New fall sports coaches help bring athletes together
Varsity volleyball coach Carolina Herrera serves a ball to her players with a smile. Izzy Sio ’16
Izzy Sio ’16
The Convent of the Sacred Heart fall sports teams lost seven Upper School coaches last year. They have brought in ten new ones, two of whom are Sacred Heart alumnae.
Ms. Krista Everett, varsity soccer coach, learned valuable soccer skills from her travel team which she joined at age nine. Her coach was Mr. Silvio Ferraro, Sacred Heart Middle School Spanish teacher. Now instructing Sacred Heart soccer goalies how to improve their skills, Ms. Everett enjoys being a coach for the varsity soccer team.
“It’s been great. The girls are wonderful,” Ms. Everett said. “It’s definitely a different experience being a coach. It’s a new challenge, and I’m happy to accept.”
Coach Andrew Heath, assistant varsity soccer coach, started playing soccer at the age of four and continued to play in high school. Passing on his love for the sport, Mr. Heath hopes to help the Sacred Heart varsity soccer team improve this fall.
“They’re really talented, and they’re figuring it out. They haven’t unlocked their potential,” Mr. Heath said.
Mr. Heath is not the only coach who thinks his team has promise for the season. Coach Alexandru Gheorghe, junior varsity field hockey coach, also thinks his team will be successful this fall.
“They’re a wonderful team and group with huge potential,” Mr. Gheorghe said. “They’re a pleasure to coach.”
Mr. George started playing in 1994 and coached at a Romanian private school in 2006.
Mr. Logan Condon, Assistant Athletic Director, and Coach Beth Wilson-Jordan both coached junior varsity soccer and junior varsity volleyball respectively during the 2012 fall sports season. This fall however, Mr. Condon is the head varsity soccer coach and Ms. Wilson-Jordan is the head varsity volleyball coach. Both agree upon the difference between coaching teams at the junior varsity and varsity level.
“JV is more the fundamental basics and learning,” Mr. Condon said. “Varsity is in-depth learning tactics, technique, philosophy, more working with talent.”
Mrs. Wilson-Jordan shares similar ideas about the varsity volleyball program.
“It’s a higher level game,” Mrs. Wilson-Jordan said. “At CSH JV we get everyone playing time. At varsity it’s at the discretion of the coach. JV is more teaching, there’s strategy and fine tuning at varsity.”
Coaching alongside Mrs. Wilson-Jordan as assistant varsity volleyball coach is Ms. Carolina Herrera. Ms. Herrera started playing volleyball when she was seven years old. Like other new coaches, Ms. Herrera has high hopes for her varsity volleyball team.
“I want the team being happy with how they play the season, and not feeling like they let each other down but feeling happy and accomplished” Ms. Herrera said.
Taking over Mrs. Wilson-Jordan’s position as junior varsity volleyball coach is Coach Anna Grimaldi, who came to Sacred Heart after previously coaching at Turn of River Middle School. Ms. Grimaldi hopes that the junior varsity volleyball team will continue to develop as the season progresses.
“I hope that everyone will improve, play their best, try their hardest, and have fun,” she said.
With new coaches stepping onto the field, court and dock, changes are being made to help student athletes improve and progress this fall season.
“Some changes are better for the program, and it’s good to mix things up,” Ms. Kelly Stone, Director of Athletics, said.
Sacred Heart athletes are reacting positively to the changes.
“She’s [Ms. Grimaldi] really sweet,” sophomore Nebai Hernandez-Carmona said. “She encourages us when she needs to and pushes us to try our best. She lets us make opinions about plays and subs, but takes charge in the end.”
Maddie Caponiti ’15
Junior Emily Capser has been on the varsity soccer team for three years. “I think they’re great,” Emily said of her three new coaches. “They keep a positive attitude, and because of that we’ve come together as a team.”
Sacred Heart’s fall sports season has already achieved many of its goals, with varsity soccer and varsity volleyball both beating Taft School for the first time in many years. Through advanced drills and a contemporary outlook on sports, the new fall sports coaches are guiding Sacred Heart’s fall sports teams to come together and set new standards for Sacred Heart sports.
– Izzy Sio, Staff Writer
