By Jennifer Small, Courier Sports
Editor:
Sue D’Amico was
always involved in athletics. Growing up in Branford, she played volleyball and
softball before taking a break from sports to focus on getting her teaching
degree from Southern. Sue started her career as a biology teacher at Guilford High School, but when the physical
education position opened, she leapt at the opportunity.
“I knew I wanted to
be a PE teacher since high school,” says Sue, who still lives in Branford. “My
volleyball coach, Toni Cartisano—who was also my gym teacher—was a great role
model.”
While Sue enjoyed
having athletics back in her life, her days were soon filled with much more
activity as she took a break from teaching to raise her three children—Steven,
Danielle, and Michael. On top of having three small children, Sue earned her
master’s throughout her pregnancies, having her daughter in the middle of the
semester.
Sue stayed home
until Michael started kindergarten and then Sue went back to school to,
starting as a sub and an aide before being hired full-time at East Haven High
School 12 years ago. Even before she was hired as a teacher, however, Sue made
her return to sports when she was named head volleyball coach at East Haven.
Sue wasn’t the only
one in her family involved in volleyball as Danielle had also picked up the
sport. When she got to high school, Sue missed most of her daughter’s games to
coach and decided to again give up her own athletics.
“I loved it, but my
daughter was playing and I wanted to see her games,” says Sue. “I weighed my
priorities and wanted to see her play so I left coaching for a while.”
Along with
Danielle’s game, Sue also watched Steven, now 25, and Michael play football and
lacrosse at Branford
High School. Steven went
on to graduated from UConn and Michael will be a sophomore this fall while
Danielle is studying at South
Carolina University.
With her children
out of the house, Sue has spent the past 18 months concentrating on getting her
sixth-year degree in administration through a cohort involving other teachers
at East Haven and from around the area through a program Southern offers.
“I always wanted to
go back for another degree so it [the cohort] was the push I needed,” says Sue.
“I just finished in June and took the summer off.”
Now that her
children are done with their athletic careers and Sue has her third degree
under her belt, she was ready for a new challenge and took over as head coach
of the girls’ cross-country team.
“It’s been fun
following them [my kids], but now it’s time to dabble my fingers in a new
experience and I’m fortunate to have support of the boys’ coach [Anthony
Russell] and AD [Mike Marone],” says Sue. “I wanted to get back into sports
again and my daughter had done track. When the cross-country position opened, I
thought it would be a nice way to wean my way into that arena.”
Working in the
school, Sue is familiar with many of the athletes and her fellow coaches. She
has also followed the successes of the track programs.
“Track and field is
just such a neat sport and it’s something that I would like to experience on a
coaching level,” she says. “We have tremendous programs at East
Haven with Coach [Rusty] Dunne and Coach Russell. Cross-country is
good way to get my feet wet and develop in the sport.”
Sue has been working
with her team for more than a week now and is enjoying her return to coaching.
Besides her athletic and coaching experiences, Sue and her husband of 27 years,
Scott, owned a gym for 10 years.
“I have experience
with training and weight training and knew I could put kids on programs,” she
says. “It’s amazing to work with kids who get out there and work so hard with
that personal motivation.”