-state selection and three-time CMC MVP, and scored more than 1,000 points during her career. As a junior she won the 100, 200, 400 and 300 hurdles at the UPD3 championship meet and remains one of only seven girls to win four individuals events at a Finals.

On the basketball court, she was a two-time conference MVP and four-time member of the CMC’s elite team, and selected twice to The Associated Press, Basketball Coaches Association and Detroit Free Press all-state teams. In softball, Jokela was a two-time conference MVP and named CMC Pitcher of the Year.

Jokela earned another high honor in late May, being named her school’s Outstanding Female Athlete. She is bound for Grand Valley State University, where she’ll become a member of the women’s track & field team.

“I met my roommates, and they seem nice,” Jokela said. “It will be a lot more intense in college. I’m really going to have to work hard for everything. I need to work on my endurance. It was a challenge balancing track with softball, but I like being busy.”

Jokela also was a two-time all-state academic selection and a National Honor Society member. After carrying a 3.79 grade point average in high school, she plans to major in health science at Grand Valley.

John VrancicJohn Vrancic has covered high school sports in the Upper Peninsula since joining the Escanaba Daily Press staff in 1985. He is known most prominently across the peninsula for his extensive coverage of cross country and track & field that frequently appears in newspapers from the Wisconsin border to Lake Huron. He received the James Trethewey Award for Distinguished Service in 2015 from the Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

PHOTO Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Emily Jokela (5) leaps the final hurdle on the way to an impressive win in the 300 at last month’s Upper Peninsula Division 3 Finals in Kingsford. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)