Jackie Neary enjoyingher stay at Cabrini

Jackie Neary encounters a tough, but joyous task serving as the women's field hockey and lacrosse coach. She looks beyond the playing field and observes the development of each of her players and the importance of recruiting to maintain successful programs.

By Chris Vesci staff writer

Entering her fourth year of coaching field hockey here at Cabrini, Jackie Neary stands tall and determined after a game as her players cluster around her. The team has lost to Frostbmg State, and Neary explains, "Today is a big test." Neary has weathered all sorts of outcomes in both victory and defeat. She also coaches Cabrini's women's lacrosse team.

Neary's background is extensive and impressive. She assisted in coaching field hockey at Ridley High School for six years and lacrosse at Temple University for fom years. This spring marks her fifth year of coaching lacrosse at Cabrini.

According to Neary, there is something about Cabrini that stretches beyond the playing field and makes coaching worthwhile. She states that the campus community is kind and outgoing. Neary greatly enjoys having contact with the student athletes that comprise her teams. She cares deeply about her players, and the players seem to see this. Sophomore field hockey and lacrosse player Melissa McDonough says, "She is a positive coach. She keeps us motivated. She gets to know us."

Neary speaks fondly regarding the highlights of her coaching career thus far. They include Ridley's field hockey team becom- ing state champions a few years back and her Cabrini teams continually making the playoffs. Furthermore, the lacrosse team has captured the PAC title the past two years in a row. Neary also views each player's personal improvements as a triumph.

When asked if she plans to continue coaching both teams, Neary responds with a proud and unhesitant "yes." Does she prefer one sport over the other? Not necessarily. She enjoys whatever the sport of the season is and devotes her attention and skill to it, she explains. She then smiles and admits that some of the girls would say she prefers lacrosse, simply because lacrosse requires more planning and contact with the players out of season since they must fundraise for their annual trip.

In preparing for lacrosse each season, Neary has an advantage since her team can commence practices in the preseason. However, field hockey is a bit more challenging since she only has a week or two to ready her team for the coming games.

How does she assess herself as a coach? She hesitates and then says there is no team and no coaching without the support of the players. She cares about them very much and is a real people person. She has to be, she explains. "Sometimes what happens off the field is more important than anything that happens on the field." To improve her coaching, she stresses that she must continue her intensive recruiting efforts. In the case of field hockey, numbers are always an issue. Ideally, she would like to have enough field hockey players so that she could form a N team. Neary is constantly scouting high school games to find new additions to her teams. She describes recruiting as "a battle" and even quotes Cabrini's athletics director John Dzik on the principle of RDOP- ''Recruit daily or perish."

According to her players, Neary's efforts have made a great difference. "She built this program up," McDonough informs in an admiring tone.

As her field hockey players head for the locker room in the shadow of defeat, Neary firmly states that how a team deals with both "setback and success" is what separates the good teams from the great.