Sports Writers Podcast: Covid Impact on Winter Sports 2022 – Early Season Surprises – Peabody Girls Hockey Coach Earns MIAA Honor

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association is pleased to announce the twenty-one coaches from MIAA member schools who were selected this year by a subcommittee of MIAA Coaches’ Education Instructors.

The award seeks to recognize and honor “teacher coaches” who have had an impact on the lives of student-athletes, by encouraging them to succeed and by helping them develop self-confidence, ambition, a sound work ethic, and other skills or values necessary or helpful for success in their later lives. Award candidates should have a record of encouraging student-athletes to be well-rounded (i.e. displaying excellence in areas of scholarship, citizenship, fine arts, etc.), as well as a reputation, among their peers and the athletic community, for fair play, good sportsmanship, and the development of these attributes in their student-athletes.

The 2020-21 honorees are the eleventh class of MIAA Coach of the Year Award recipients. Please see below for the list of honorees and their coaching philosophies. Congratulations to the 2020-2021 MIAA Coach of the Year Recipients!

BASEBALL

GERRY LAMBERT, Xaverian Brothers High School: “I see coaching as an extension of my role as a teacher…the game of baseball provides me with a vehicle to help the players improve their skills, knowledge and competitiveness. It is very satisfying to watch a team’s journey through a season. I feel I have done my job if the team I am coaching is improving on a daily basis and playing their best at the end of the season while displaying high character and good sportsmanship.”

BASKETBALL (Boys)

TONY CORDANI, Hopedale Jr-Sr High School: “I believe athletics are an extension of the educational process.  My goal is that players take the lessons learned on the basketball court and apply them to their lives.  Coaching is a great opportunity to teach life skills such as work ethic, discipline, teamwork, accountability and dealing with adversity. Building relationships are important to achieve these goals with trust, communication and respect. My hope is that the impact I make today will have a rippling effect in the future.”

BASKETBALL (Girls)

FRANK GREENE, Lunenburg High School: “Student-focused with a dedication to plater development and a proven expertise in teaching and motivating youth to achieve goals, while also prioritizing and strategizing for a winning program.”

CROSS COUNTRY (Boys)

JAMES GONYEA, Auburn High School: “Give the student-athletes ownership of the program and be their adviser. Knowing that your athletes know what to do is the best feeling a coach can have when a race is in progress. Build leaders not followers.”

 FIELD HOCKEY

PATRICIA PROVOST, Notre Dame Academy-Worcester: “This is surely a GRAND ADVENTURE…teaching young athletes the value of commitment and sense of belonging to something as special as TEAM. Always striving to develop confidence because when you have confidence you can do AMAZING things. DREAM, DARE, DO: engage athletes to be persistent, united and enjoy the teamwork, challenges and successes in sport and in life’s journey. Develop a sense of PRIDE that drives us towards perfection; UNITED by PASSION for our sport, teammates, and coaches; Play HARD, play SMART, play TOGETHER!”

FOOTBALL

SEAN MAHONEY, Marlborough High School: “Our coaching philosophy begins with a belief that if an individual enjoys the daily experience of the game they will ultimately improve. Expectations are clear that academic and behavioral expectations are met before earning the privilege of athletic participation.”

GOLF (Fall)

BEN KELLY, Milton High School: “Athletics is about developing people who love the game, play the sport the right way, display respect for self and others and manage expectations while viewing the broader picture.”

GYMNASTICS (Girls)

PAULA LUPIEN, Franklin High School: “Practice for progress NOT perfection. In a sport where you are constantly chasing a 10.0, it is so important to teach these athletes that they are a work in progress and to measure their success based on where they were a day, a week, a month ago. We work extremely hard on the basics, pay attention to the details, get the athletes to TRUST their training, push the athletes to make decisions about their skills, do NOT train robots, perform at your highest ability ensuring everything is executed cleanly, enjoy the moment, and have fun. I am personally invested in the growth of these athletes not just a great performers and gymnasts but as human beings. Coaching for me is not just a season; my philosophy reaches far beyond the season.”

ICE HOCKEY (Boys)

JONATHAN ABBAN, Hanover High School: “Our team philosophy involves the understanding that real success requires hard work, dedication, passion, perseverance, leadership, and loyalty. The Hanover High School hockey player is committed to these pillars. My job as a coach is to help players pull the best out of themselves on the ice, but more importantly, I try to help players apply the pillars of our team philosophy to the challenges that life presents. The love and passion for the game of hockey is the love and passion players should bring to whatever they choose to do with their life.”

ICE HOCKEY (Girls)

MICHELLE ROACH, Peabody Veterans Memorial High School: “Progress is a result of consistency, discipline and the relentless ability to adapt. The best way to teach adaptability is by emphasizing versatility both in playing style and in individual players who are trained to play multiple positions and fill different roles as team needs shift. Most importantly, I demand hard work without which progress would be stalled. We all have to be willing to work hard both off and on the ice, every practice, every shift, every game.”

