August 31, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2006 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of One |
New leadership for Springside’s fall teams
Springside soccer mentor Gary Stephenson took charge of the Lions booters just a year ago, but he’s already been at his post longer than the varsity head coaches for the school’s other three fall sports teams. Springside’s field hockey and tennis squads are both under new management, and there is now a cross country team, a new undertaking altogether for the Lions. A year ago, Susie Macciocca joined the Springside faculty as a math teacher, and she was an assistant coach for both the varsity hockey and lacrosse teams. Now she’s stepping up into the top spot in field hockey, a post held for two decades by Betty Ann Fish, who will continue to be the school’s Director of Physical Education. Macciocca brings a knowledge of the Girls Inter-Ac League that stems from her days as a student-athlete at Episcopal Academy. She went on to play right back in college as a member of the high-powered squad at Wake Forest University, where she graduated in 2001. She was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Episcopal, and at another Girls Inter-Ac League school, Shipley, prior to coming to Springside. Her husband, Matthew Macciocca, is the men’s basketball coach at Cabrini College in Radnor.
Longtime Lions assistant coach Jann Douple will be back on the sidelines this season, while Jenny Rieg, a graduate of Shipley and of Trinity College (CT), is a new addition to the staff. When shoulder surgery prevented Tim McGoldrick from returning as coach of the Springside tennis team, he recommended a fellow instructor at the Magarity Tennis Center, Huibri Botha. Botha first took up a tennis racquet when she was just six years old, and by the time she was playing in the 18’s age group she was ranked 13th in her native South Africa. At that juncture she bid adieu to Capetown and enrolled at Delta State University in Mississippi, where she played tennis for the Lady Statesmen and graduated in 2002 with a degree in sports management. A summer internship with a tennis camp in Philadelphia led to her affiliation with the Magarity operation, and she’s also worked for another outfit in the area, Larry Hyde Sports Camps. Assisting Botha this season is Deb Schreffler, a longtime tennis player and Delaware Valley native who has two daughters attending middle school at Springside, and a son at Chestnut Hill Academy. The team also has a temporary Lion trainer in Lenore Moston, a former Tennis Farm instructor who is working with Springside during the preseason, and then will head to the year-round tennis-friendly climes of Arizona. The coach of the Lions’ brand new cross country franchise is Margot Pollans, who has been a history teacher and an assistant track coach at Springside for the past two years. Although she grew up in Boston, her mother was originally from the Philadelphia area. Pollans ran cross country for six years and track for five years as a middle school and high school student. The Columbia University graduate had been urging Springside to compete in cross country since she arrived on the scene. Eventually, enough interest was generated on the part of the administration and among the students to launch an official interscholastic team. Cross country has been an established sport in the Girls Inter-Ac League for some time, and with Springside now getting involved all seven of the member schools are represented. The Lions will host visiting teams on the same circuit that Chestnut Hill Academy uses as its home course. It’s also convenient that both the boys and girls Inter-Ac championship meets have been held at CHA for a number of years. To start of with, Springside’s roster lists seven runners - just enough to compete officially as a team - but Pollans hopes to pick up a few more athletes along the way. |
