Archive for June 2009
Child takes year off from coaching
By Tim Peterson
Turley Publications Sports Correspondent
STURBRIDGE — Head coaches and managers usually make difficult decisions in every game that their team plays during the season.
Tantasqua boys varsity basketball coach Jeff Child has made a lot of those decisions in the past seven years as his Warriors became one of the best high school basketball programs in Massachusetts.
Child, along his wife, Kristen Child-Ledeboer, who’s a foreign language teacher at Tantasqua, recently had to make another very difficult decision that will affect the Warriors boys basketball team next winter.
Child-Ledeboer, who has taught Spanish for the past 15 years, was selected as a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright program, which is a grant for international educational exchange for scholars, educators, graduate students and professionals. She will be teaching English at a university in Mexico outside the cityof Pachuca for the upcoming school year. The couple, who are parents of three young children, will be moving to Mexico in August.
“It’s going to be a huge change for my family,” said Child, who has compiled a 119-38 overall coaching record at Tantasqua. “I really love coaching basketball, but my family is also very important to me. A lot of things just fell into place, which made it very hard for us to say no to this opportunity. We’re really very excited about it.”
Tantasqua Athletics Director Bob Casaceli has given Child, who isn’t a teacher, a one-year leave of absence from his coaching duties at the school. He’ll resume his position before the start of the 2010-2011 basketball season.
“Jeff is just an excellent basketball coach and he’ll resume his coaching position here when his family returns from Mexico,” Casaceli said. “This is just a wonderful opportunity for his wife professionally.”
It’s the first time that the longtime Warriors A.D. will have to fill a coaching position for only one year. Casaceli will be interviewing candidates during the summer and would like the new coach in place before the start of the new school year.. He’ll also be looking for a new junior high boys basketball coach. Mike Lucas, who had been the junior high basketball coach, was named the interim principal at the high school for the coming school year.
Child, who’s planning on coaching basketball or soccer while he’s living in Mexico, is hoping someone who’s already in the Warriors basketball program will fill his role until he returns. One of the leading candidates for the position is Mark Muska, who has also been the Warriors junior varsity boys basketball coach for the past seven years. The only other current coach in the program is Mike Cote, who’s the freshman coach.
“I’m not the one making the decision, but I just think someone from inside the program would be the best fit because it’ll be only for one year,” Child said. “I’ve already spoken with my players about my decision at a summer league basketball game in Shrewsbury a couple of weeks ago. It’s going to be hard for me to leave this senior class, especially a kid like Jake Gubitose, who has been a member of the varsity team the longest.”
Gubitose was a junior captain on last year’s team, which advanced to the Division 2 semifinals and finished the season with an 18-5 overall record. In the previous two years, the Warriors boys basketball team posted an incredible 49-1 record, as they won back-to-back Central Mass. titles and the Division 2 state title in 2007.
A few of the former Warriors basketball players, who have helped build the basketball program during the past seven years are Andrew Kazanovicz, Terry Perreti, Kevin Vayda, Marcus Gaudet, Ryan White, Brandon Forcier, Jeff Lindgren, who played college basketball at Nichols, Brian Vayda, who was the NEWMAC Rookie of the year at Clark University last winter, and Dan Kemp, who was recently was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 24th round of the MLB draft.
“I really love coaching all of these players here at Tantasqua,” Child said. “I think the returning players will do just fine next year.”
The upcoming basketball season will be a challenging one for the new coach. If the Warriors are able to qualify for the postseason again next year, they’ll be competing in the Division 1 for the first time. They’ll also be members of the new SWCL-West division, along with Auburn and archrival Shepherd Hill, which are the only teams they’ll be playing twice. Some of their Division 1 non-league opponents are Marlborough, Doherty, St.Peter-Marian and Milford. The Warriors have also been invited to play against Cathedral High School in the annual Hoop Hall Classic at Springfield College on Jan. 17.
While Child and his family will be living in a different country next winter, he’ll still be able to follow his basketball team via the internet.
Tim Peterson is a sports correspondent for Turley Publications. He can be reached at dforbes@turley.com.