RUGBY (Boys)

JESSE NOCON, Cambridge Rindge and Latin: “The CRLS Rugby coaching philosophy is focused around preparing young people for the adversity of adulthood through having fun and winning the right way. To accomplish this, myself and my coaching staff have broken our philosophy into three pillars, consistency, inclusion and player choice, that focus on fun but also focus on simulating adversity and giving our players opportunity to overcome said adversity. When these pillars are accomplished, wins and success on the field occurs, and, more importantly, our players are prepared for the unexpected and the hardships they will face independently as adults.”

SOCCER (Boys)

JOHN BARATA, Oliver Ames High School: “My primary goal is to guide players along their soccer journey and help them reach their potential both on and off the field. I try to create a positive and player focused environment that enhances the players’ love and passion for the beautiful game. Having the ability to positively influence thousands of kids as they transition from youth athletes into mature competitors drives me every day. My background as a youth minister has afforded me the confidence to use my relational ministry skills to guide these players and build lifelong relationships that extend far beyond the soccer field.”

SWIMMING & DIVING

ELIZABETH WALSH, Duxbury High School: “Everyone deserves a chance.”

TENNIS (Boys)

JOAN CUTTER, Sharon High School: “My hope is that I can help the team have fun and learn new skills while achieving their success on and off the court. We come together at the start of the season to form a team with a mutual goal. I believe in a positive supportive attitude. I expect respect for other players, coaches, and captains. I work closely with the team captains, they are the team leaders. I have found when players have success it equals fun and love of the sport. They just want to play and be good at it! I am compassionate, positive and try to understand all they have to deal with their school and home responsibilities. It’s not just tennis…but good nutrition, hydration, fitness, stretching, some yoga, preparation and organization and sunscreen too! Tennis teaches many life lessons.”

TENNIS (Girls)

GEOFF SWETT, Wareham High School: “I enter each new season reminding myself that coaching is a privilege; that the students’ families are entrusting me to safely help them develop their children’s bodies, minds, and characters. I also want the athletes to develop a love for the sport and a respect for their competitors; to treat their opponents the way they would want to be treated. Finally, one of the team’s goals is always to have fun, as I want the stress of adolescence to be at least partly relieved by their participation on a team.”

 TRACK & FIELD, INDOOR (Boys)

DEREK ROSE, Milford High School: “As a track coach, my two points of emphasis are focus and consistency. A singular focus on what needs to be done to get better each day. Consistency is a key component of success. Each day, I expect a consistent effort, consistent support of teammates, and consistently finishing workouts.”

 TRACK & FIELD, INDOOR (Girls)

MOIRA NOBILI, Nauset High School: “It is all about the kids. Encourage them. Build confidence and self-esteem. Respect the competition. Help them reach their fullest potential. Compete hard and WIN!”

TRACK & FIELD, OUTDOOR (Girls)

NICK DAVIS, South Hadley High School: “My philosophy in coaching is that the student-athletes are always ready to learn more about the sport of track and field, but in doing so, they are learning more about themselves than anything else. It is a sport that forces you to have self-discipline, commitment, self-confidence and a desire to improve if you want to be successful. This translates directly to the real world and the classroom every day. Each workout is an opportunity to grow mentally just as much as it is physically. Completing each workout is another small step towards achieving your long term goals. It’s a privilege to be able to coach and be a part of the growth of each student-athlete.”

UNIFIED TRACK & FIELD

NICK DIANTONIO, Natick High School: “From the standpoint of Unified Track and Field, we model our coaching philosophy in close accordance with that of the Special Olympics: “Let me win, but, if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt.” Specifically, while we coach our athletes to pursue victory, we understand that such an outcome is often unattainable for some of our athletes with physical and mental disabilities. Therefore, we concurrently emphasize such concepts as: the importance of true and valuable interpersonal relationships amongst teammates, healthy lifestyle choices, and, most importantly, working to build a genuinely inclusive school community. Simply stated, when an individual finishes with the Unified Track and Field season at Natick High School, if one can look in the mirror and affirm he or she has become a better person as a result of participation with our team, we have succeeded as coaches!”

VOLLEYBALL

JACQUI NIOSI, Quincy High School: “”No Excuses!” Hard work, repetition, and perseverance gets the job done and builds confidence. High School athletics are a strong vehicle for young people for life. In a changing world where electronics and instant gratification have become a norm, athletics provides student-athletes with the opportunity to push and test themselves physically and mentally. Players learn to trust themselves and their teammates through dedication and challenging themselves each day. My job is to help those individuals come together as a team and capitalize on their strengths while learning how to work as a cohesive unit.”

WRESTLING

STEVE SENTES, New Bedford High School: “My high school coach always said, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” I have adopted that as my own and every wrestler I have coached over the years knows these words. The whole purpose of participating in a sport like wrestling is to make progress each and every day throughout the season and beyond, whether they come in brand new to the sport or back as a state champion. I also stress that this philosophy be applied to the classroom and to life. It does not matter where you start in life, in the classroom, or on the mat, with Dedication, Desire, and Discipline you can achieve any goal that you set for yourself.”